Mezebar

Bar Bar Food Dessert Eat & Drink Modern Turkish Tapas

Jackie McMillan
April 24, 2013

Tek tek: these intriguing Turkish words roll off the tongue (and were part of the song title Düm Tek Tek that won Turkey Eurovision in 2009). At Efendy’s new casual Mezebar they’re 100ml mini cocktails (think: long shots), and at only five bucks apiece, you can afford a whole lot of bang for fifty bucks. My favourites were Mastika ($5) a gin and mastic liqueur combo with lemon and cucumber; and Malatya ($5) featuring cardamom-infused apricot whiskey, Riesling and Uludağ fizzy lemonade – but perhaps I’ll go back and make sure? Ten shots in (and only fifty in the red) you can probably afford a chaser – I favoured Efes Pilsen ($8), Turkey’s favourite beer. It suits snacks like Bosphorus Fried Mussels ($10), served on sticks but a darn sight better than anything you’ll eat at the Easter Show. As charcoaled meats are an Efendy specialty, you should definitely include smoky Beef Kebap Iskender ($20). For alcohol absorbing bready snacks, there’s pide on the six-dip cold Meze Board ($22) won by the Süzme yogurt (labneh); or Turkey’s answer to the toasted sandwich – Borek ($7) filled with air-dried beef and kashar cheese. Of course I blame my parting grin on the baklava, enjoyed from a shared Dessert Platter ($12), not ten tek tek…