Mel finds Turkish Delight in Altrincham

After a heavy weekend of “socialising” Mel needed to refuel on Sunday evening to help prepare for a busy week ahead.

In need of a good meal (as well as a good wash), the decision was made to visit Altrincham’s new Turkish restaurant Istanbul Grill on Ashley Road.

Couple of reasons for choosing this restaurant, a) every time Mel has staggered past it has been full of activity and b) they have a 20% off deal at the moment – only rule is you need to book ahead to claim the discount so we quickly rang them to get a reservation.

Pretty lucky actually as it was full to the brim by 7pm comprising of families, couples and a couple of individuals simply relaxing with a beer and a plate of good looking food.

Mel was really impressed with the interior of the restaurant; clean, vibrant and had clearly been licked by an expensive tin of paint.

Dow, our delightful waitress led us to a nice table by the window so we could watch the world go by whilst having a good look at the menu. As with many other Mediterranean restaurants the menu consisted of healthy dishes with a large emphasis on char-grilled meats and vivacious salads; also noticed that many of the dishes were suitable for Mel’s friend (who has coeliacs) – very good start.

Food ordered we awaited our starters of sucek; a spicy Turkish sausage (£4.50), grilled halloumi cheese (£4.50) and Dow’s suggestion the battered calamari (£4.95). Figured this covered the main food groups along with a few bottles of Efes Draft.

The sausage arrived sliced into thin slivers of juicy smoky meat which had a great taste of paprika and chilli – they were the best we’ve had to date and went well with the halloumi and yoghurt dressing.

The calamari was a great suggestion too and the squid rings were lovely and crisp giving the rings some texture making it easy to dip in the homemade tartare sauce.

What we liked about the starters was the fact that the chef had given it minimum fuss allowing the quality ingredients to speak for themselves; no wonder it was a busy restaurant.

Onto the mains, we shared the karisik which was the restaurant’s mixed grill (£14.95pp). This dish was a colossal plateful of meat which included lamb fillets (4), chicken breasts (4), lamb chops (2), chicken meatballs (2) and lamb meatballs (2). This was accompanied with lovely rice mixed with vermicelli and a light green salad – the plate was full of colour and the air full of meaty aromas.

Every single piece of meat was cooked well and had lots of flavour throughout, especially the meatballs and although this was a large meal, it was extremely healthy with no grease on the plate.

We finished the meal off with some very good Turkish coffee and some complimentary Turkish Delight. The coffee was strong, sweet and coupled with the Turkish Delight, it was very good indeed.

To say that Istanbul Grill is good value for money is an understatement. For example the main course could feed a family of four easily, it’s only because Mel is greedy did we eat it all. If you are organised and book a table too, you get to save 20% which is some discount. You don’t mind giving your children this kind of food either as it will fill them up yet they get their 5 a day quota too.

Just £35 lighter and a lot heavier, we will be back here very soon - probably for their 3 course lunch at just £9 per person!

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Posted: Tuesday 30th July 2013
ID: 2117 - 1023