Sultan Baba Iskender - Turkish cuisine
I've tried a few Turkish restaurants and having visited Turkey, I've become a fan of Turkish food. This one definitely has a catchy name and I was invited to try out the food here.
They have a nice seating area. There is an indoor as well as an outdoor section (which they cover and make like an indoor during summer).
We started with the Turkish salads that are famous. The first was the Herse which is made from char-grilled eggplant along with tomato, bell pepper, and parsley. Since I really like eggplant, I enjoyed this.
The Ezme is another famous one. This is made from roasted bell peppers, onion, tomato, walnut, spring onion, parsley, pomegranate sauce, and Turkish spices. It was a tad bit spicy which is interesting for a salad.
Another Turkish salad is Gavurdagi. It has tomato, parsley, onion, walnut, olive oil and pomegranate sauce. At first I though I mightn't like it, but it was nice and fresh.
Last but not the least, there was Haydari which is basically thick drained yoghurt and cheese with garlic. Have it with the Lavas (huge hot Turkish bread) and you'll totally love it.
They have fresh juice too, and I had the pomegranate juice.
A famous Turkish cold appetiser is Cig kofte. These look somewhat like kebabs, but are vegetarian. They're made from bulgur, and have some Turkish spices along with walnut, garlic and chilli paste. Initially I did not like them, and you might need to develop a flavour for it. But eventually they tasted nice.
For the mains, we started with the Iskender kebab. These are lamb and beef doner slices topped with tomato and hot butter sauce, with yoghurt on the side. You definitely cannot stop at one bite. The combination of the spicy doner with the yoghurt tastes delicious.
Then we had the Adana kebab. This was served on a long wooden plank. These are made form lamb and beef that are chargrilled on skewer. These were juicy and flavourful. They were served with bulgur rice and fries on the side.
We then had the bicak arasi pide. Pide is sort of a pizza but oval and long; this was about 1 metre long and was made with minced meat. It tasted great since it was served hot.
The other pide was the Ispanakli peynirli pide which has cheese and spinach, and it suitable for vegetarians.
The Turks have some interesting desserts.
The famous one is the Havuc baklava with ice-cream. THe baklava is a flakey pastry that is filled with pistachios. This one is stuffed with ice-cream too. Take a bite and it feels so rich and delicious. It does get pretty sweet though.
There was Katmer as well. This is a Turkish crunchy pancake made with pistachio and topped with cream. I liked the crunchiness, and it doesn't get overly sweet.
The last one was the pumpkin dessert with tahini and ice-cream. It is made with pumpkin that is boiled in thick syrup topped with tahini and walnut, served with ice-cream on the side. This was one dessert which I really hated. I usually do not use such strong words to describe something but I just couldn't have this. Perhaps it was the combination of pumpkin and tahini or may be I need to develop my taste-buds for it.
Apart from this, I really enjoyed everything that I had here.
You must definitely go here for the delicious Turkish kebabs which are different than most of the ones you find in other cuisines.
Click here to salivate
They have a nice seating area. There is an indoor as well as an outdoor section (which they cover and make like an indoor during summer).
We started with the Turkish salads that are famous. The first was the Herse which is made from char-grilled eggplant along with tomato, bell pepper, and parsley. Since I really like eggplant, I enjoyed this.
The Ezme is another famous one. This is made from roasted bell peppers, onion, tomato, walnut, spring onion, parsley, pomegranate sauce, and Turkish spices. It was a tad bit spicy which is interesting for a salad.
Another Turkish salad is Gavurdagi. It has tomato, parsley, onion, walnut, olive oil and pomegranate sauce. At first I though I mightn't like it, but it was nice and fresh.
Last but not the least, there was Haydari which is basically thick drained yoghurt and cheese with garlic. Have it with the Lavas (huge hot Turkish bread) and you'll totally love it.
They have fresh juice too, and I had the pomegranate juice.
A famous Turkish cold appetiser is Cig kofte. These look somewhat like kebabs, but are vegetarian. They're made from bulgur, and have some Turkish spices along with walnut, garlic and chilli paste. Initially I did not like them, and you might need to develop a flavour for it. But eventually they tasted nice.
For the mains, we started with the Iskender kebab. These are lamb and beef doner slices topped with tomato and hot butter sauce, with yoghurt on the side. You definitely cannot stop at one bite. The combination of the spicy doner with the yoghurt tastes delicious.
Then we had the Adana kebab. This was served on a long wooden plank. These are made form lamb and beef that are chargrilled on skewer. These were juicy and flavourful. They were served with bulgur rice and fries on the side.
We then had the bicak arasi pide. Pide is sort of a pizza but oval and long; this was about 1 metre long and was made with minced meat. It tasted great since it was served hot.
The other pide was the Ispanakli peynirli pide which has cheese and spinach, and it suitable for vegetarians.
The Turks have some interesting desserts.
The famous one is the Havuc baklava with ice-cream. THe baklava is a flakey pastry that is filled with pistachios. This one is stuffed with ice-cream too. Take a bite and it feels so rich and delicious. It does get pretty sweet though.
There was Katmer as well. This is a Turkish crunchy pancake made with pistachio and topped with cream. I liked the crunchiness, and it doesn't get overly sweet.
The last one was the pumpkin dessert with tahini and ice-cream. It is made with pumpkin that is boiled in thick syrup topped with tahini and walnut, served with ice-cream on the side. This was one dessert which I really hated. I usually do not use such strong words to describe something but I just couldn't have this. Perhaps it was the combination of pumpkin and tahini or may be I need to develop my taste-buds for it.
Apart from this, I really enjoyed everything that I had here.
You must definitely go here for the delicious Turkish kebabs which are different than most of the ones you find in other cuisines.
Click here to salivate
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