Gourmet Port

We’ve passed by this restaurant countless times on our way to the Sultan Mosque for Isyak prayers. (we always seem to find a new dining place because of this) One day, our curiosity got the best of us, and we googled the name of the shop, hmm all we got was that it was helmed by a Turkish chef. And I couldn’t really read the menu that was on scribd via my iPhone. The next day, a huge review was written about this very restaurant in the Berita Harian.

The gist of that article was that it serves Mediterranean food and that it’s lamb shanks and greek fisherman soup were amazing! Hang on a sec! Greek and Halal! That’s a Singapore first! We went after Isyak prayers, and we ordered the mezze, caeser salad, Kakavia, lamb shanks, ribs and a sheesh tawouk. We ordered the mojito, which came with kiwi slices.

The kakavia is a traditional greek fisherman’s soup, was simply to die for! I will rave about it to anyone who’d listen…seriously! Pretty similar to the French bouillibaise, this Greek soup is so much heartier. With a rich and robust tomato base, very different from your from the can tomato soup, with generous amounts of fish and the soup was brightened by a good squeeze of lemon juice. My mouth waters just thinking of it. I think they prepared the shanks and the ribs pretty nicely. The meat just fell off the lamb shanks and the ribs, whilst the sheesh tawouk was tender, quite like the sauce that came with it. Perhaps on my next visit, I’d like to try their souvlaki and another bowl of kakavia mmmmmm

Gourmet Port is located at:
734 North Bridge Road
Tel: +65 6288 3421

Sufi revisited

For the past two weeks I’ve been hanging out at Arab Street during the weekends.  They’re putting up the Eid lights all over the Kampung Java area. It’s kind of funny, it’s not even Ramadan yet and all these merriments are on display. We picked my brother up from uni and headed to Arab Street with the intention of having dinner at Alaturka. Previously the owner had informed us that they close at 2am, but when we arrived there at 10, the staff told us that they were closed and that their restaurant’s closing time is at 11pm? 11pm on a Friday night on the eve of a holiday? Does that make sense at all? And the owner wasn’t around so we decided to go to Sufi, and there were alot of people sitting on carpets along the corridors of the closed carpet shops. Our usual seat was unoccupied, right by the door underneath the airconditioning. We ordered something new this time around: Balik Shish Kebab, Salmon Steak, Sucuk Pide, Meze Tabagi, Adana Kebab, Kuzupirzola, Borek, Mousaka, Imam Bayldi ice mint tea and a pot of apple tea.

The balik shish kebab was cubes of cod(or some white fish) and lemons that were skewered and grilled. The Salmon steak was cooked just right. The sucuk pide was different from the pide we had tried at Anatolia on Mummy’s birthday, so much more yummier and cheesier and kinda tasted like a pepperoni pizza. There were rounds of pepperoni like meat topped on top of a crispy and cheesy pide. The pide round from Anotolia was on the other hand softer and chewier and have a different texture, especially with the egg in the middle. The Meze Tabagi had my favourite dips served with a piping hot lavash. I had the Adana Kebab, ground meat on a “sword” like thingy that was mixed with some herbs and grilled. What was great about the dish was that it came with a salad, that for the life of me can’t figure out the flavours. When mixed with the meat and rice  the salad made the perfect combination or “glue” that links all of them together. Imam Bayldi were eggplants that were filled with tomatoes and cheese and baked. It was so good when dipped with the sucuk pide. The Moussaka was great with rice as well and especially wonderful with the Borek. The borek was crispy and the cheese filling was not at all salty and when dipped in the moussaka it was delicious! This time round, I ordered the Baklava…sigh..I have to make an exclamation…those were the BEST baklavas in Singapore! The ones from Deli Turk, Cafe le Caire nor Alaturka were not as moist as the ones from Sufi. The layers of filo didn’t taste like paper in your mouth but instead just melts in it.  Heavenly! And to wash it all down, hot tangy apple tea and ice cold mint tea A good way to end an utterly busy Friday evening.

Imam Bayldi

Lamb Mousaka

Borek

Lamb chops

Sucuk Pide

Salmon Grill

Fish Kebab

Adana

Yummiest Baklavas in Singapore

Deli Turk

Doner Chicken

Called mummy and asked her what she wanted for lunch whilst still at Suntec, and she wanted a doner kebab.  So I checked out Deli Turk which was packed. Service was good despite the lunch rush. The doner chicken was quite good, the chicken flavourful. Whilst the baklava, there was something amiss with it, perhaps it was lacking in butter as it was rather dry. Not too sweet at all. The price was slightly expensive and the baklava was $11.90 for 4 pieces. Their Kunefe looked so scrumptious, that’ll be my next order and my next reason to go there would be their moussaka mmmmmm.

Deli Turk is located at:
#03-34 Suntec City Mall Sky Garden