508. The Wilderness Does Turkish.

 

 If you are a restaurateur, it makes sense to make the most of the particular skills of your Head Chef and if your Head Chef was brought up in Turkey on Turkish food and, furthermore, can produce the most remarkable Turkish dishes this side of Istanbul, it is thoroughly sensible to give your Head Chef his head and let him unleash his own personal cuisine in his own personal style on to your loyal and admiring diners.

  This is precisely what Alex Claridge did and the result was an evening at The Wilderness with a difference - a veritable banquet of authentic Turkish cuisine that charmed and comforted in equal measures. Head Chef Ediz Engin delivered a bountiful series of delightful dishes that were often thrilling and which could certainly be unleashed from time to time on the The Wilderness crowd.

  First there was Turkish Mezze - a collection of toothsome ‘small plates’ which included a remarkable sesame bagel (simit) - supremely well-textured bread enhanced by the flavour of sesame - quite the best bagel I can remember being served and the perfect agent for mopping up the various dips tgat arrived with it - atom, a pleasingly spicy yogurt and chilli dip, a ‘carrot tartare’ which seemed to be a dish of sweetly and mildly pickled julienne of carrot and onions set alight, interestingly, by the chopped chives which sat on top, and Lakerda, a lovely piece of mildly-flavoured mackeral served to good effect with taramasalata.

  The highlight came early in the performance - midye dolma - tasty mussels with an espuma riven through exquisitely with lemon and all spice. This was so delicious Inwould include in my list of best dishes of the year.

  Then, a generous portion of excellent flatbread, nicely smoky flavoured from the barbecue and topped by a reasonable ‘shepherd’s salad’ enriched and raised several levels by the sweetness of pomegranate seeds.

 Then, a Turkish mixed grill of barbecued quail and lamb which were both very accurately cooked. This dish included pieces of lavas bread as well as hummus and baba ganoush and this ‘daddy’ certainly felt pampered at the end of it (tip - Google the meaning of baba ganoush). Many love quail and I see why but it always seems to me that there is so little meat on it that it is hardly worth killing the poor little bird. I would have been more than content with the excellent lamb alone but we must take these opportunities to try these various elements when those opportunities arise. I loved the tender, mildly hot green pepper garnish.

  The dessert was simple and fabulous - a glorious rice pudding of the utmost deliciousness served with a brown butter ice cream and fig and raisins to give an added mouth cleansing sweetness. There followed, a suitably Middle Eastern-flavoured pate de fruits and the feast was done. And what a feast.

Rating:- 🌞🌞🌞 

17 September 2025.