New Syrian restaurant The Pickled Walnut on Cowley Road is reviewed by Katherine MacAlister. But is it any good?

MY TIRED Anglo-Saxon tastebuds perked up at the thought of trying a new cuisine and restaurant, something novel to decipher and process, to educate and tantalise.

The Pickled Walnut on Cowley Road did just this and served to remind us what a colourful, vivid, rich, cultured country Syria was before war broke out, reducing much of the landscape to a dusty, broken rubble.

In homage to his homeland, owner Ahmad Mohamad, has really gone to town to replicate the sights, sounds and atmosphere of his former homeland, creating a modern, bright, inspired, funky, patterned interior in what was formerly the Mirch Masala.

Ahmed also runs Lebanese restaurant Pomegranate over the road, as well as the Beetroot Cafe and Deli, obviously saving his debut into authentic Syrian cuisine until last.

As my Lebanese favourite Du Liban has now closed up down the road, after the owner fell ill, I have been trawling around for a suitable replacement.

The Pickled Walnut seemed the obvious choice, and judging by the cosmopolitan strangeness of some of the dishes, it was a good bet.

The restaurant is an enormously welcoming space, the choice of seating and tables varied and the staff lovely. We chose a table right under a gorgeous mural and spent ages pouring over the menu simply because there is so much to choose from. Should we have a mezze, a set meal, lunch, brunch?

In the end we just chose what we fancied, resulting in a slightly haphazard and gluttonous, but ultimately satisfying, spread.

A quartet of dips served with flatbreads then to start, which would be uninspiring anywhere else, but here silenced our chatter when we realised they were the real deal – a motawama (grated courgette cooked with garlic and olive oil) which was sickly smooth, a hummus that showed all other how to do it properly, some mutable – burnt aubergine with tahini which was a beautiful smoky mix, plus a mixed pepper with pomegranate seeds, which all accentuated each other.

It couldn’t have been a better start.

Then a soup each – the thick Healing Syrian Lentil Soup just as I remembered, as served in the little cafes of Istanbul, and flavoured with lemon as vividly as I remembered. The chicken broth came with vegetables and delicate soft chunks of poultry, both an absolute pleasure.

Mains-wise, we opted for a gathering of Syrian dishes, ordering the deep fried spinach pastries, grilled halloumi, deep fried battered cauliflower with tahini and the artichoke salad, which appeared like the accompaniments to a roast, but dressed.

There were flaws – the halloumi was soft and melted rather than grilled, the salad vegetables were too cold, fridge temperature, rather than room, so freezing on your teeth and an insult to the sunny artichoke.

The pastries on the other hand were absolutely delicious – the iron of the spinach contrasting with the rich softness of the pastry. The cauliflower (zahra mekleyah in Lebanese restaurants) was as wonderful as I’d hoped, all perfectly offset by the sharp lemony tang of the parsley-based tabbouleh salad.

We washed it down with fresh mint tea served in tall, turquoise teapots, before turning to gaze expectantly at the desserts laid out in the glass counter. We chose the ma’amoul, a date-stuffed pastry, beautifully presented with ground pistachios and date coulis. It turned out to be a flaky Middle Eastern version of a fig roll.

Our bill came in at £50, which for four courses with drinks for two wasn’t bad. Next time perhaps I’ll be more circumspect, but then again, maybe not. Or, as the Syrians would say: “Experimentation is the greatest science.”

THE PICKLED WALNUT, 137-139 Cowley Rd, Oxford, OX4 1HU

01865 430478

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