Tas
Pide brings serious Turkish
Cuisine to London
Clifford
Mould was knocked out by
the sheer variety of flavours
and textures
Ask
most people what they think
of Turkish food and they'll probably
say Doner Kebab. More
adventurous foodies will perhaps
come up with Imam Byildi,
(the priest was supposed to have
fainted with delight at this
dish of stuffed aubergines). Neither
of these two old chestnuts are
on the menu at Tas Pide,
Bankside's newest, and in many
ways, most exciting restaurant.
Southwark's
Bankside
Bankside is the area on the South Bank of the river Thames around
Southwark Cathedral that has certainly captured the imagination. Only
a few years ago it was a no man's land of derelict warehouses criss-crossed
by railway arches.
Geoffrey Chaucer's Canterbury Pilgrims left from the Tabard
Inn and in Shakespeare's day it was the entertainment centre
of London, safely outside the jurisdiction of the City and the Bishop
of London. The ancient history of the area is given a sharp focus by
the very first exhibit at Vinopolis, City of Wine where Roman
wine amphorae were discovered virtually under the floor of this brilliant
interactive exhibition.
Recently,
the centre of attention
in Bankside has been the
success of the Tate
Modern art gallery
in its imaginatively converted
former power station -
other attractions include
the careful reconstruction
of Shakespeare's Globe
Theatre, the Elizabethan
explorer Sir Francis
Drake's ship The
Golden Hind, the original
jail known as The Clink and
of course Southwark
Cathedral which is
just completing an extensive
refurbishment. Don't miss
their fine professional
choir.
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There
are two Tas restaurants already,
one in the Cut at Waterloo and
the other in Borough High Street.
The new Tas Pide is equipped
with a genuine Anatolian wood
fired oven which is designed
principally for the cooking of Pide,
a kind of boat shaped pizza.
The dough is wafer thin and crisp,
and because of the way it is
folded, there's room for a filling
that's richer and more substantial
than in most pizzas. Of course
the oven is marvellous for cooking
all sorts of other dishes, and
the key to this kind of eating
is the mezze, so expect to be
presented with a kaleidoscope
of flavours and textures. The
atmosphere is great too - I'm
always a bit suspicious of theme
restaurants, too often the triumph
of style over content, but Tas
Pide really does transport you
to Anatolia with its use of carved
wood, tiles and kilims.
There's
a huge selection of hot and cold
starters as well as Anatolian
fish and meat dishes. Over a
dozen different kinds of Pide
include some that are wholly
traditional, while others are
the creation of chef-patron Onder
Sahan. The best line of attack
for the first time adventurer
is to go for one of the set menus,
which start at £7.25 for a mezze
of eight cold dishes, or £7.45
for a mixed feast starting with
the delicious red lentil soup,
four starters and a choice of
Pide. In the interests of serious
research we pushed the boat out
and tried the Aslan Menu (£17.50)
which includes 8 starters, various
hot dishes, dessert and coffee.
While we were waiting, out came
the most delicious breads with
tasty olives and a dip that reminded
me of skordalia. We washed this
down with a bottle of the house
wine, a light but brisk white
from Turkey's Western Anatolian
region - it sells for an extremely
drinkable £10.50.
I
love Levantine salads, especially
when they are made from previously
cooked ingredients served cold.
But they have to be very fresh
- I can assure you that we were
offered nothing remotely tired
- the flavours were all vivid
and well differentiated. I particularly
enjoyed Kisir, made from
bulgar wheat with walnuts and
lots of tomatoes and fresh mint
- a sort of variant on Tabuleh,
and Bakla, made from broad
beans, coriander, red and green
peppers, dill, garlic and oil
and a yoghurt base. Amongst the
hot starters was the Humus
Kavurma which comes with
crispy diced lamb and crunchy
pine nuts, kicked up a notch
or two with some paprika. .Their "take" on
favourites such as borek and
falafel was authentic, no short
cuts, and in spite of the array
before us, there were still plenty
of things to try for my next
visit, like skewered mussels,
(I wonder how they flavour them)
and kalamari.
By
now I was dying to try a pide,
and out came a very fishy one
with sardines (which somehow
I can't take after lamb, but
that's my problem!) and one called Pastirmali. Since
it's made from very special cured
beef, I wondered if this was
a distant ancestor of pastrami?
It was simply delicious, it's
bound up with egg, just perfectly
set, with the pide dough forming
a crisp light base. My favourite
of all was Kul Basti,
prime lamb fillets that really
tasted of lamb, given the wood
oven treatment as well as with
oregano and other spices.
We
drank an honest, rustic Turkish
red wine called Buzbag,
not a name that appeals to my
marketing instincts! The wine
list is quite adequate with a
reasonable selection of familiar
names. I'd like to see a much
more adventurous selection from
the Eastern Mediterranean, beginning
with the Lebanon. There are some
fantastic (dare I utter the name) Greek wines
that would go supremely well
with these vibrant flavours.
Perhaps Tas Pide can help to
build a much needed bridge between
these two great cultures.
Let
me offer a word of advice. Don't
stuff yourselves with too much
of that lovely bread at the start
of your meal. Leave some room
for desserts, they are seriously
yummy! Katmer is a sort
of dessert pide, wafer thin pastry
dusted with icing sugar which
caramelises in the wood oven,
filled with I don't know quite
what, obviously pistachios, but
it's oh so good! What ever you
do, don't miss Firin Sutlac which
is rice pudding but not as we
know it from English schooldays.
Wickedly creamy, just set to
wobbly perfection, it's intensely
flavoured with rose water and
orange essence. There are other
marvellous puddings, designed
to bring on instant attacks of
groaning ecstasy, but you should
discover them for yourselves.
Finally,
the service is efficient and
utterly charming - with a delightful
reticence and total lack of attitude. Claudia
Roden, my esteemed guru where
matters of Middle Eastern cuisine
are concerned recorded the wise
words of an old man in rural
Anatolia: What gives
us most pleasure in life is being
hospitable, and to be hospitable
you have to give food. They
exemplify this dictum perfectly
at Tas Pide.
Clifford
Mould, December 2002
Dine
Online highly recommends: Tas
Pide,
20 New Globe Walk, Bankside, London SE1
Tel: 020 7928 3300