No Nonsense Turkish Cuisine at Suntec

PUBLISHED March 12th, 2012 08:51 am | UPDATED March 28th, 2016 12:30 am

Growing up in London, Turkish cuisine was always one of my favourite cuisines. It’s the simplicity that I love. It’s all about fresh, quality ingredients – simply cooked to perfection.

So when I migrated south (and east) to Singapore some 3 years ago, it was always something I greatly missed about the cold north. Of course this feeling was only exacerbated when I spent a week in Istanbul before moving here. Error! A week of gorgeous, mild mediterranean weather, shisha smoking, mint tea, and of course wonderful Turkish food.

I’d almost given up on my search for quality Turkish food here, when by by a chance exchange between myself and my good friend Giovanni, we finally settled on  lunch catch up at ‘Turkish Cuisine’. As you can imagine, I found the restaurant name somewhat…uncreative, but then what’s in a name? And considering the ethos of good Turkish food, I reconciled that a simple name was actually a better omen than something fancy-shmancy.

Anyway, we made our way to the 3rd floor of Suntec Tower 3 and sat down.. Once again, the theme here is definitely simplicity, everything from the frontage, to the menus, tables and chairs….

As it turns out, Giovanni happened to be a good friend of the owner (Turkish born, now Singaporean) Selahttin, so we received some very personal, and typically superb Turkish hospitality.

After mulling over the menu, we decided to leave it in the hands of Selahttin and waited eagerly for the kitchen to begin their assault.

First up was an un-named dish to whet our appetite – some spiced, minced lamb covered with herbs, loaded on to a sort of baked-bread-cracker…It kind of looked like what you would imagine a Turkish pizza to look like. However, this was delicious. Simple, succulent meat with a herbacious twist and well-made fresh bread….A very pleasant start…..

Next up was the Hummus…..the word itself makes me quiver with delight.

As my close friends well know, this is something that I have ridiculously high standards for…Well I am pleased to say that the hummus at Turkish Cuisine was really quite good, smooth, garlicky, creamy…and with a splash of medium spicy chili jam, it gave the hummus a nice kick to it. Well played good sir.

The Ezme salad (shown below) is made from tomato, cucumber, onion, herbs and green chili. This was sort of like a spicy tabouleh with a sour edge. If you’re a fan of strong flavours, this is great…It would also accompanies any grilled meats well. But for something more mild, look elsewhere.

To be honest, you are probably looking at the picture below and wondering what the hell it is…Well, this my friends is slow baked eggplant drenched in garlic yoghurt sauce with a nice tomato salsa topping. This is so good it makes my mouth water just remembering it. The soft and slightly oily eggplant soaked up the sauce for maximum flavour. But be warned, this one is definitely for the garlic lovers.

And kibbeh, and good test for Turkish cuisine…minced lamb wrapped in a deep friend semolina packet – very decent. Add a squeeze of lemon and let the sour/savoury mix dance on your tongue.

True Turkish stuffed vine leaves…. These are exactly how I found them back in Europe…rich, thick, oily leaves wrapping rice, pine nuts, raisins and herbs. These are great here but be careful not to eat to many, it’s practically a meal in itself.

At this point in the culinary assault, I had already conceded victory for Turkish Cuisine and was thinking of a nice coffee to finish up……………and then this arrived! Come on stomach, there’s gotta be room in there somewhere…..

A giant 50cm plate with rice, salad, red cabbage, moutabal and 6 different meats, oh and some exquisite grilled sweet mini red and yellow peppers…Oh mama. Whilst all were pretty much finished, it was the chicken and lamb pieces that rocked my world…though the spicy minced lamb was also noteworthy.

And was there room for even more? Some Black Sea style stuffed cabbage soon arrived. HELL and YES. I gobbled an entire one to myself, coating it in the garlic-yoghurt and tomato sauce. This is the first time I have even seen this on a menu in Singapore. It’s a truly unique and wonderful dish.

After reviewing all these photos, it really amazes me how much we actually managed to eat….and then go on to dessert as well. To start, some traditional baklava  expertly made and finished with beautifully crumbled pistachio.

And the piece de resistance, the kunife – a cheesey dessert with shredded noodle/wheat on top…coated with almonds and pistachio. It’s actually much lighter than it sounds. And again, a dish pretty much only available here in all of Singapore.

Finally, after all these courses, 2 bottles of wine and fine Turkish coffee to finish, we parted ways and left. Very much pleased with the past 3 hours of gluttony.

If you are a fan of Turkish food or have even been to Turkey and reminiss about the food there, there is a genuine chance to experience authentic Turkish cuisine. It is certainly not so cheap (expect to pay $20-30 per person) for the ambience, but the quality is well worth the mullah and portions and very generous.

A particular “tesekkür ederim”(te-shek-kur e-de-rim) to Selahttin and his staff who are going a fantastic job at bringing the real Turkish Cuisine to the red dot that is Singapore. See you soon I am sure.