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Eating out review of Bazaar Restaurant, Middlesbrough
Fortunately, a roofed walkway connected the car park to the modern, and sodden, plaza that is Captain Cook Square on which the Bazaar restaurant is located, and immediately we were transported to another world. Festoons of flowers (admittedly plastic) fell from the ceiling, an aroma of charcoal from the grills filled the air. The high light space with people bustling about gave it the feel of an outdoor, sun-soaked Mediterranean market restaurant.
And gleaming on the far side was what Bazaar claims is Europe’s largest copper indoor wood-fired pizza oven.
Bazaar opened in 2024, the brainchild of British-Egyptian chef Tarek Thoma who has had connections with many restaurants, from London to the Tees Valley, over the years – in 2003, I was the only print journalist in the Dun Cow in Sedgefield when he served fish and chips to Prime Minister Tony Blair and US President George W Bush.
The menu is eclectic and, at times, expensive, from the sharing Lebanese platter for two (£95) to baby plum tomato and basil soup (£8). It is both ordinary and exciting – a beef burger (£22) rubs shoulders with low and slow short beef ribs (£31) with a chilli honey glaze, honey roasted carrots and tripled cooked chips.
As tempting as this was, we were dining before going to a comedy show at Middlesbrough Town Hall so, with tickets included, it was in danger of becoming an expensive night out.
And I wanted to try out the massive pizza oven.
Pizzas range in price from a classic margherita for £14 up to a seafood, featuring extra large King Prawns, tiger prawns and mussels, for £36. I chose the Parma ham and parmesan (£20).
Petra, my wife, chose from the non-meat menus – there were three fish dishes and three Vegan and vegetarian. She chose the Egyptian stew (£19).
Our food arrived within minutes – perhaps faster than Strikes in Northallerton – and had the maitre d’ rushing over to warn Petra about the Egyptian stew.
It was an astonishing looking bowl, as the stew was completely obscured by a sourdough moon bread – a puffed up flatbread that had risen more than an inch above the bowl. The warning was because when she lifted the bread, the stew beneath might emit a scalding cloud of steam.
Once she had moved the moon bread, and dodged the scalding steam, the stew was as good as it looked, a dark, rich mixture of aubergines, peppers and tomatoes. It was served with a tray of dips which each augmented the stew in a different way: hummus, tabbouleh (Middle Eastern salad), muhammara (spicy red pepper), onion salad and tzatziki.
It was a large, theatrical dish. The moon bread on its own could have been wrapped around an entire planet, but the staff offered to parcel up the leftovers for her to enjoy another day.
My pizza was almost as large. Its base was a light sourdough with hardly any wasteful crust. The tomato sauce and was rich and moist, and it was topped with fabulous ham, at times a centimetre deep. There were shards of parmesan and a sprinkling of rocket, making a really excellent pizza.
Petra had a coffee, but as I’d saved by opting for a pizza, I felt I could be extravagant and choose one of the six desserts, which were priced between £10 and £12. There was baklava, crème brulee, cheesecake, STP and tart tatin, each with intriguing accompaniments, but I chose the Dubai chocolate fudge cake.
Dubai chocolate is the taste of the moment. Created in the emirates, it is a mixture of chocolate with the nuttiness of crunchy pistachio and the creaminess of tahini.
It was a multi-layered cake, where texture was as important as taste: crunchy, creamy, nutty, bitty, with a powerful chocolatey ganachey top. It was not at all sweet, but still so massive that I needed Petra’s help to even come close to finishing it. It was served with two balls of good vanilla ice cream plus a giant smear of chocolate crisp.
It was probably a triumph of presentation over flavour, but it was still very impressive.
Our bill, with drinks including a glass of wine, came to £63, although we did manage our expenditure. Food quality was great, and quantities were generous – the £12 dessert was easily share-able and Petra took half of her main course home (the group of young mums beside us who had chosen Bazaar for their first night out since April made one pizza go three ways).
Service was very responsive – it is so good to have a meal overseen by a maitre d’ – so, with the exotic (if plastic) surroundings, we had a very memorable escape from our Biblically wet world.
Bazaar Restaurant
15 Captain Cook Square
Middlesbrough
TS1 5UB
Web: bazaarrestaurant.co.uk
Tel: 01642-609010
Surroundings: 8
Food quality: 9
Service: 9
Value for money: 8
