My friends who live in Stellenbosch had been telling me about Man’ouche for ages and we finally decided to join them for dinner over the weekend. The place is busy and you have to book in advance so we were lucky to get a table. When we arrived I thought the place looked nice but rather unassuming and I certainly wasn’t expecting too much. It’s a small place and every table was occupied. The music was pumping and the vibe seemed very lively. I hoped we’d be able to hear each other over the noise but we soon fell straight into the atmosphere.

We started off with a bottle of wine and decided to get a mezze to start. Man’ouche is a Lebanese restaurant and they are famous for their flat breads and their dips. We chose the Baba Ghanouj dip with our flat bread which was eggplant and tahini. It was incredible and a great way to start the night. I had been warned that getting a starter was not the greatest idea because the mains were massive but as there were five of us we decided that a starter couldn’t harm. I’m glad we got it because it was a lovely way to start the evening. At first I had decided on the Chicken Tayyor which was a feta, garlic and spinach stuffed chicken breast wrapped in bacon but unfortunately the electricity went off and we were unable to order certain things off the menu. Thankfully most of their meals are cooked on open fire so we still had plenty to choose from. In the end I went for what is known as the Man’oushe, a Lebanese bread sandwich with a filling of my choice. I chose the chicken, spinach and mozzarella. It’s hard to describe the meal other than perhaps saying that it is like a massive pizza type bread filled to the brim with ingredients, rolled, grilled and smothered in cheese. It was one of the biggest meals I have ever seen and yet was still cheaper than most meals at other restaurants. It was incredible. None of us could finish and we all enjoyed leftovers for lunch the next day. Absolutely delicious and by far the best value for money you will ever find.