Home home, when we go home home home!
Ahhh, Turkish culture and cuisine .... As someone who lived in Turkey for quite sometime, I'm a bit of a snob when it comes to tantalizing Turkish food. If the cheese aint peynir and the eggplant aint patlican, then this balik aint nibbling.
Too much Turkish there .. Now here comes the Pahsas explosion ..
My partner and I went here for my birthday and the moment I walked in, I felt like I was in a Cappadocian cave hostel. There were beautiful lights and lovely carpets draped all over the place; black and white pictures of touristic highlights from the 80s hung on the walls, and I was greeted with a "Merhaba," which sent me spiraling right down through the rabbit hole of nostalgia ....
The place is BYO so my partner told the waiter he was heading out to grab a bottle of wine, and as soon as he spilled the secret, we were offered a "special, just for you." If you've been to Turkey, you know how comforting being offered a "special deal" can be. He gave us a bottle of wine and two glasses for $20, which was significantly cheaper than any wine on the menu... We also had to pay separate cash for it so the owner wouldn't know .. Back street deals, I love it!
It was a Thursday night, so it wasn't packed, which should mean that the service should have been spot-on, but it was a bit spot-off... But hey, that's Turkey! The deal-making waiter was bustling about and forgot to bring us Turkish bread more times than three, but we didn't mind .. We were cuddled up on the awesome carpet cushions on the floor sipping black market wine.
Now the menu ... yuuuummmm!!! I would definitely recommend coming in a group so you can sample as many meze dishes as possible... But being the chubby little birthday bliss foody I am, I ordered four mezes, all of which were DELICIOUS!!!! Really .. the food was EXCEPTIONAL and worth every penny! For meze dishes, the portions were large, and a group of four could be easily satisfied with six dishes among them.
The haloumi cheese ($15) was served on a bed of walnuts and pomegranates, divine! The pan fried eggplant ($12) made me salivate, the sauteed mushrooms ($13) were perfect, and the shrimp raki ($15) took me back to days on the Bosphorous of sipping raki. This lovely assortment was definitely some of the best, authentic Turkish food I've had!
Then I spoke Turkish to the waiter and the large group of Turkish men dining in "traditional style" in the middle of the restaurant, and they were swoon. We were immediately initiated into Sydney's "inner circle of Turks." Knowing it was my birthday, they kindly brought over a complimentary plate of mouth watering baklava!
Needless to say, I left fat, happy, and kindly reminded of the reasons why Turkey is home and Pashas will more than do until I'm back. read more