Turkish Delight

The menu is a treat to read,filled with the oddly-joined consonants and vowels that make up the names of Turkish dishes. After spending a highly enjoyable time saying them out loud in what we imagine is a Turkish accent,we decide to put our patient and courteous server out of his misery. We start with the non-vegetarian hot mezze platter — comprising Chicken Shawarma,Lamb Kibbeh (stuffed torpedo-shaped croquettes) and Lamb Fatayer (think miniature samosas),nicely rounded off with some pita,dips and pickled vegetables.

The platter appears opportunely,just as hunger begins to rear its demanding head. The portions are large and keeping in character — like the Assyrians — we come down on the food like wolves on the fold. Which actually makes poetic sense as the majority of our dishes contain lamb. The shawarma is a rather fancier version of its street cousin,with tender shredded chicken and crisp pickled veggies all wrapped in a well-toasted pita bread. The kibbeh is equally well-crafted with two distinct textures: soft succulent lamb mince enfolded into a crunchy bulgur coating. However,it is the tiny fatayer that dominates the platter,especially when dipped into well,the dips. The dips incidentally are excellent,particularly the patlican salatasi — an eggplant dip studded with gleaming pomegranates.

Given the generous portions of our appetisers,we’d have been quite happy to call it a night but we still have a hundred odd words to write and anyway,is a Turkish dining experience complete without the celebrated doner kebab? Correspondingly,the biblical theme still going strong,we order the lamb version and again have to wait a gratifyingly short time for it to appear. The lamb is juicy,with a well-defined yet subtle flavour,which goes magnificently with an accompanying mayonnaise. We proceed to stuff ourselves to the point where we’d make a pretty good lamb roll ourselves.

Meal for Two: Rs. 2,000 (including taxes,excluding alcohol) Address: 9A,Hauz Khas Village,Contact: 43333666

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