Matina, St Nicholas Market: Review

I’d been meaning to try Matina, at the opposite end of the Glass Arcade to Grillstock in St Nick’s Market, for a while – and we finally made it over there this weekend to enjoy a takeaway lunch in the sunshine in Castle Park.

Serving Middle Eastern cuisine, Matina is always, always busy of a lunchtime, and it was no different on the Saturday we visited, despite arriving at about 2.30pm. Two pairs of diners were sitting in the covered area next to the kitchen enjoying an eat-in meal from the menu below, which offers a range of appetisers, mains, wraps and drinks.

There’s also a range of Middle Eastern teas available for just £2 a pot, from Kurdish tea to Turkish apple tea, to a more Moroccan-style fresh mint tea.

We decided to take advantage of the sunny weather by ordering from the takeaway menu. With all dishes priced at under £5 and seeming generously portioned from what we saw of the food ordered by those in front of us, it appeared that we were in for a treat.

The small but super-efficient kitchen housed three chefs: one to cook the lamb, chicken and vegetables on the charcoal grill, one cooking Kurdish flatbreads to order, stretching the dough before cooking in a tandoor-style oven, and the third assembling the final dishes with the products of the other twos’ labours and a wide range of different salads.

We both chose to order the Matina Mix lunch box (£4.50), containing beautifully charred yet juicy chicken pieces, a tender and fragrant lamb kofta and a variety of salads including red cabbage, onions, pickled cabbage and a pickled chilli.

We opted for the coriander couscous over the rice: beautifully fluffy and full of flavour; and chose to accept all three sauces that were on offer. The hummus was thick and smooth, the tzatziki generous on the cucumber and wonderfully cooling, and the harissa-style dip fresh and vibrant – it had far less of a kick than expected, but was delicious nonetheless.

For an extra 50p you can choose to enjoy one of the aforementioned flatbreads along with your lunch box: beautifully light and fluffy and perfect for scooping up the contents of the box.

Our verdict? An absolute bargain, full of flavour, generously portioned and pretty damn healthy too, compared with many of the lunch options available to those of us in the city centre. Definitely recommended.