Turkish treat

Updated: 2014-06-22 07:00

By Bidisha Bagchi (China Daily)

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Ice cream is served with chocolate sauce.

For warm appetizers, the "Mediterranean spring rolls" were warm and tasty. They were made with thin yufka bread, stuffed

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with feta cheese and parsley, then rolled and deep-fried. Chiburekki and yetli yaprak sarma are also both worth trying; they are examples of how the food traditions of the Turkish ethnic group in Crimea and a Greek dish have blended together to be a part of Ottoman cuisine. Cheburekki is a simple, deep-fried phyllo dough stuffed with minced beef, onion and herbs, while yetli yaprak sarma features rice and mixed meat, wrapped in vine leaves and baked. This item in Greek cuisine is popularly called dolmadakia or dolmades.

As we pondered the Turkish menu's main dishes, the aroma of charcoal grilled kebabs and koftas tingled our taste buds. Starting from marinated chunks of chicken to minced beef or lamb, skewered meat to grilled shrimps or just fresh vegetables - everything was there.

We found the "single" portions to be quite big and plenty for two to share. The koftas, meatballs made of ground beef and minced lamb and served with a side of seasonal vegetables - were soft, succulent and melted in the mouth. Though delicious, I did not like was the way the dish was presented. The koftas were scattered all over the plate with some vegetables carelessly thrown in.