Tonight TD took me to their latest discover at the office, a Turkish restaurant named Turkuaz. It is not cheap so we saved our budget for eating out for the week so we could indulge in one splurge meal for the week. Now I know why his boss loves it here!
I was such a silly girl. I brought my DSLR, flash and macro lens for the occassion, but guess what?!? I totally forgot the SD card! ACK!! So these iPad photos will have to do!The ambiance is meant to be nice and cozy… but it’s hell for taking photos because it’s way too dark. Please excuse the quality! I am so sorry I didn’t do the food justice!
We only wanted to order small dishes and one main dish so we could try different things and not break the bank. We started with Hummus, Sigara Boregi (rolls with turkish cheese and parsley) and Mixed bread. The flavors were exploding in my mouth! SO yum!
We split some Lentil Soup (a bit lemony but still super yummy!)
For our main dish, we had a Chicken Shish Kebab. I wanted beef but it was completely over our budget. Lamb was much cheaper but I don’t like lamb so we settled for chicken. We didn’t have anything to fear though because it was perfectly cooked (juicy and succulent) and everything it came with, from the side salad, grilled tomatoes and pepper, the crispy pita to the sticky rice with vermicelli, was perfect! Good thing we only split one, since the serving was massive. We could barely finish it! Just imagine chicken in place of the doner on the picture below, and that’s basically the Chicken Shish Kebab. =P (The iPad died so I wasn’t able to instagram a photo haha!)
For dessert with had some Turkish delight, a sticky sweet dessert with nuts inside (they used pistachio for theirs). Have this with some tea or it might be too sweet.
We had our whole meal with their hot apple tea. We shared, and had a total of 2 pots. This is TD’s favorite, and now it’s mine too! It was the perfect compliment to the entire meal! 
The old house turned restaurant is beautifully decorated. I felt transported to another world. Those incredibly beautiful lamps were the perfect accent to the understated, elegantly decorated room. The framed photos that line the walls are so lovely, I could spend hours looking at them. Since I wasn’t able to take great interior photo let me borrow some to show you…
I hope Kaho of Chuzai Living doesn’t mind me borrowing 3 of the pictures of this post from her wonderful post on Turkuaz. Click here to read her post! No wonder it tastes great! The chef is chef Sezai Zorlu from Turkey, former chef of Anatolia Restaurant. I also borrowed 2 photos from DaMan.
For our entire meal we spent IDR 367,000 or about 40 USD. We were a bit over our weekly budget which we set at IDR 300,000, but it was totally worth it – and not bad at all for the amount of food we had! We were so full, we had to roll ourselves out of that restaurant! =P
I heard from TD that once, while they were eating at Turkuaz, the EU Ambassador stopped by to takeaway some of their bread. I can see why! Their freshly baked bread (especially the sesame) is nothing short of terrific!
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I love this restaurant! The place a is a bit small, but the food is so delicious! Yes I agree, it’s a bith pricey, but totally worth every cent!
It is unfortunate that the restaurant has no wine license; but we could bring our own bottle and they will charge the corkage fee.
Hi Ailtje! Thanks for dropping me a comment. =) I didn’t realize they didn’t have a wine list – thanks for the info. How much is the corkage fee?
the corkage fee is 80k.
I love Turkuaz! It’s one of my favorite middle eastern restaurants! Looks like you enjoyed it!
Hi Ana, thank you so much for dropping by and commenting on my blog. I love your blog! Very lovely pictures =)
Hi friends…
Thank you for the nice comments, glad you have enjoyed the meal and ambiance at our restaurant, looking forward to welcoming you back here… 🙂
Yanti
Hello Yanti… you have such a lovely restaurant that definitely deserved all the love from it’s customers. My husbands boss loved it so much that there was a week that she ate there several times. It’s also one of the rare restos in Jakarta that give a diplo discount which we really appreciate. Thank you! Will definitely say “Hi”next time we go. =)
Hi Diplowife!
Just a tidbit, the lentil soup in Turkey is always lemony. Traditionally they add lemon juice after they put it in your bowl. If you didn’t like it, kindly ask them not to add it to your soup, perhaps some lemon on the side instead. 🙂
Here’s another tidbit, it also goes well with vinegar on top! That’s how they have it in the village of Marmaris. Yum. 😛
Whoa! For real? Thanks for the info Poker Goddess! It’s so interesting to learn about food from different parts of the world. Maybe I’ll ask the chef to try it with vinegar next time haha! =P Thanks for the comment hun!