Sembol

I should have written this some time ago, but not having had the time, I am only writing this now. Expect more restaurants this week.

~o~

If you were to ask a lot of people in Urfa City about restaurants, Sembol is the first place they would suggest.  What's so special about Sembol? Their Kebab of course!

 (Yes, I took a pic of the restaurant name)

Appetizer:

Of course, there was the salad, lebeni cold soup and surprisingly, some mini lahmacun.  Lahmacun is somewhat like pizza, however the only toppings are tomato sauce, onions, bell peppers and ground beef and it is quite soft. The salad was composed mainly of onions and thick tomato sauce with some peppers, and it was spicy but was delicious.  I have to admit though, the lahmacun was pretty hot, but it tasted quite good. 

Main Course:

We ordered kebab of course, and it was grilled to perfection.  It was a mixture of beef, liver, a little bit of fat, chicken, tomatoes, eggplants, and a special one wherein there was was cheese and chicken in a single piece.  It was utterly divine when eaten with parsley, onions and bread.  Everything was not oily, with just the right amount of spiciness, making the meal enjoyable.

Drink: Ayran

Ayran is basically yoghurt and water mixed together, but Sembol's Ayran is quite special as it had a foamy top.  It was of just the right thickness and was not sour at all (some tend to be a bit sour), in fact it was quite sweet.  As it also came in a metal bowl, it gave the drink a very Turkish feel to it.

Yes, I have to say it, Sembol is definitely not a restaurant you should pass up on.  Price wise, it is average, but the service and the food is incomparable.

Çulcuoğlu Baklava and Restaurant

Haven’t updated this blog in a while, although I’ve been going around various restaurants here in Turkey (Şanliurfa, Turkey, specifically).  I keep forgetting the restaurant’s name and the names of the food they served, initially so I couldn’t really make any entries before.  Now that I’ve gotten to learn the language better, I can start making entries about them.

Çulcuoğlu Baklava and Restaurant

Located near the city center, this restaurant has an outdoor and indoor eating place.  As it was the spring season, me and my friends selected to eat in the garden, and we were given blankets to warm ourselves with if we felt cold.  Talk about hospitality! 

I sampled some of the Turkish food I haven’t tried before, and here were my selections:

Lebeni Soup

This is a usually a standard part of any restaurant’s offerings.  Some offer it for free, but I’m not sure for this certain place as I didn’t get to look at the bill closely.  It’s made out of yoghurt mixed with some beans, and is served cold.  Having had this a lot of times before, I would say there’s normal, nothing spectacular about it.

Domates Salata (Tomato Salad)

My friend ordered this particular salad, but actually to me it already looks like a tomato soup since the ingredients were very finely chopped and the tomato juice was soaking all of them.  It’s a combination of (I think) parsley, onion stalks, onions, and of course, tomatoes.  It had a fresh taste, but as this is also a very common offering in the area, I can find nothing about it that stands out particularly.

Içlı Kofte

Kofte is a popular dish in Urfa, and this is the first time I have tried this particular type.  It’s similar to an empanada, but the main difference is that while an empanada is soft, this particular dish is quite crispy on the outside.  The filling was made out of ground beef mixed with finely chopped onions and some other spices.  As for the taste?  The filling complements the taste of the breading used.  I thought it would be oily, but it wasn't.  It tasted very good, the meat had a defined flavor due to the spices used.

Tandir

 My main entree.  You can see what it is composed of clearly, except for the fried rice underneath the beef strips.  The fried rice had beans mixed in it.  Verdict: It was very delicious.  The beef was quite soft, no hint of toughness anywhere, and the flavor was very pronounced.  The rice was well cooked, the amount of oil just right, making it not very oily.  The beans in the rice were flavorful as well, and complemented the beef.  It was a good partner with the onion, tomatoes and peppers seen in the picture.

It was not very expensive, the meal I think was a grand total of $15-20.  I have to admit though, the variety of the food is limited, and I'm not sure I want to try anything else on the menu, but I'd definitely go back for the kofte.