The Gozde Cafe’s Lentil Soup

This is just a really quick review of a little place I visited in Auburn recently (at which to be honest I only had one dish). This was a take away kebab place called the Gozde Cafe, which normally wouldn’t warrant a review as it sells your standard kebab/burger/hot chips menu. However, an Old Friend took me there on the premise that they had exceptionally good lentil soup. It’s a corner shop on Auburn street, near the train station, which means if you have a burning urge for some of that soupy goodness it’s very easy to get to. As for the soup itself, it was waaaay better than I was expecting. Admittedly I’ve never had lentil soup in any form before, but my previous meetings with the humble lentil have lead me to believe that it was flavourless, boring bulking agent that gets some cachet with the health freaks because there’s nothing in it to give it any fat or salt or other nasties (and thus nothing to give it flavour). This soup, however, was delightfully savoury, and just a dash of the provided lemon juice made it absolutely delicious. It’s also very heavy going. I was a bit dubious when the Old Friend suggested soup for dinner, since soup is usually very light, but I was unable to finish my bowl! Admittedly, this was somewhat caused by my consumption of the soup aids. Your bowl comes with a little plate of pickles, lemon and a white root vegetable (no idea what it is, doesnt taste like very much) and a basket of bread. This was the perfect accompaniment- I found the best way to eat it was to take a mouthful of soup, then as a chaser place a pickle on a bit of bread, douse it in more soup and eat that. Delicious! But the best was yet to come. Take a guess at how much this little smorgasboard of deliciousness costs! Look at the pretty picture of it while you decide

Would you believe, $6? Six dollars for a delicious bowl of soup, plus the sides?! This is true uni student value here, particularly because you end up completely and totally full. Not to mention that if, like me, you have a greenpass (or other travel pass) you can get there essentially free from the ultra convenient train station. Admittedly it loses out somewhat on the atmosphere side. It’s a take away place, and it makes no pretensions otherwise. We sat in the outdoor seating, which as the main drag of Auburn is hardly George Street at peak hour, was very pleasant. The manager was a delight too, coming to check on us and asking the Old Friend how it was possible that she could be so beautiful. For value like this it’s worth putting up with a little road noise.

Corner of Auburn Rd and Civic Rd (and Queen St a bit too, if you can’t find it)
Auburn
NSW

Ratings (out of 5 snorts)
Price 5 snorts
Taste 4 snorts
Service 5 snorts
Atmosphere 1 snorts

Woodfired Pizza and Kebab

I’ve been becoming increasingly concerned that this blog is getting a little vegetarian. I thought I should try to restore the balance a bit…

That’s an iskender kebab from Woodfired Pizza and Kebab in Chatswood. It’s made up of cut up Lebanese bread, sliced tomatoes, yoghurt, tomato sauce, a bit of parsley, lots and lots of döner meat and the grease that flows out of it. The incurable carnivores out there can be reassured that the tomatoes and parsley really are the sum total of the vegetable matter contained in this meal.

Woodfired Pizza and Kebab does all the staples of Turkish fast food, with an accent on the explicitly mentioned pizzas and kebabs. Piglet – who is sadly restricted to the gluten-free – always chooses an option from their range of baked potatoes. Even though the potatoes are chosen for their guten-free properties, they are no poor relations to the rest of the menu. There’s a large selection of delicious (and optionally meaty) fillings and all the potatoes are topped off with melted cheese and cream – and served with salad, for those with any remaining vego sensibilities.

They have very delicious ayran, a sort of yoghurt drink. It’s definitely worth having ayran whenever the opportunity arises.

There’s a nice little sit-in eating area with tables and chairs decked out with Persian-patterned covers. In winter Piglet puts herself in the best spot, next to the outside wall of the woodfired pizza oven. She’ll often lean right up against the wall to soak in the warmth.

Since Woodfired Pizza and Kebab is essentially a take-away place with a sit-in area, the prices are quite reasonable.

Woodfired Pizza and Kebab
325 Penshurt St
North Willoughby

Ratings (out of 5 snorts)

Price	5 snorts
Taste	4 snorts
Service	3 snorts
Atmosphere	4 snorts

Turkish Food

 

My description of Turkish food starts in reverse order from a meal, because of the irresistable appeal of Turkish desserts.  Look at the syrup being poured over a mountain of baklava!  This cafe was in Taksim, İstanbul, it was several stories high, with sweets on the ground floor and tables above.  They had counters full of cakes, pastries and puddings.  We had krem çikolata, rich and chocolatey.  A truly superb dessert.  

 

Don’t miss dondurma, Turkish icecream, if you have a sweet tooth.  It is made with salep (from orchid tubers) to give it a slightly chewy texture which you don’t find in ordinary icecream.  To keep it malleable the vendor stirs it with an enormous paddle as long as a crowbar and it stretches like a pizza dough.  Definitely more exciting than the stuff in a plastic tub.  There’s some great videos and photos of dondurma at thethinkingblog.

 

One difficulty we had in Turkey was trying to maintain my gluten free diet, a necessity if you have coeliac disease.  Often we were able to get pilav (rice) with a stew, often with lamb, beans and tomatoes.  These were great.  On other occasions we had to be more creative.  In Niḡde we asked for an iskender kebab without bread.  The men serving us had a debate about whether an iskender without bread was really an iskender, but I received my plate as requested without bread.  It had the meat, salad, iskender tomato sauce and plenty of yoghurt.  It satisfied the conditions of a good meal even if it didn’t satisfy the conditions of being an iskender.  

 

Yoghurt takes on a new personality in Turkey.  You soon realise that it’s not just a good topping for muesli.  It is a great condiment for lots of savoury dishes, and it even makes a good drink.  Ayran, the yoghurt drink, is readily available in a carton from a Turkish supermarket, but the best ayran comes from a fountain.  Keeping the yoghurt flowing like this creates a marvellous froth on top, like a beer or a cappuccino.  It tastes quite sour, like plain yoghurt, but is much thinner.  You can add salt if you like.

 

The first place we experienced the ayran fountain was at a restaurant in İstanbul that served shish-kebab.  This was an exciting place to eat, with spiced meat on swords served with an array of dishes and bread so you could assemble your own kebab.  There were roasted vegetables (onion, chili, tomato, capsicum), herbs (mint, parsley), a tomato sauce and raw onion in case you really wanted to spice it up.  You can see this lavish spread in the picture.  

 

Kebab seems to refer to a broader range of dishes in Turkey than you first expect.  Here in Australia we have döner or shish-kebabs, but in Turkey kebab refers to a variety of meals.  One experience of regional food we had was testi kebab, cooked in a pot.  The pot is broken open to serve the casserole inside, which is eaten with pilav or bread.  It is very exciting when the waiter cracks open the pot to serve your meal.  

 

Most Turkish meals feature bread, especially breakfast.  In the traditional breakfast bread is served with a spreads like jam and nutella, or with boiled egg, olives, tomato and cheese.  This is a limited breakfast for a coeliac who can’t have the bread, so I was particularly excited at one hotel where we had menemen for breakfast.  Menemen is like an omlette with pieces of chilli and tomato, which was served in a hot plate.  It was great.

 

I’d recommend Turkey as great destination for food.  The sightseeing is fun too.