Anatolia Grill and Bar, Turkish Cuisine

Gyro with Rice and Salad

10. What are some of the most well known Turkish foods?

The most famous Turkish dish is the shish kebab. We have many types of kebabs such as lamb, beef, chicken and Adana. Another well known Turkish dish is a donair or gyro. Turkish style ravioli is also very famous, at least in Turkey.



Turkish Kebabs

11. What is Turkish style ravioli?

It's a dumpling formed with a thin, handmade dough that's filled with a mixture of ground lamb and ground beef along with Turkish seasonings. The dumpling is crimped to form the ravioli, which is boiled and then served with our home made yogurt and light garlic sauce along with sautéed dry mint. Even though the ravioli is made with dough it is still a very light dish because of how thin the dough is made and because the yogurt sauce is very light tasting and isn't made with a lot of oil or a heavy tomato sauce. It's really delicious!



Manti - Turkish Ravioli

12. You make your own yogurt?

Yes, we want everything to be fresh and home made.

13. If someone is new to Turkish food - maybe they've had a gyro or a kebab, but that's all - and they come to Anatolia to learn more about Turkish cuisine, what would you recommend they start with?

The first thing is to try one of our appetizers. We have both hot and cold appetizers. Our Hummus is very good. If you've had that before and want to try something different then I'd recommend our fried eggplant appetizer which is served with a tomato sauce. Many people are not familiar with eggplant dishes, or aren't sure about how to prepare eggplant on their own. This is very popular in Turkish cuisine and is a good place to start. If you want a hot appetizer that's a little different, then I'd recommend trying the Zucchini Pancakes. These are made with mashed zucchini, feta cheese, eggs and seasoning. They're fried and then served with our garlic yogurt and a tomato sauce.

Our appetizers are quite large and one appetizer is usually enough for two people. But if you have a few friends with you then trying a few different appetizers or our appetizer combo will give you a good introduction to Turkish food.

For an entree many people want to start with the kebab or the Adana. Even if you've had a kebab before, ours is really delicious and worth trying. If you want something a little different as a kebab then I'd suggest trying the Adana. Adana is named for a city in Turkey. It's a type of kebab that's made from a mixture of ground beef and lamb with added parsley and seasonings. It's cooked on the grill and is very tasty. We don't use oil or breading on the grill so it's very healthy too.



Adana

Another interesting entree to try is the Lahmajun. When we first put it out as a special people were asking us what it was, because they'd never heard of it before. It's a Turkish style pizza. The dough, like our flatbread dough, is very, very thin. It's baked with a meat topping made from a combination of ground lamb and ground beef along with tomatoes, garlic and seasoning. There's no sauce like on an American pizza but the meat is very flavorful because it's been well seasoned. It isn't normally made with cheese either, but when people hear that it's like a pizza they sometimes want us to put cheese on it. We will add cheese if you want, but it's really delicious without the cheese too and that's how I'd recommend someone try it for the first time. When people try it they really like it. The name can be hard to remember and pronounce so most people just call it Turkish pizza!



Lahmajun - Turkish pizza

14. What about dessert? What would you recommend for people to try?

We have a Baklava which is a traditional dessert that's very sweet. It comes in four pieces, which is a lot for one person, so you may want to share it. If you haven't had Baklava before then it's a wonderful dessert to try. If you're familiar with Baklava and want to try another Turkish specialty then you really must try our Kunefe. Kunefe is a cheese dish that is baked and served warm. A special, very mild mozzarella cheese is surrounded with a thin phyllo pastry that's been chopped into tiny strands. The phyllo pastry is first cooked with butter in a special pan before the cheese is added. When someone orders the Kunefe we take if from the fridge and cook it for about 15 minutes until the cheese is warm and melted and the phyllo is golden brown. We add a bit of sweet syrup on top and combine it with a hint of cinnamon and a sprinkle of pistachios. The combination gives a buttery crunch on the outside, a smooth creamy cheese on the inside and a sweet, cinnamon and pistachio finish. It's very different and very delicious.