Simon Food Favourites: Turkish

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05 April 2010

Efendy: 'Meze Journey to Istanbul' Food Bloggers Dinner Event, Balmain (4 April 2010)

79 Elliott Street, Balmain NSW 2041

http://www.efendy.com.au

A slice of Istanbul in Balmain

A big thanks to Somer and Asli from Efendy for generously inviting a large group of food bloggers to dine at their restaurant to learn a thing or two about Turkish culture and it's influential cuisine which is so much more than just pide and kebabs. We sampled cold mezes, hot mezes, a main meal and a dessert platter along with a take away goodie bag which included possibly the best Turkish Delight you'll find made in Sydney. I had the opportunity to sample a few of the dishes last week and it was great to try the Midye Dolma this week which had a really nice aromatic rice and is apparently one of the popular street foods you'd find in Istanbul. I again enjoyed the Pachanga Boregi which seemed to be well received by the blogger guests and the acquired taste of the Koc Yumurtasi (Lambs testicles) strongly found the taste buds heart for Gourmet Rabbit and Richard Elliot’s Blog. One of my favourites of the night was again the Kadayifli Karides (Kadayif wrapped Hervey Bay king prawns).

The Kuzu Kuzu trio of lamb dishes included a very interesting Braised lamb neck in traditional wedding soup of yoghurt, trice and chickpeas. Quite a few bloggers seemed to enjoy this one along with the Tandir style Bultarra saltbush lamb shoulder over dried eggplant skin filled with smoky eggplant puree which hit the right taste bud notes for me. I also enjoyed the flavours of the Ahirdagi Salata which used some pomegranate molasses in the dressing. Somer makes his own Walnut Baklava of 42 layers of hand opened thin pastry which is a must if you can fit in some dessert and the Keskul (pistachio, almond, pomengranate pudding) was also well liked.

Thank you to all the food bloggers who were able to make the time in spending their Easter Sunday at Efendy — it was really nice to meet you all. And a special thank you to Somer and Hope in approaching me and giving me the opportunity to help organise and introduce the food bloggers for this event.

Food Bloggers and table guests that attended:

• Simon Food Favourites (Simon, Lorraine)

• Almond and the hazelnut (Yasmin)
• Music Munchies Review (Helen, Jorden)
• He Needs Food (John)
• Phuoc'n Delicious (Phuoc)
• Cookbook Maniac (Amy)
• Ohh, Look... (Bel, Will)
• Gourmet Rabbit (Denéa)
• Pigged-Out (Leona)
• Richard Elliot’s Blog (Richard)

• Asli, Omer and Hope

Other visits to Efendy:

• 4 April 2010 - 'Meze Journery to Istanbul' Food Bloggers Dinner Event

• 28 March 2010 - Turkish Meze, Apple tea, Baklava, Dana Sarma, Fava, Hamsi Marine, Kadayifli Karides, Kazandibi, Koc Yumurtasi, Kofte, Kuzu Tandir, Milky gullach

Pacanga Boregi, Patlican Salatasi, Pilic Sarma, Saksuka, Yeni Raki

• 6 March 2010 - Breakfast Meze, Incir Kaygana, Pacanga Boregi, Sucuk, Turkish delight

• 26 July 2009 - Kiymali, Sucuklu, Omlet, Kaygana

SNAPSHOT REVIEW:

PROS: Authentic and tasty dishes, well presented, nice decor

CONS: Not enough authentic Turkish restaurants in Sydney

MUST TRY: Kadayifli Karides (prawns), Pacanga Boregi, Bultarra saltbush lamb shoulder over dried eggplant skin filled with smoky eggplant puree, Lambs testicles (at least once), Somer's Baklava, Kesbul

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Table for 16 setting

Isot (sundried capsicum), Sumac, Nut mix (walnuts, sesame seeds, pistachio crowns), Nar Eksisi (Pomegranate molasses), Olive oil

Turkish bread

Soguk Mezeler – Cold Mezes
Fava: Broad bean paste, onion and dill pate

Hamsi: Black Sea sardines olive oil confit style

Midye Dolma: Tasmanian black mussels, aromatic rice, pinenuts, currant and spices

Sicak Mezeler – Hot Mezes

Pachanga Boregi: Spice-cured, sun-dried beef backstrap, kashar cheese borek
SIMON FAVOURITE :-)

Koc Yumurtasi: Lambs testicles, garlic almond tarator
SIMON TASTE CHALLENGE :-)

Kadayifli Karides: Kadayif wrapped Hervey Bay king prawns, walnut, capsicum and roasted garlic muhammara
SIMON FAVOURITE :-)

Ana Yemek – Main Meal
Kuzu Kuzu: A trio of lamb dishes

Kuzu Kuzu: Mini Iskender of Dorper lamb backstrap, jus soaked Turkish bread crouton, Iskender sauce of tomato, capsicum and parika, garlic yoghurt.

