Antalya Restaurant, Nottingham, Turkish Cuisine

A quick trip up to Nottingham left me with time to have lunch, and having found a street with lunch establishments, I opted for the Antalya in Forman Street, a short walk from the center. http://www.antalya.co.uk/index.html
It is not much to look at, but nor is most of Nottingham, which has clearly decided that architectural merit stopped with the infamous sheriff's castle.

You can see what I mean about eating establishments, as Bella Italia is directly opposite (I reviewed the one in Manchester). There are quite a number of choices within a few feet of each other, and the going rate for set lunch is between £4.95 and £7.95 . The Antalya set lunch is 6.95 with no service charge (lost in translation as service charge not included). The choice is outstanding and the price gives you a starter and a main.

I opted for the Mititey Kofte, small meatballs prepared with finely chopped onions, garlic, parsley and oriental herbs spiced, grilled and accompanied by fresh onion.(what the menu said).

As can be seen from the photographs, these are attractive, a fair size portion and accompanied by Turkish bread. They were hot, a little pink in the middle (possibly authentically so) and very tasty and an 8 on the CHOF scale.

For main course I chose Tavuk Markana which the menu describes as chunks of chicken prepared with onion garlic and green peppers with a special herb sauce served with Turkish macaroni (markana)

It is also covered by cheese. I enjoyed this giving it a 9 on the CHOF scale. My only criticism, based on expectation rather than insight and knowledge, is that the chicken had clearly been boring pre-cooked chicken that had been married up with the sauce late in the day and tasted a bit bland. I guess I had expected    grilled chicken with the sort of barbequie flavour but that did not detract from the dish.

Unexpectedly (may be because they saw me taking pictures of the food), I was also offered a small portion of fruit and a Turkish Delight with the bill. The grapes were a little past their prime, but as a 'gift' I did not reject.

So all of this came to the princely sum of £6.95: truly a bargain. The restaurant, for a cool November lunchtime was quiet, but no more or less than its competitors. I guess it may get busy at night, and if you check out the web site, they are having a 'special December lunch' for a lot more and Christmas and New year meals are there, and seem reasonably priced (by North London standards).

So I would get there quick for a bargain lunch before the end of the month. The staff were pleasant, and made no fuss when I did not want anything extra to drink at lunchtime. I am guessing that it might get lively in the evening, and there was a well-stocked bar. 

Apparently there is now a branch in London in Southampton Row, so I will look out for it.