In the attempt to keep this interesting, I decided it best to try and explore the many diverse cultures of food we are lucky to have in this pearl of a country. Being part Greek and part Lebanese, I decided to go for the in-between, all the way to Turkey.
Located at the start of Jumeirah road, the restaurant looked very inviting and spacious. With the weather still in our favor, we were able to opt for the outdoor seating and very much enjoy the the unpredictable coolness of the air.
Our waiter was at our table directly offering a very warm and friendly smile, which made it very easy to overlook the very obvious language barrier. It was actually a nice touch that most of the staff were Turkish. We decided to take our servers advice on most of our choices. They started us off with a bread basket and a plate of different dips, the bread was obviously reheated and I honestly would have appreciated if they had taken the time to quickly state what the dips were. Now i’m not sure if he would have been able to explain it in English, but we survived.
We started off with the Gavurgagi Salad, which is your basic Mediterranean type cucumber, bell pepper, tomato, parsley and onion mix, however I am thankful that they went for more flavor with vinegar than the usual plain olive oil. It was a very refreshing salad that we enjoyed. Our next starter was the Red Lentil Soup, a very hearty, and fulfilling soup, not as thick as the regular lentil, and with more subtle flavor. The Mini Lahmacun (The Turkish Meat Pie) was nice, however that was after I added a generous amount of salt to actually taste anything, but the crust was very thin and crunchy. The real disappointment was the Shrinp Casserole, which I should have seen coming from the typing error on the menu (written as seen). With hardly any shrimp at all, the casserole was filled with large vegetable chunks, obviously straight from a can, and topped with a cheese that didn’t help the casserole much. I would have to guess that it was not a very traditional Turkish dish, definitively not to be recommended.
Now I don’t want to give you all a negative vibe about the restaurant, seeing as how the main course was delicious! Having around six different type of kebabs to choose from, we opted for the waiters choice. The Iskender Kabab a kind of doner kabab with thinly sliced lamb, basted with a mouthwatering tomato sauce mixed with spices, that is layered on top of chunks of pita bread that were clearly pre-soaked in butter. The meat was accompanied by a generous scoop of yogurt. Now this, in complete honesty, deserved a little happy dance with every bite. The meat was tender and flavorful, with a dab of yogurt to contribute a bit of creaminess in your mouth.
Usually i’m not one to order dessert, but for the sake of the blog, I decided to sacrifice my routine to give you a proper three course criticism
As our waiter had mentioned that we should not miss the Turkish Kunafa around three times, that’s what we chose. We were only able to take one bite each and the rest home, but it was clear that this is one of those guilty pleasure desserts that you reward yourself with once in a while, or risk the unwanted coronary due to the sinful amount of butter. Apart from the butter, it was also lathered in syrup and topped with a very heavy cream.
A very satisfying and heart-burning dinner, with the exception of a few disappointments.
Very family friendly and even more appealing to ones wallet, all we ordered plus a large bottle of water only for the mere amount of 175 DH.
A definite repeat restaurant.
A Bite of Dubai 