What a wonderful lunch we had at Antalya Red Square today! Antalya is located at 5131 Mayfield Road, Mayfield Hts. OH As always, when we lunch at Antalya, Emil and his staff treat us well - and there was a new treat on the menu: Borscht! Now, we've just finished Passover, during which Jewish people of Eastern European descent often make borscht. Most of my memories of broscht, or beet soup, are of disgusting looking glop in a jar that my mother would buy around the holiday; not the kind of food I normally play with.
But Antalya had borscht as their special soup today, so I decided to try it. I didn't ask if it was hot or cold, or with sour cream or what - I just ordered it. It was a splendid choice!
Hot and steamy - tasting of fresh beets and sweated onions, and, incongruous with anything I knew about borscht - beef. Yes, beef. And potatoes, which soak up color and flavor from the beets.
Aha! Chunks of beef in the soup, and probably also beef stock, which explained the beefy flavor. And no sour cream. This dish is a super-duper-play-with-your-food winner - RUN to Antalya to enjoy this delicacy!
Jamie decided to try an appetizer today, which we all shared:
Kisir
According to Wikipedia, Kısır is a traditional Turkish side dish made from bulgur wheat, parsley, and tomato paste. Common additional ingredients include parsley, tomato paste, onion, garlic (in some regions), sour pomegranate juice (in southern regions of Turkey) or lemon, lettuce leaves, and a lot of spices. It had a reddish color and a little bit of spice, and was quite tasty.
These next few photos are from our last visit, April 15:
Chicken Adana
Ground chicken meat, seasoned and grilled.
Chicken Shish
Grilled cubes of marinated chicken breast - this was my lunch and it was delicious, with a smoky flavor from the grill and tender from the marinade.
Donner Kebab
A Turkish take on the Lamb gyro. Delicious! These next two meals were from today:
Lamb Shish
Generous slices of lamb, perfectly cooked (the piece I sampled was still pink and juicy inside), in pita with pepper salad, lettuce, tomato, and cucumber sauce on the side.
Falafel
I know I've shown this before - but Antalya has some of the best falafel I've ever had - and adding humus to the sandwich takes it to another level.
The hummus is that pasty looking stuff between the falafel balls - and it is good.
Yum! We love to play with lunch at Antalya and you should too!
But Antalya had borscht as their special soup today, so I decided to try it. I didn't ask if it was hot or cold, or with sour cream or what - I just ordered it. It was a splendid choice!
Hot and steamy - tasting of fresh beets and sweated onions, and, incongruous with anything I knew about borscht - beef. Yes, beef. And potatoes, which soak up color and flavor from the beets.
Aha! Chunks of beef in the soup, and probably also beef stock, which explained the beefy flavor. And no sour cream. This dish is a super-duper-play-with-your-food winner - RUN to Antalya to enjoy this delicacy!
Jamie decided to try an appetizer today, which we all shared:
Kisir
According to Wikipedia, Kısır is a traditional Turkish side dish made from bulgur wheat, parsley, and tomato paste. Common additional ingredients include parsley, tomato paste, onion, garlic (in some regions), sour pomegranate juice (in southern regions of Turkey) or lemon, lettuce leaves, and a lot of spices. It had a reddish color and a little bit of spice, and was quite tasty.
These next few photos are from our last visit, April 15:
Chicken Adana
Ground chicken meat, seasoned and grilled.
Chicken Shish
Grilled cubes of marinated chicken breast - this was my lunch and it was delicious, with a smoky flavor from the grill and tender from the marinade.
Donner Kebab
A Turkish take on the Lamb gyro. Delicious! These next two meals were from today:
Lamb Shish
Generous slices of lamb, perfectly cooked (the piece I sampled was still pink and juicy inside), in pita with pepper salad, lettuce, tomato, and cucumber sauce on the side.
Falafel
I know I've shown this before - but Antalya has some of the best falafel I've ever had - and adding humus to the sandwich takes it to another level.
The hummus is that pasty looking stuff between the falafel balls - and it is good.
Yum! We love to play with lunch at Antalya and you should too!
