Anatolia

Turkish cuisine is a continuation of ottoman cuisine,In addition to being the refined product of centuries of experience, Turkish Cuisine has a very pure taste. The variety and simplicity of the recipes are guarantees of delicious meals.The Ottomans fused various culinary traditions of their realm with influences from Levantine cuisines, creating a vast array of specialties,many with strong regional associations.

This weekend I got a chance to relish some turkish fare. Anatolia being an authentic turkish restaurant is a pleasant surprise for the visitors.It has two branches one in Mall of Emirates and the other one in Mirdif. Located on the level 1 of the mall in mirdif near fitness first allure you with the charm of red color,the color of ottoman empire.The restaurant is decked with bright red colors with some pictures of turkey representing the daily life events there.The signature turkish tiles has been used at different places to give real feel to the visitors.

We started our evening by ordering drinks,Ayran and  fresh Orange Juice. Ayran fresh yogurt drink with a special salty taste was refreshing but if you like sweet version maybe you won’t be able to enjoy it that much.

As weather is getting pleasant specially in evening,having soup kicked a satisfying start to our session. Ezogelin Corbasi-lentil soup and Domates Corbasi– creamy tomato soup

In starters Karisik Meze, it is a sample tray with all the cold appetizers like Hummus,cacik (made with yogurt,garlic,mint and cucumber),Abaganus(grilled eggplant with yogurt) and fresh salad etc, perfect platter specially for a group. Fresh and warm pita bread made the whole delightful experience a notch up.

In Hot starters Findik Lahmacun- baby minced pie made up of special inhouse dough.Seems like a turkish version of pizza and each bite would give treat to your palates.

In main course we had

• Iskender Kebap
• Beyti Kebap
• Karisik Kebap

Iskender Kebap thick and tender slices of beef and lamb over the bed of thick pita bread,heavenly doused in thick tomato sauce,served with fresh yogurt.Enticing sour taste and tender pieces were not less than a delight experience.

Beyti Kebap a skewer of ground fresh lamb wrapped in a thin dough,served with yogurt and tomato sauce,ghee and pistachio. Filling of lamb in a dough was soft and tasty.

Karisik Kebap a mix grill platter containing assorted soft meat and chicken pieces, they were not only tender but juicy as well in short grilled to perfection, came along with salad, bulgur rice a texture more like couscous than rice and old fashioned fries. Being an ardent fan of garlic paste, I asked my server for it and he happily arranged for us in no time.

No one can say no to turkish sweets,even after filling heavy session we couldn’t resist this sweet part. We opted for kunafa with cream and Fistikh Baklawa.  Kunafa unfortunately couldn’t impress me as it was extra sweet to my liking and yes baklwa was super hit among the both desserts, indulging pistachio filling is surely a treat for sweettooth .

Undoubtedly we could not conclud our session in best way rather than having turkish tea to assimilate the delicious meaty-food. I would like to praise our server of the evening Bryan,he was helpful,courteous and knows his work well and made sure to make our dining experience indelible.