Turkey comes to Sydney’s CBD in an energetically modern restaurant where the flavours of the Aegean are celebrated in a killer cocktail list and a menu that’s a share-friendly snack-fest.
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The drinks are a huge part of the offering here, particularly the Turkish-inflected cocktails. Long day at work? Slap yourself (lovingly and metaphorically, of course) round the cheeks with the Turkish Coffee and Date Martini, made with vodka, Kahlua, and triple-strained Turkish coffee scented with cardamom. Something more refreshing? A round of Maydanoz Spritzes for the table – made with pomegranate liqueur, Chartreuse liqueur, prosecco and molasses – will transport you to a summer’s day on the Aegean from sip one. Or tick a few vitamin boxes with the house special: the Zümrüt, made with parsley (oh, and rum).
Plenty of thought has been put into the Turkish wine list, too, notably in the minerally whites from Menderes and savoury reds from the southern Aegean. And a glass or shared bottle of “lion’s milk” raki – the mighty anise-flavoured spirit of Turkey – works at any point in the meal.
Vegetarians, step up to the mic. Almost everything on this shareable snack-fest of a menu is meat-free, and sacrifices absolutely nothing on the flavour front for it.
The smoked beetroot sandwich with rhubarb and shavings of barrel-aged feta arrives as two little lipstick-red bullets of earthy juiciness, held together by sharply cut crispbread. Definitely get the imam bayildi – when do “Turkish” and “eggplant” appearing together in the same dish result in anything but excellence?
And, yes, you will be able to convince your sceptical meat-eater friends to come along – the scattering of flesh-based dishes towards the tail-end of the menu include a copper pot full of chicken cooked with bulgur pilaf, tomatoes and long green chillies, and Murray cod kebab with sumac-spiced onion.
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