The Dervish is a Turkish restaurant in Stoke Newington and is quite attractive with myriad different coloured latterns hanging from the ceiling. The restaurant was a third full at best on a Saturday night, but the Turkish music and dim lighting ensured a certain amount of atmosphere.The menu was pretty standard Turkish fare - meat, kebabs, grill. The difficulty with Turkish restaurants is that the main meals all seem pretty similar and for me, the variety and action is all in the appetizers. So it was at The Dervish.
We ordered the mixed Meze to start, which comprised a broad bean salad, black-eyed bean salad, couscous salad, potato salad, roasted aubergine, houmous, a youghurt dip, felafel and borek. Almost everything on this was quite nice, fresh ingredients and quite a few different tastes despite how similar everything sounds. It was served with bread, which was quite disappointing - Turkish bread is a favourite of mine and this was pretty dull.
Kyle's main was spicy Turkish sausage with pita bread, yoghurt and 'special sauce'. My main was grilled lamb cubes with . . . pita bread, yoghurt and 'special sauce'. So, yes, they tasted pretty much the same. The sausage was reminiscent of chorizo and the lamb was like a nice piece of barbecued meat. While you can't complain about any of this, it wasn't all that special.
They didn't have the wine we selected, so we just went for the house red, an Italian Merlot, which was quite nice.
Service started well but then really fell off towards the end. I was going to get dessert but by the time they finally came back, I couldn't be bothered. Considering the restaurant was pretty empty, there isn't really an excuse for that.
All in all, The Dervish was okay, but considering how many Turkish restaurants there are in the area, I wouldn't bother again.
Food: 6/10
Wine: 6/10
Service: 7/10
Ambience: 8/10
Overall: 6.5/10
The Dervish
15 Stoke Newington Church Street
London, N16 0NX
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment