How's this for good timing!
Here is the review for the Istanbul Restauurant from last weeks local paper the Darlington & Stockton Times 2nd February 2007
http://www.darlingtonandstocktontimes.co.uk/leisure/weekendtimes/eatingout/display.var.1166944.0.have_you_got_the_stomach_for_istanbul.phpHave you got the stomach for Istanbul?
GYRATING alongside a semi-naked woman was not quite what I had in mind when we went out for dinner last Friday evening. Being enticed to shake one's hips by a belly dancer in front of a restaurant full of diners may be many men's worst nightmare - downright cheesy at best - but it seemed entirely natural at Istanbul, Darlington's new-ish Turkish establishment.
I'll leave it to others to judge the appropriateness of this behaviour by the editor of a respected family newspaper, but I can say the other diners didn't show signs of imminent nausea or even leave the restaurant. So it can't have been that bad. Can it?
Or maybe the other diners were prepared to stomach this unseemly spectacle as the price of enjoying a rather good meal. In my defence, I would say I was not only one lured on to the floor by the singularly comely dancer, who flitted most attractively between tables, displaying the flattest and most mesmerising stomach this side of Istanbul (the city).
Istanbul (the restaurant) is authentically Turkish. Apart from the belly dancer (Friday nights only for those who would rather avoid it), there is a huge charcoal grill used to produce the various kebabs that make up a large part of the menu. There is also Ismail Zengin, the highly engaging chef/proprietor who presides over everything with pride and no little aplomb.
We started with a selection of meze, the Turkish version of the Spanish tapas. There were three of us and we ordered four dishes: humus (£2.95), Iman Bayildi (£3.45) - an aubergine, tomato, peppers and onion stew, Sucuk Izgara (£3.45) - grilled garlic sausage, and Icli Kofte (£4.45) minced meatballs with fresh mint, dill, pine kernels, parsley and cracked wheat.
Each dish came with a salad and rice garnish and as we had already been presented with a large basketful of thick pitta bread and large bowls of black olives and pickled chilli peppers, it was a meal in itself.
We were given ample opportunity to rest-up (and do a bit of belly dancing) before the arrival of our main courses, to which we didn't do justice because of the substantial nature of the meze.
My Istanbul Special Kebabs (£10.75) were four large kebabs of lamb, chicken and kofte (minced lamb) with a lamb cutlet on the side for good measure. The cutlet was a little on the chewy side but the kebabs were tender and beautifully flavoured thanks to the pre-grill marinade.
Sylvia and daughter Laura chose variations of the same dish. Guvech (£7.95) is a slow cooked stew made with onions, mushrooms, celery, sweet peppers and courgettes, served in a terracotta bowl straight from the oven. Sylvia went for the lamb version, Laura for the chicken (topped with melted cheese) and both approved of its hearty robustness while struggling to finish what was in front of them.
Laura, being nearly 21 and with a stomach almost as flat as the belly dancer's, did in time have room for a dessert, and I, emboldened and besotted (so Sylvia suggested) by my brief turn around the dance floor with the semi-naked temptress, thought I'd join her.
An exceedingly gooey and sweet Baklava (£3) and a rather curious rice pudding, Suglag (£3) were duly dispatched to wreak further havoc on our bulging midriffs.
We rolled out on to Northgate knowing we had eaten too much but cheered by the thought that the bill was less than £60 for the three of us and that included four bottles of Efes beer (£3), a malty and very palatable Turkish bottled brew.
If readers think the beer was responsible for the belly dancing editor, I swear I only had one.
We didn't realise we such a nice Turkish restaurant on our doorstep so sounds like its worth a visit as we are only 15 miles away.
Mike
