We ordered their mix plate of starters, which includes a large sampling portions of their cold dishes. (chickpeas, carrot, eggplant, tomato dips) These went perfect with their famous Lavosh flat bread. I ordered another plate of these to go for dinner.

Though we had only 3 people, we ordered their group set meal (Padishah’s Table, $20/person), which was the biggest medley of food I have ever seen in my life. My favorite was the Lahmajun, a thin crust pizza with ground meat on top.

Being a sendoff meal, we took our time eating, sipped on our ayran between bites while shooting the breeze. About an hour later, we finished the huge plate of food and were completely demolished. The only thing that could bring us back to consciousness was a shot of Turkish coffee. Brewed with the fine grinds in the cup, this coffee had bite.

The meal, nay, feast, did the occasion justice. From what my Turkish friend says, the food is true to regular restaurants found in his home town. It drew many nostalgic tales of home out of him, and in turn, us.

“Food is our common ground, a universal experience.”  -James Beard

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I ordered the ichi roll, pictured in the front row, lovingly named after Ichiro, with real crab and chopped scallop, futomaki roll, and cruncy roll. The angle of the picture doesn’t do a good job in conveying the monsterous size of their house roll in the back right.

Sushi lunch box. A good sampling of the fundamentals.

Nabeyaki Udon. More of a filler. No noodles manage to impress next to ramen.

One thing of note is that the tea served here is different than that of most other Japanese restaurants, being greener, stronger, and more fragrant. I’m not knowledgeable enough in teas to know what kind it is, but the only other restaurant I remember having it is  Sushi Hachi. If anyone knows more about the differences, please do let me know.

Likelihood of returning: You betcha.

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