Our Story
Where the Levant
meets Manchester
A Lebanese dining room in the heart of Salford — built on the belief that great food and extraordinary atmosphere belong in the same room.
How it started
Not a restaurant.
An intention.
Gardens was conceived as a response — to sterile dining rooms, to food that arrives and disappears without leaving a mark. The founders wanted a space where Mancunians could experience a table that felt intentional: from the bread to the last cocktail.
The name comes from the Arabic concept of a bustan — a garden of cultivation and gathering. A place that gives back more than it takes.
2024
Year founded
£45
Signature lamb shank
7
Original cocktails
11pm
Kitchen closes
What we stand for
Three things we refuse to compromise on
The Kitchen
Recipes rooted in the Levant
Every dish begins in Lebanon, Syria, and Palestine — passed down through generations before arriving in Salford. We source whole spices, press our own oils, and slow-braise what deserves slow-braising.
The Space
Built to feel like an arrival
The low light, the warm stone, the cedar and sage — every design decision in Gardens was made to slow your shoulders down the moment you step inside. Dinner should feel like an event.
The Bar
Cocktails as culture
Our bar draws on Silk Road botanicals and Middle Eastern pantry staples — cardamom, rose, sumac. Seven signature cocktails, each named after a place, a person, or a moment in time.
"Food should make people
feel something other than full."
Gardens MCR, 2024