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Surry Hills’ longstanding temple to Turkish delights Nick Dent.
Just as Istanbul is poised over the Bosphorus, marking the border between Europe and Asia, Erciyes has long marked the Surry Hills-Redfern rubicon.
Pronounced arguhyess, this Cleveland Street institution takes its name from a volcano in the Kayseri province in the dead centre of Turkey. The restaurant is owned by the Saracoglu family, pioneers of Turkish cuisine in Sydney: they opened Erciyes as a takeaway 20 years ago. Today, that takeaway counter dispensing the area’s best kebabs and pide is joined to a big open dining room with 150 seats.
Fridays and Saturdays are packed out here with the obligatory bellydancing, but when I called to make a Thursday reservation they told me to just show up. “Plenty of room for everybody,” a man’s voice assured me, and something told me that big voice owned a big moustache.
The ex and I are ushered to a table in the centre of a room decked out with paraphernalia from the Anatolian Peninsula as well as a cheerful disco ball. Friendly, fiftyish gentlemen attend to us. (I’m right about the mo.) Fully licensed, the restaurant has a range of quaffable wines, none of them over $25. A bottle of Tisdall 33rd Semillon from the Goulburn Valley is barely marked up at a mere $17.
Stuffed vine leaves ($2.50 each) are fresh, warm cigars of lemony rice. A plate of mezze ($14) has more colourful stripes than the Paul Smith logo: hummus, chilli, carrot, babaganoush, parsley, cacik (yogurt and cucumber) and more. The Turkish bread that comes with it is exemplary – its light, fluffy interior ideal for holding dip. Soon all that’s left on our platter is a slash of purple. We’re not big beetroot fans.
Delicious as I know Erciyes’ pides to be, our bloated Christmas bellies still haven’t gone down, so we skip those in favour of a good old-fashioned mixed grill ($26). Two juicy lamb cutlets are accompanied by tasty kofte (beef meatballs) and a pile of tender chicken and lamb pieces, hot off the skewer. Combined with salad and more bread, there’s really more food here than the two of us can eat.
Still, out of a sense of duty, we start tucking into a super-sweet semolina slice ($2.50), zippy with orange and pistachio. Unintentionally, we polish it off. A happy accident.
Sure, there’s nothing groundbreaking about dips and kebabs, but it’s nice to know you can get well made ones in a welcoming environment without any reservations, headaches, or wallet strain. Young Turks may get all the headlines, but old Turks keep the world turning.
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