Apologies for the quality of these photographs from 1984: they are photographs of prints, the original Kodachrome slides having long ago gone astray.
Istanbul in 1984 |
Fisherman selling his catch, Istanbul, 1984 |
Particularly phallic geology in Cappadocia |
Brush seller, somewhere in Turkey, 1984 |
It was fabulous, and my first introduction to the shared food culture of the eastern Mediterranean and the Levant. Restaurants in Istanbul and Konya, where the menu consisted of going into the kitchen and looking in various pots and fridges; charcoal-grilled döner kebab from a street stall outside the Grand Bazaar, grilled meats, grilled fish, fried fish from a boat bobbing in the Golden Horn, still the best ever börek, lahmacun from street traders, and the list could go on and on.
Sadly, in the north west, there are few opportunities, beyond the many dodgy kebab shops, for this genre of cooking. The excellent Lebanese evening with Chateau Musar at the Parkers Arms was a noble exception, and I wish we could persuade Stosie Madi, chef-patron of the Parkers Arms to allow this part of her heritage to show through more on her menus.
When I heard that a Turkish restaurant had opened in Lytham, in the building formerly occupied by the much missed Hastings, I realised that it couldn't be a dodgy kebab operation, given the size of the building, and a quick google found the website for Istanbul Lytham, which, despite a certain charming amateurishness, suggested there was some ambition here.
Istanbul Lytham has had the benefit of moving straight into an already fully-equipped restaurant, and have done really very little indeed to the old Hastings, even down to some of the photographs on the walls remaining. There has been a light refurb, recovering some seating with Turkish fabrics, and adding a shisha pipe, but that's about it. Certainly at lunchtime when I've been, what used to be the bar area is used for dining, with the large split level dining areas to the rear remaining unused. Certainly on the numbers that have been eating there when I've been for lunch, it's difficult to understand how they can support such a large property. I hope they do, as it's something fresh, different and really pretty good, and a welcome addition to Lancashire's Fylde Coast.
The menu has a reasonably extensive selection of meze, apparently all made in-house apart from the stuffed vine leaves (yaprak dolma). A nifty bit of up-selling from the waiter pointing out the six meze for £18 offer was too much for a pair of old bargain hunters to resist. I enjoyed these much more than what I'm about to write seems to make out. They're not going to win any best meze competitions, but that's also what I remember about meals in Turkey 30 years ago: it's all pretty good and seems better at the time, but is ultimately fairly simple and falls below the standard of what we're led to believe was the greatness of Ottoman cuisine.
Falafel (foreground), Mantar Dolma, Humus Kavurma, bread, Muska Börek (background left to right) |
Humus Kavurma was splendid: a good humus topped with a lamb casserole. The börek were the best of this little selection: cheese, pine kernels and herbs in a light pastry.
Also very good was the sucuk, a spicy Turkish sausage (below): noticeably different to any of the readily available chorizo sausages at least, and with a nice, gentle, well-balanced spicing.
Sucuk |
Chicken börek |
This next dish was supposed to patlican salata (aubergine salad), which I expected to be more like baba ghanoush than the cold imam bayildi it appeared to be. Given that there is another meze dish which is cold imam bayildi, I wonder whether this was the waiter's error. Once I'd got over the disappointment, it was rather good.
Patlican salata (or is it imam bayildi?) |
Calamari |
Moving on to main courses, the grills were the star for me, but I think it's such a shame that they don't grill over real charcoal.
Adana kofte |
Iskender mixed grill |
yoghurt, tomato sauce and minted brown butter, which I believe is where the name Iskender comes from.
Having had what seemed to be cold Imam Bayildi as one of the meze, the larger main course Imam Bayildi made us regret the duplication, though not when it came to eating it. The main course version is served hot, with more of that rather good rice. There's really nothing you can do to make it look pretty on the plate though.
Imam Bayildi |
Baklava |
Reading through what I've written about Istanbul Restaurant in Lytham, it sounds like I've a bit of a downer on it. It's not perfect, but I've enjoyed my two visits so far very much, it's something a bit different on the Fylde coast, and am sure I'll be going back soon.
2 comments:
I noted in your well written report on the Istanbul Restaurant in Lytham, that you look forward to returning to sample more of this type cuisine. I would suggest you return sooner rather then later as the business is up for sale.
As with the three previous restaurants located at 26 Hastings Place, the Istanbul restaurant has failed. Its location makes it a white elephant that trades at best 3 nights a week and you need to sell a lot of kebabs to make a profit let alone pay the £75000 rent. As a restaurant it’s in the wrong place and wrong town.
As you indicate in your report the dining experience is not perfect even for a fan of Turkish food and wine. Personally I see the foodies in Lytham including myself, go for Italian food and wine which is regarded as refined, where Turkish food consists mainly of meat and more meat.
Thanks for your comment, Anonymous. I noticed in a recent Evening Gazette that they are still advertising, so must presumably still be struggling on.
You're quite wrong about Turkish food consisting "of meat and more meat." Like all the middle eastern cuisines, there is a strong tradition of vegetarian food. Indeed, probably the most famous Turkish dish, Imam Bayildi, is entirely meat-free.
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