7th Feb 2025
I have a very old friend who lives in The Garden Suburb, and after a very long break, we ate out near his home, at a place he uses for special occasions. The site has had many incarnations, having been the legendary Uncle Ian's, an Iranian, and currently a Turkish. We ate there on a Friday night, which is not a big going out night in the area, and there were only a few other diners in this shiny modernistic interpretation of an Ockabasi. A few young expats were using the tables for a few drink prior to whatever they were doing next.
The menu is very familiar, and the prices are fairly standard for this kind of food in this area. The difference is that this place sort of sparkles and was decorated with no knowledge of the word understatement. It's a bit of a collage of many styles, not really giving a clue as to what lays in wait. My wife and I are pretty boring when we try out a new Turkish restaurant, and my barometer is typically to see how a lamb beyti is presented, and my wife always has a chicken shish because that is highly unlikely to go wrong.
The starters were intersting. She had grilled octopus and got a tentacle. I had the sucuk sausage to start. As indicated above, I then had the lamb beyti. Because I like my food hot, I asked for the yoghourt to be served on the side, and this did not seem to faze them
You can't tell from the images, but the portion sizes were generous enough, especially the main courses. These were prefaced by freshly prepared Turkish bread with yoghourt and chilli dips, and more bread was brought when we asked. Main courses included rice and salad.
The good news was that the hot food was hot, scoring 8.5 on the CHOF scale.
Again, you cannot tell from the images, but going through a non-greedy phase at the moment meant that both my wife and eye left substantial amounts of our main courses which were graciously boxed for us to enjoy the next day. The quality of the food we were served was excellent and the meal could not be faulted.
Service was attentive (but they were quiet that evening, and one hears that on a busy Saturday, it has taken some people time to be served). Our waiter seemed a bit uncertain of what to do, and fumbled drinks showing a lack of familiarity with serving beer, and there was a minimal confusion as to who had ordered what at the point of delivery. But no matter, as we knew what we wanted, and knew what it would look like.
Two course with three beers between four, including service came to just under £140 for 4. About what would be expected for this sort of meal currently. Inflation has taken the basic price of eating out in London suburbs up by about 20% since covid and cost of living crisis meanng that it is tricky for a couple to eat out decently for under £60.. I can only imagine that things will get tougher when the increased national insurance and minimum salaries increase later this year. More nails in more coffins.
The bottom line is that I liked this place, and not only would be happy to go there again, but would feel confident enough to suggest it to other people.
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