Cuisines across countries reflect the geographic location and climate of said places. These tend to become a so-called fingerprint of those cuisines. Our journey, this time, is to a country that was known to the Romans’ as Minor Asia, although a part of the land is in Europe.
Turkey, a heritage of the Ottoman empire, is a fusion of local Turkish and other nations that were ruled by the Ottomans such as Armenia, Central Asia, Eastern Europe, the Balkans and of course the Mediterranean and Middle East.
Tucked away in Qurum, a hidden gem called Lokanta sits unassumingly. A cosy yet finely decorated restaurant with a name that comes from the Latin word Locanda, meaning an inn serving food. As is our course, we picked appetisers, two mains and a dessert.
HE SAID: For our appetisers, we picked the Mezze platter and Sigara Boregi. The Meze platter is a selection of five appetisers: the olive salad, Babagannoush, Heydari, Muhammara, and Hummus. It was well prepared with a unique taste. The Sigara Boregi is a selection of four pastries topped with cheese and herbs, ground chicken, ground meat and the fourth one is a mixture of all mentioned above. The pastry was fluffy and light, and the toppings were flavourful and yummy. What a good start while waiting for our main course.
SHE SAID: The appetisers really whet our cravings. The Mezze was very different from those in other restaurants with sharp flavours that were enhanced with sesame bread. The Sigara Boregi was not what I was expecting. Doughy bread that was freshly baked with four different toppings. Loved the flavours of the cheese and the chicken but the meat was a no-go for me.
HE SAID: For our mains, we picked the Et Tava and the Lokanta Kebap. Et Tava is a baked meat and vegetable casserole covered by a generous amount of cheese and then sealed by dough. The chunks of meat were very soft, and the vegetables were cooked to perfection. The Lokanta Kebap is a dish made of grilled chunks of meat and chicken then sautéed with tomato, capsicum and garlic. It was served with rice and garlic bread. The dish left us in amazement, especially the great bread. Wow
SHE SAID: I am in love with the Lokanta Kebap, even with all the cooking and the flavours of tomato and garlic, the smoky kebab flavours seeped through and left us wanting more. The lightly toasted bread soaked in spices and garlic took the dish to another level. The Et Tava was wonderful too, reminded me of the popular Bamiya dish.
HE SAID: For dessert, we picked the Kunafa with cheese. It was very nice though I wish they had reduced the amount of sugar syrup and left it to the taste of the customer to add or not.
SHE SAID: I did not like the Kunafa, that’s the only thing I did not like. Not their fault. I don’t prefer extremely sweet things. They didn’t have anything else on the menu, but I look forward to trying other items soon.
WE SAID: We have been to plenty of Turkish restaurants in Oman, so we went in expecting the same fare, however, we were pleasantly surprised with their offerings and look forward to trying so many different things another time. Service was fast, sweet, and efficient.
Ambience: 4.5/5
Taste of food: 4.5/5
Presentation: 4/5
Service: 5/5
Value for money: 4.5/5
