Kazan

Time Out says

Tue Jul 3 2012

When asked for a Turkish white wine recommendation, our waitress raised her eyebrows knowingly. ‘Do you want to try?’ she asked. But the Çankaya she brought was excellent, as was the food to come. We were initially dispirited, as a vegetarian meze wasn’t the bountiful plateful that Turkish restaurants often deliver. However, Kazan clearly doesn’t need to seduce with portion size: all seats were taken on a weekday evening.

Each meze was modest in quantity, inviting us to savour rather than shovel. Houmous was simple and smooth, in contrast to the smoky baba ganoush of baritone depth. Biting into domes of expertly fried falafel brought a hit of coriander seed. Börek were freshly fried, kısır was generously nutty and tabouleh light. A main of hünkar beƒendi had us raising our eyebrows like the droll waitress earlier, but this was a reaction of delight; the lamb and aubergine stew was superb, blurring the boundary between smoky and sweet. A toothsome Ottoman grill – a mix of various kebabs, poussin and sausage – also showed that the chefs aren’t afraid of the meat-over-charcoal basics.