Tuesday, July 05, 2016

Turkish meze and atmosphere at Anatoli, Cape Town

We have been meaning to go back to Anatoli for literally years. This Turkish restaurant in Napier Street in Green Point has been open since 1984, which goes to show that, if you have a good formula and do excellent food you can survive that long, which not many Cape Town restaurants can say. We had been yearning for some good Turkish food and had a great time with our friends. We do recommend a visit
The familiar interior is very Turkish with carpets and ceramics adorning the walls. Low lighting and soft music in the background
A very well- travelled bottle. Given to us by Diemersfontein marketing manager Dian Joubert at Vinexpo Hong Kong, it survived Vietnam and made it back to Cape Town. They allow you two bottles of BYO wine (Bring your own) but they do have a good wine list
and there is Belly dancing to liven up your evening
The food comes to you, not on a menu but on a tray filled with a display of mezze. Most are cold; there is a hot selection. Many are vegetarian. All are interesting and worth trying. You choose what you want and your order is delivered to the table. If the restaurant is busy, this can take a little while. We chose two each and ended up with only one meat option. You get 3 to five of each mezze unless is a single dish like a dip or the potato cake
A sigara borek, a hot mezze of phyllo pasty stuffed with cheese and herbs. Excellent, crisp and flavourful. We had a portion of these
A selection of olives dusted with dried oregano
Tarama Salata, the classic smoked cod roe dip, lemon and oil
Zeytinyagli Pirasa. Leeks cooked in tomato and olive oil
Cauliflower Kofte. Mashed cauliflower, bread crumbs, fresh parsley and mint, stuffed with mozzarella cheese and deep-fried. We had some of these
Cano. Caramelised onions, grated and fried baby marrows and carrots served with garlic yoghurt and chilli oil
Arnavut Cigeri . Lamb liver cubes tossed in spicy flour, deep fried and served with lemon and sumac dressed onions
Muhammara. A dip of roasted red peppers, feta, bread crumbs, garlic, olive oil, lemon juice, chillies, cumin, walnuts, tomato paste, pepper paste that wowed us . We had a portion of this
Potatoes Boregi. Mashed potatoes, cheddar cheese and chilli flakes wrapped in phyllo pastry and deep fried. We had a portion of these
Izgara Hellim Peyniri. Grilled halloumi cheese with lemon juice. Served piping hot, you eat them while the cheese is soft and yielding or they go a bit rubbery. We loved our portion of this
Topig. Mashed potatoes and chickpeas stuffed with tahini, pine nuts, cinnamon, onion and dressed with chilli oil. We had a portion of this potato cake. Rather bland but enlivened by the Muhammara dip
Humus
Borani . Caramelised onions, sultanas and turmeric mixed with spinach, yoghurt and lemon zest
Mucver . Baby marrows, feta cheese and dill mixed and pan fried. We had some of these crispy patties
Zeytinyagli Yaprak Dolmasi, Vine leaves stuffed with rice, pine nuts, black currants and spices
Marmaris . Combination of stuffed green olives, mushrooms, red pepper and sun dried tomatoes
Cacik . Cucumber, garlic, yoghurt and mint. You may know this as tzatziki
The meze are very filling, so each couple shared a main course. This is one of the two vegetarian options, Briami (One size only) Layers of caramelised onions, baby marrows & potatoes with tomato, herbs & spices
We shared a “small” portion (it was huge) of the Lamb Shank, slow cooked for four hours with orange juice, coriander seeds and other spices served on a bed of smoked aubergine purée. Plenty for two after all those mezze
The dessert selection also comes on a tray. Not for us on this visit. A chocolate pot flavoured with rosewater and orange
Compote of Orange slices cooked with bay leaves and cloves
Baklava, sticky with syrup and nuts
Coffee infused Crème Caramel
Turkish Delight Cheese cake. There are others not illustrated.
We finished the meal with two Turkish coffees and an Apple tea
Our bill. The 8 mezze which was plenty for the four of us. You do need to go in a group if you want to taste more of the mezze. Or be extra greedy and order lots. We drank two bottles of wine we took with us. We get given lots of wine we are asked to taste and taking them to restaurants to try with different food and share with friends is one answer
The menu. We also had Kuru Kofte, not shown here . Spicy lamb meatballs served with a walnut sauce. Disappointingly they are served cold
© John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus 2016


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