Istanbul Turkish BBQ Restaurant!

August 17, 2015 by Rich - Foodie Reviewer

Istanbul Turkish BBQ Restaurant

You may have remembered from last week I let you in to a little secret, it was kinda confession time. I felt better after admitting this dirty and dark guilty pleasure of mine. But in case you missed it, here it is again; I like Doner Kebabs. There you go, I hope you don’t think any less of me? But come on, surely I’m not the only one? That pitta, packed with lightly seasoned lamb, cooked gently on a spit is just sublime? Ok, its more like slices of what is, apparently lamb, stuffed in a pitta, dripping so much grease, it dribbles on your hands, down your chin, finally ruining your shirt, trousers and shoes. We’ve all been there haven’t we? But aren’t they great after a session in the pub on a Friday night? The experience is as English as fish and chips or roast beef and yorkies in my opinion!! Most kebab shops however, all seem to serve the same old greasy delights; doner, shish, chicken doner, chicken shish and maybe if your lucky, a kofte. Recently, I had been hearing some interesting rumours; there was a new kid on the block, serving up something a little different. The Istanbul Turkish BBQ Restaurant! Mmm sounded interesting, I needed to find out more. So last Friday night I took Lou out for a slap up Kebab, but, from what I understood, this was more than just ya average kebab shop.

Wow! First impressions were great. This place has an indoor BBQ! Really, the chef was cooking great looking kebabs on a real open charcoal grill! The aroma was amazing, I was in foodie heaven. We sat down, ordered an Efes Beer, and had a good look at this much anticipated menu. I can tell you now, this is no ordinary kebab shop; it is an authentic Turkish restaurant. They serve up real kebabs, ones I’ve never heard of before. How does Yogurtlu Yayla or Kuzu Sis take your fancy!! Now, I’ve never been to Istanbul, however, I remember seeing an Anthony Bourdain programme (another food hero of mine, an American guy who travels the world searching out foodie experiences, a bit like me really!). He visited Istanbul, the BBQ restaurants there looked amazing, and not dissimilar to where I was sitting right now! The restaurant was busy, and had a real buzz about the place. I was impressed.

Well, time to get stuck in I reckon. To start we ordered Sucuck & Hellim, and we all love a bit of Sucuck & Hellim don’t we? I had no idea what it was either! Its basically spicy Turkish sausage served with grilled Cypriot cheese. Another dish caught my eye that we just had to try, Hummus with lamb; sounded interesting. The spicy Turkish sausage was great, I can only describe it as a Turkish version of one of my favourites; CHORIZO! Combined with the grilled cheese, very nice it was too. The hummus was a bit of an odd one. Imagine a plate of Hummus topped off with spicy sliced lamb. Sounds weird I know, but it was tasty on a piece of warm pitta.

Now this was struggle, what do we have for mains? They all just sounded so interesting. From our table I could see most of them being cooked on the charcoal grill, I just didn’t know what the hell to have. So after much deliberation, umming, ahhing, deciding then changing my mind, I settled on this; an Iskender Kebab. Described as lamb doner, served on sliced pitta with a special tomato sauce all topped off with yoghurt and melted butter. As I hold a soft spot for the good old doner kebab, I new this was the dish for me. It sounded like a ‘posh’ doner! Lou finally decided on the Ozel Karisik Kebab. Translated as a mixed kebab, but a mixed kebab on steroids! A selection of lamb, chicken, and Adana kebab together with lamb chops and chicken wings, now that sounds HUGE! In anticipation of all that food we just had to order another round of Efes beer. The much anticipated kebabs arrived. Mine was certainly like no doner kebab I have ever tasted or seen. Presented in a terracotta dish, clearly straight out of the oven it was piping hot, I dived straight in. Topped with herbs and yoghurt, then through to the tasty lamb, rich tomato sauce and pitta bread, this really was nothing like the doner kebabs we are familiar with. Lou’s dish was a kebab of epic proportions! A pure meat fest, and all cooked over charcoal it was meatylicious! Served with rice and salad, thankfully it was all too much for Lou, so I just had to step in and help out. We asked for some chilli sauce on the side, maybe this could have been a little hotter, but that’s just my personal taste, I really am a chilli fiend, I mean, I eat chillies at breakfast! We battled through these sumptuous traditional Turkish kebabs, both would have satisfied the biggest of appetites. To be honest, Lou’s mixed kebab would have fed two I reckon! We sat back, finished the last of our Efes and enjoyed the buzz of this busy restaurant. This bill was soon to arrive, and less than £50 for starters, mains and a few beers, I thought it was superb value.

At the beginning of this review I made reference to this restaurant as a kebab shop, and technically it is. But this couldn’t be further from than the classic UK kebab shop. This is a traditional Turkish restaurant, which just happens to serve tremendous Turkish kebabs, all cooked on an indoor BBQ. I need to get one of these installed in my kitchen at home (Lou may think differently though!!) Its not just kebabs; they grill fish, lamb chops, cheese and even liver (and I love a bit of offal, I need to get involved with that next time!). I can’t think of another restaurant in the area, probably outside London, serving up such cuisine, this is quite unique. As you have probably guessed, this place is now up there as one of my favourites. So, forget everything you know about kebabs, chuck a few quid in your pocket, because it’s not expensive, and enjoy some proper Turkish food. I need to get back that’s for certain.