Istanbul Restaurant at The Avenue on 2nd Road

[Evil Penevil 7,628]

 

Last night I had the lamb kebab plate at Istanbul, a Turkish restaurant next to McDonalds at The Avenue Mall on 2nd Road.

 

 

In US English, kebab refers to shish kebab, or small chunks of meat grilled on a skewer. Istanbul offers several different types of kebab, including doner kebab.

 

 

My plate included two skewers of tender lamb, a grilled sweet pepper, half a grilled tomato, rice and salad. Not cheap at 350 baht, but very good with a noticeable charcoal taste, which I like .

It's not often you get lamb in Pattaya as tender as this was. I'll be back to try more dishes on the menu.

Istanbul offers lahmacun, often called Turkish pizza. It's a flat bread topped with minced lamb or beef, herbs and sometimes chopped vegetables. Traditionally, it doesn't use a tomato sauce or cheese. It developed independent of the Italian pizza , as topped flat breads have been common for centuries in several cuisines.

Last night I had the basic lahmacun plate at 260 baht. It was good, but a bit bland. Next time I'll go for one of the kicked-up types.

I also noted there were Italian pizzas on the menu, but I can't understand why anyone would go to a Turkish restaurant to order Italian pizza.

It's a smallish restaurant, seating about 20 inside and another eight or 10 outside.

Shisha and cocktails seem to be popular with the outside guests,

The menu at Istanbul is concentrated on kebabs, flatbreads and salads. It also offers Thai dishes. Not cheap, but it holds a good standard in terms of quality. It's very convenient for me, about five minutes' walk from my condo, so I'll be back to try some of dishes I've never had before.

Evil

[short 215]

Can you get the kebabs on "dirty" rice?

 

"dirty" meaning multi-colored.

[wacmedia 277]

Hi,

 

Looks interesting. It's hard to find a good Turkish restaurant anywhere but the good ones tend to be very good.

[Billions 687]

Just visited the Istanbul,so here's a mini report.

 

I would have preferred to sit outside,but all seats were occupied....I think it's a gathering point for Pattayas Turks....so inside it was to be.

 

I also had the two skewers of lamb,which to be honest I thought were small cutlets,a little fatty and probably overcooked a bit. The meal came with two small but thick bread pieces,no rice,an undercooked tomato,and a bit of salad. A little canoe of dips appeared,which helped with the flavoring.

 

The inside section has an open kitchen,so all the calls between servers and cooks are audible to anyone dining,and the fact that there's no music means the atmosphere in there was as flat as a pancake.

 

So,not massively impressed. Food was reasonable,but nothing special. Price a bit high for the neighborhood too. Probably ok if you want a lamb fix but can't think of recommending it otherwise.