Yongpingli in Xuhui District is a new landmark of young exotic restaurants in Shanghai. Bordered by Hengshan Road to the north and Yongjia Road to the south, this neighborhood is home to specialty restaurants from Turkey, Cuba and Spain, as well as a variety of world street restaurants. Garlic Turkish Restaurant is one of the oldest exotic restaurants in Yongpingli and a representative of authentic Turkish restaurants in Shanghai. The owner of the restaurant, Emre, is Turkish, married to the Empress of Shanghai, and settled in Shanghai, and the couple run this Turkish-style restaurant together.
Garlic's Turkish cuisine is a classic imperial dish handed down from the Ottoman Turkish Imperial Family, similar to the Chinese imperial cuisine, with very unique and exquisite ingredients and workmanship. In addition to grilled meats, soups, cold dishes, seafood, Turkish snacks and pastries are all essential components of Turkish cuisine. According to the owner, Emre, the restaurant was opened to change the stereotype that Turkey is only about barbecue. As a result, the restaurant offers a wide range of dishes, from appetizers to main dishes to desserts, fully integrating Eastern and Western food cultures. The restaurant is served in the order of Fine Dining, and is a fine Turkish restaurant with a petty bourgeois atmosphere.
Led by three chefs from Turkey, the restaurant is responsible for the three main areas of main dishes, cold dishes and desserts, and bread, bringing diners a rich variety of Turkish dishes. It is worth mentioning that the bread oven in the restaurant is made of stone imported from Turkey, which shows the sincerity and care of the restaurant owner, Emre.
Before the meal, there will be a freshly baked Turkish cake, similar to Xinjiang naan, the skin is crispy and thin, but the middle is hollow, you can eat it by gently tearing off the crispy crust by hand, with olive oil and Turkish sauce, it is a very local pre-dinner snack, almost every Turkish restaurant will have this pre-dinner gift. Homemade fresh mint garlic yogurt (Haydari) is a novel cold dish with a thick, rich taste and cumin. It can be eaten on its own or as a sticky sauce for pies or bread. Lamb and walnut meatballs are suitable for first-time diners of Turkish cuisine, where minced lamb and walnuts are made into meatballs and wrapped in wheat flour. The meatballs are refreshing, tender and juicy, and they are also more in line with the taste of Chinese people.
The indispensable word "Kebab" in Turkish restaurants is "Kebab", which is actually a general term for meat dishes in Turkish, and the cooking methods include roasting, stewing, kiln roasting, etc. The most well-known Turkish barbecue is the simplified "Kebab". A must-try dish at the restaurant is the barbecue platter, which is large enough for three people. The roast lamb is crispy and tasteless, fragrant and juicy in the mouth; The rosemary chicken thighs are tender and do not have the chai taste of chicken; The beef patty is slightly fluffy and has a somewhat greasy texture. The whole plate of barbecue is also served with green peppers, cherry tomatoes, broccoli and other vegetables to relieve greasy, and the yellow, green and red peppers are rich and eye-catching, adding a touch of freshness to the whole rough barbecue. Another classic dish, Hunkar Begendi, also known as the "Sultan's Lamb", is a soft eggplant puffed on the bottom of the plate and topped with chopped lamb. "Angel's Hair" is a traditional Turkish dessert that looks like a silk "bird's nest" topped with a small piece of ice cream. Made with vermicelli flour and fried in butter, it is not good-looking, but its oily and sweet taste is enough to awaken the taste buds. Diners with a less sweet tooth will find it a little bit greasy, so it can be sweetened with a complimentary Turkish coffee at the end of the meal.
The restaurant is located on the first floor of the building on Yongpingli Linma Road, and the restaurant logo of a garlic head is more recognizable. The entrance of the restaurant is not large, relatively low-key, and you can only appreciate the elegant dining environment of petty bourgeoisie after entering the restaurant. The restaurant uses transparent floor-to-ceiling windows to create a transparent space, and the indoor environment is spacious and bright, with white tablecloths neatly arranged with plates and red wine glasses, which has a formal sense of Western restaurant. There is also a row of outdoor seating near the road, which is a unique place to dine. Most of the restaurant service staff are foreigners and can order in basic Chinese. Communicating in English allows you to understand the dishes in more detail. The restaurant is almost full of foreigners and is very popular. It is worth mentioning that there is a small playground for children to play on the B1 floor of the restaurant, which is a good place for parent-child dinner.
