Saturday, 15 December 2018

Ottolenghi-like modern Turkish


We’re meeting S&L again, so that means cocktails to start. We’re going to Kyseri, a “modern Turkish” place in Grafton Way that B has seen reviewed, so a bit of research turns up Simmons in Maple Street nearby. Its USP is that it serves cocktails in teapots!  We’re there first when it is quite empty, but it fills up quickly with lots of reserved tables. We’re there in 2-4-1 happy hour so begin with mojitos each; L arrives and has something very strange, then S has a strawberry one. For our teapot we naturally have long-island iced tea!

 
It’s then just a short walk to Kyseri. Another small café-like place which gets very full, but with a counter for walk-ins. We have a nice table in the corner. The Ottolenghi-sounding menu is a little confusing – it’s hard to know what is what – but the waitress talks us through it well enough.

So we start off with just two sumac breads (one piece each) and a very interesting sheep’s milk feta dish that comes with candied watermelon and something else that has a bit of a kick to it. 

The second course is a sort of beef ravioli (beef and sour cherry manti), and a pasta (erişte) with egg yolk.  Both full of flavour – and a pretty good size.  More recognisable main courses follow: lamb rack, rice stuffed courgette flowers (çiçek dolmasi),  and seared tuna, accompanied by a salad and potato gratin. Lots of strong and interesting tastes, quite spicy too.
Desserts are delicious too – creamy and chocolatey.  L paid, so I don’t know the cost, but I’d imagine about £70 a head.
(Back in July!)

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