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My first and only visit to Damasbridge was nearly two years ago. This was back in the days when it was located in a small restaurant on Mill Road (read our review here). I was immediately impressed with the quality of their Syrian cuisine and it quickly became one of my favourite restaurants in the city. In fact, I distinctively remember calling it “faultless”.

Damasbridge has since moved to a new location on Homerton Street for more space (map). This was truly needed, as the original location was very small and clearly had its limitations.

Located opposite the Leisure Park complex at the end of Cherry Hinton Road, the new Damasbridge is tucked away from the usual foodie hot spots. It is easily missed but easy to get to if you know where it is.

Directions: 12 minutes walk from the train station or a 5 minute walk from the Leisure Park car park.

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The restaurant:

The first thing you’ll notice about Damasbridge is how beautiful it is. You can tell that they have put a ton of effort into making it feel warm and reflective of their Syrian identity. The restaurant is also significantly bigger than their old place. In fact, it’s least 4-5 times the floor space. Speaking with Arwa, he explained that it is now big enough to even host events.

The restaurant is covered in beautiful artwork and paintings on the wall. There is a particularly stunning piece that covers the entire back wall. I wanted to take a photo of it for the purpose of this review but there was a large family dining in front of it during my visit but you can see a glimpse of it in the picture below.

The artwork is complimented by numerous mosaic lamps dotted across the restaurant. They are absolutely stunning and add a colourful glow which gives off a warm mellow atmosphere. There is also a centerpiece fountain in the middle of the restaurant sitting proud as the crowning jewel of the restaurant with a dozen of these lamps sitting above.

It’s also worth noting that damasbridge is a family friendly restaurant. Thanks to its relaxed atmosphere and more space, you can bring your children along without feeling like they are getting in the way. I saw several families with children during my visit. It was really nice to see the kids enjoying the fountain and looking at the fish tank between meals.

♿ – Good wheelchair access. A flat floor entrance and disabled toilets.

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Starters

I was accompanied by my son this evening who frequently eats his bodyweight in supermarket hummus. I have been promising to take him out for some proper stuff for some time now, so we ordered a portion with some pitta bread.

We were presented with a plate of humus, muhammara and a beautiful side salad with pomegranates.

The hummus is all freshly made in house, from the soaking of the chickpeas to the cooking…and it clearly shows. I had to wrestle the hummus from my son’s greasy mitts just to get my fair share. He finally understands what real freshly made hummus is about.

The muhammara (the orange dip) is made from walnuts, red pepper, breadcrumbs, olive oil and Aleppo chilli pepper. This has a deeper more robust flavour than the hummus, which not only complimented the hummus visually but in flavour too. I really enjoyed the Aleppo chilli peppers that gave it a subtle spicy warmth.

The salad was fresh and vibrant with colours that really made the plate look more exciting. Lemons came accompanied with it and can be used to squeeze over the hummus, giving it a nice zesty finish.

We washed our hummus and pitta bread down with a Damasbridge Cocktail from their ‘cocktails & smoothies’ menu. My son had a pineapple smoothie and I had the ‘Damas special’.

No alcohol is served here, so everything is alcohol free.

Both my son and I enjoyed our drinks. They were colourful, refreshing, and sweet. As you can see from the picture above, mine probably had all 5 of my ‘5 a day’ 😂

One of my favourite dishes of the evening was the ‘battata harra’. These are crispy fried potato sautéed with garlic, coriander, chilli paste and lemon juice. The chilli paste gave them a lovely spicy kick and the lemons made it zesty and sour at the same time. Being someone who enjoys both spicy and sour food, this really made an impression on me. They are great to share and compliment any dish. Thanks to the frying of the potatoes, it also had a lovely crispy texture on the skin with a soft fluffy centre.

We tried a mix starter, that included vegetable samosa and spring rolls. I must admit, my first impression was that they were quite sad looking and I was expecting them to be quite dry but this couldn’t be further from the truth. They were all executed really well with a light crispy outer layer and either a cheesey or vegetable centre. The rings were the stand out favourite.

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Mains

We were both starting to feel quite full, then this monster was suddenly placed before us. This is the Damasbridge mixed grill platter for two and quite simply, has it all! It comes with skewered lamb and chicken shish, lamb kebab, arayes, and chicken wings. This is all served with chips, salad, bread, and grilled onions and peppers.

There is so much to get excited about with this dish. Coming to £32 (£16pp), this makes it a great way of sampling a bit of everything for a reasonable price. As with all the other dishes this evening, it is beautifully presented with lots of colour. The entire plate lays on a bed of pita bread that soaks up the fat from the meat 🤤

The skewers and cubes of chicken/lamb were all juicy and tender. I really enjoyed eating them with some grilled onion and pepper on my fork. Delicious!

I thought the chicken wings were quite small and inoffensive. They tasted perfectly fine but were so tiny you barely got any meat from them.

The arayes is pitta bread stuffed with ground meat with herbs and spices , similar to a keema naan in the Indian/Bangladeshi restaurants.

I thought the pitta held together really well pulling off the trick of being crispy yet pliable at the same time. The mince was perfectly seasoned offering a good balance of flavour without overpowering the meat. I thought is was also something slightly different from the rest of the plate making the dish feel more diverse than just meat on a stick.

I found the chicken kofta to be overly herby. It was very strong and quite overpowering. In contrast to the perfectly balanced arayes, this dominated the flavour of the meat which was not to my liking.

To make sure we were truly stuffed (good and proper) we were offered the chance to sample their ‘Damas chicken’. This is similar to the creamy chicken and mushroom French dish we all know and love. It consists of breaded chicken breast, stuffed with mushroom and cheese, all topped with a mushroom and cheese sauce (served with chips & grilled veg).

This beautiful dish is made with mozzarella cheese that adds a lovely soft creamy texture that vanquished any dryness in the chicken. This was complimented even further by the stuffed cheese that melted together into a rich flavour. The mushrooms worked well with it, as you would expect from a creamy dish, and the chicken was of decent quality. I’m not too sure about the chips with this dish. I feel something that could soak up that lovely creamy sauce would be better suited, perhaps rice? Though this may have been chosen to prevent it drying out the chicken.

Dessert

For dessert we were presented with this stunning centrepiece of fruit and baklava. It came with fresh strawberries, melon, grapes, pineapple, kiwi.

Baklavas came in pistachio and coco flavour. Both absolutely divine. They are more densely packed than what I am used to with baklava but this took nothing away from their sweet flavour and lovely crispy texture. These were some of the meatiest baklavas I have ever had 😍

Last and by no means least, we have the knafa – a pastry based cheese dish with syrup and pistachio. This was a little more spongy than previous knafa’s I have had in the past but equally delicious. I found the sweetness quite unusual with the cheese but in a good way. I am not sure I will be everyone’s cup of tea but it worked for us!

Speaking of tea, by this point we were absolutely stuffed, so ended the evening with some loose leaf mint tea. This was presented in a beautiful gold plated samovar that assimilated perfectly into the theme of the restaurant. It made a really nice end to the meal and added a touch of class. More importantly, it gave us both time to digest our food.

Conclusion

Damasbridge still reigns as one of my favourite restaurants in Cambridge. Only now they are located in a larger, more comfortable, and significantly more stylish restaurant, with better wheelchair access and the same quality Syrian cuisine.

Now they have moved to a much larger restaurant, it feels like they are finally able to fulfil their vision of Damasbridge. A warm, friendly place where you can bring the family, enjoy great food, and unwind. This is the sort of place that I would pop in frequently if I lived close by.

Thanks for reading