An absolutely superb upscale Turkish restaurant!…read more
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Not all Turkish restaurants in Berlin are doner kebap places ...
Although the ratio of doner kebap places to Turkish full service restaurants in Berlin is about 600:1.
When you go full service, some of what you usually get is standard you-can-get-this-anywhere dishes such as hummus.
You won't have that problem at Osman's Tochter (although they do serve hummus.)
What Osman's Tochter puts on their table is amazing.
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They claim all their dishes are mezzes.
This is like a Spanish restaurant claiming all their dishes are tapas.
Usually tapa/mezze places serve you small dinky little portions,
So you have to buy a lot of plates and build the tab in order to eat well.
Ozment's Tochter is actually the opposite.
They deliver more food than you would expect from the menu.
Both my wife and I found that ordering two plates was enough to keep us comfortably fed - with even a little left over for the table.
No complaints from Samuel C - who believes eat big or don't eat at all.
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Nearly every dish we had was stellar.
I will just mention a few highlights.
1) Taramasalata is always good pretty much everywhere.
Ozment's Tochter's taramasalata exceeds the high standards you would expect from taramasalata in general.
Never has saltiness been put to better use.
2) Octopus is a high risk high pay off endeavor.
When it is bad, it is fish-chewing-gum.
When it is good, it is shellfish's answer to steak.
The octopus at Ozment's Tochter is completely first rate. Their version comes in an elaborate stew. I was mopping up every last bit of juice with my bread.
3) They serve an elaborate halvah dessert with fruit compote and a lot of stuff on it.
The cook would probably disagree with me - but I think every addition they make to the halvah makes it worse.
Their homemade halvah is absolutely positively to die for.
It is a not-to-miss dessert.
If my mom tells me I have to eat my fruit before I can have my halvah,
Okay, then, I will do it.
I would do a LOT to get another dose of that halvah.
4) They do an addictively good shrimp in the shell. Sadly most of the flavor is on the shell, although the shrimp themselves are no slouch. Get used to the concept of swilling shrimp and shell together around your mouth. You will have to remove the shell politely with your napkin.
Miss Manners will be watching you.
5) They serve a raki, Tekirsdag Gold, that is absolutely outstanding.
Note that you can buy Tekirsdag Gold in most large German supermarkets.
It is impossible to get in the U.S. but easy to get in Germany.
That said - raki is a set up thing.
You need the raki AND ice cubes AND a pitcher of water and the right size small glass - a small narrow glass just big enough to hold your shot of raki and one or two ice cubes.
If you are staying in a hotel, you won't have that.
I could do this at home because I have the tall handle-less cups the Japanese use for tea.
That said, let Ozment's Tochter serve you your raki the right way.
And trust me, you really do want the Tekirsdag Gold.
6) One note: Ozment's Tochter will make you rethink the pita bread you are used to.
Ozment's will serve you one piece of bread regardless of how many dishes you order.
They will be happy to bring you more but each new pita is two euros.
Plus - their pide is a more like a crusty Italian roll than what we call a pita.
It has no pocket just for starts.
At first I was frustrated because we were out of bread relatively quickly.
We were rationing the bread for prime uses.
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Then I realized ...
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That nearly everything I was eating was better WITHOUT the pide than with it.
That even included the supersalty taramasalata - which is pretty strong stuff.
The only thing I really really had to have bread for was mopping up octopus sauce.
Seen that way, the restaurant giving you one and only one pide is a sign of advanced culinary judgement rather than some form of cheapness.
The cook is asking you to break your standard habits concerning mezzes.
The cook is right.
Do what he or she says.
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Overall, an absolutely outstanding Turkish restaurant.
Granted if you were eating in Izmir itself, you would have a spectacular view of the Mediterranean while you ate.
If you aren't in Izmir and you have no seaside view and no octopus straight off the boat,
Ozment's Tochter is the next best thing.