Kuzu Kuzu: Braised lamb neck in traditional wedding soup of yoghurt, trice and chickpeas
SIMON FAVOURITE :-)

Kuzu Kuzu: Tandir style Bultarra saltbush lamb shoulder over dried eggplant skin filled with smoky eggplant puree
SIMON FAVOURITE :-)

Ahirdagi Salata: Finely chopped salad of tomato, cucumber, red onion, walnuts, pomegranate molasses

Tatli Tabagi – Dessert Platter
Tatli Tabagi – Kazandibi: Burnet mastic and cinnamon pudding; Baklava: Antep style 42 layers of hand opened thin pastry, walnut; Keskul: Traditional palace recipe of pistachio, almond, pomengranate pudding

Keskul: Traditional palace recipe of pistachio, almond, pomengranate pudding

Baklava: Antep style 42 layers of hand opened thin pastry, walnut
SIMON FAVOURITE :-)

Real Turkish Delight
SIMON FAVOURITE :-)

Drinks
Efes Turkish beer

Yeni Raki

Turkish tea

Josef Chromy Pinot Noir 2009 Tasmania, Skuttlebutt Sauvignon Semillon 2008 Margaret River

Efendy
Somer (left) in the kitchen

Food Blogger action shot — heads down, cameras on.

Amy, Phuoc, Leona and Denéa about to try their lambs testicles

A helping hand for Ohh, Look...

Group photo of hosts and food bloggers

Denéa eating/loving her Turkish Delight

Goodie Bag: Apple Tea, Isot sundried capsicum, Pomengranate molasses, Real Turkish Delight

The meaning of Efendy

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29 March 2010

Efendy: Lamb Testicles and other authentic Turkish meze, Balmain (28 Mar 2010)

79 Elliott Street, Balmain NSW 2041

http://www.efendy.com.au

Turkish Meze Degustation

It was only last week I was reading about Not Quite Nigella's visit to the Wild Foods Festival in New Zealand and freaking out about the Mountain Oysters aka sheep testicles and how grossed out it made me feel about eating them. Well my fears of eating such an acquired dish has now been accomplished and I'm thankful of being challenged to try it — Efendy sure know how to cook them. Tonight was a test dinner with Efendy to discuss the blogging event coming up this Easter Sunday 4 April. Efendy has generously provided a table for 16 food bloggers (including myself) so this means all the available bloggers that commented before the lucky draw deadline will now be on the guest list — I'll be contacting you all individually with final details.

The blogging event dinner will include most of the cold and hot meze dishes I tried except for the rolled chicken and veal dish as we felt they were a bit too substantial in size. Efendy are trying to keep all the samplings more bite sized so you get to try more of them including desserts. There will also be some modifications, extras and vegetarian side dishes to supplement all the meat and seafood mezes. An if you're up for it there'll be the very alcoholic and traditional Raki and of course Lamb Testicles which smell and taste a bit like liver and look and has the texture of a very soft chicken meat — actually quite nice if you don't think about what it is too much. It's worthy of introducing my new label, the SIMON TASTE CHALLENGE :-).

My absolute favourite of the mezes is the Kadayifli Karides (Kataifi pastry wrapped Hervy Bay prawns, walnut capscium muhammara). Decent sized prawns wrapped in a kataifi pastry usually used for desserts. The walnut capscium muhammara had a nice taste bud kick to it — a drizzle of lemon makes it a winner. The Fava (Broad bean puree, sill, extra virgin Ayvalik olive oil) is an interesting dish which has silky smooth consistency and impressively holds it's shape like a frittata. I love the look of the Hamsi Marine (Black Sea sardines with tomato ezme) which aren't too salty like anchovies and go well with the fresh mint. The Kofte was moist and juicy as it should be with the right amount of spice for me. It's hard to resist the crispy shell of the Pacanga Boregi with tasty pastirma and kashar cheese inside. The Kuzu Tandir has some lovely 7 hour brasied Bultarra Saltbush Lamb shoulder — I remember Bultarra had a stand at Taste of Sydney 2010.

Now there always seems to be room for dessert no matter how full you are and the Hand rolled walnut baklava is some of the best I've tried and apparently is made by the owner of Efendy with lots of Turkish love and dedication to following a traditional recipe — not to be missed. The interesting Milky gullach with rose water and pomegranate has pudding like consistency and is very flavoursome with the rose water which I adore. The last time I had Kazandibi (Burnt cinnamon and mastic pudding, marash ice cream) was at Mado Cafe in Auburn which I didn't really enjoy but I found this one much better and palatable. I think this one had firmer consistency and I could appreciate the smokey cinnamon taste better. The Apple tea with cinnamon bark is very sweet which seemed to go well with the desserts. A friend generously provided a bottle of Irongate Estate Sweet Shiraz 2008 to try. It had a lovely bouquet and was very drinkable with hardly any noticeable tannin. The flavour wasn't as robust as your usual Shiraz but it was nevertheless enjoyable to drink.

Other visits to Efendy:
• 4 April 2010 - 'Meze Journery to Istanbul' Food Bloggers Dinner Event
• 28 March 2010 - Turkish Meze, Apple tea, Baklava, Dana Sarma, Fava, Hamsi Marine, Kadayifli Karides, Kazandibi, Koc Yumurtasi, Kofte, Kuzu Tandir, Milky gullach
Pacanga Boregi, Patlican Salatasi, Pilic Sarma, Saksuka, Yeni Raki
• 6 March 2010 - Breakfast Meze, Incir Kaygana, Pacanga Boregi, Sucuk, Turkish delight
• 26 July 2009 - Kiymali, Sucuklu, Omlet, Kaygana

SNAPSHOT REVIEW:

PROS: Authentic and tasty dishes, well presented, desserts are made onsite

CONS: So much food will fill the stomach

MUST TRY: Baklava, Kazandibi, Kadayifli Karides (prawns), Kofte, Pacanga Boreg and of course Koc Yumurtasi (lamb testicles) at least once.

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