Ahmet's on Oxford

So November is the birthday month of H., Z., and Mrs. I! They decided to have a joint party to share the love. Mrs. I actually didn't end up going due to continuing celebrations with her family, however, Miss Chatterbox, S., G., and her mother A., L., and D., NZ-A., Beck and her baby, H-Dizzle and Professor J., all came along, not a bad turn out at all!

I was originally supposed to organise the whole thing as ordered by Z., and H., but I only got as far as deciding the weekend it was supposed to be on before H., picked Ahmet's on Oxford. I was a bit irritated at her as I found it hard to get to, being the only non-driver out of all the people who turned up, however S., kindly offered me a lift.

I'm really struggling with how to take photographs of all the food for large groups of people, up to five or six is fine but any larger and I find its really difficult to take all the photos while people are hungrily waiting. I go with friends who are very patient with me but I feel like its really annoying waiting for me when the food is right there. Do I stand up and go over to each individual spot? Do I ask the waiter to present all the meals to me first so I can get a photo?

Lately, I've been getting people to take photos on my behalf and I use that photo no matter how it turns out. It's made for some very interesting or blurred photos recently.

The other Ahmet's!

I'm not sure what to make of Ahmet's interior, it reminds me of an oddly lit bathroom due to all the tiles? I'm struggling to remember what it looks like besides the photos I have here. I didn't get a good photo of their bar due to all the lights they had there. There are lots of water colour country scenes scattered around the restaurant.

Front desk with jewellery

The kitchen service area

The eerily glowing bar

Here is their menu.

Both H-Dizzle and H., ordered the ayran. Apparently this is Turkey's natural drink of unsweetened yoghurt, water and salt flakes. The taste is very strong with that sour, thick creaminess that you associate with plain Greek yoghurt. It has a very pronounced saltiness that emphasises the sourness of the yoghurt and its not as thick as it could be due to the water used to thin down the drink. I was quite surprised as I was expected more a lassi type flavour, a similar Indian drink made from sweetened or plain yoghurt and assorted fruit. When I tasted this, I would not have been surprised if this was a sauce for a particularly spicy main, H., did not enjoy her drink but H-Dizzle did, having had it on previous occasions.

Salty and sour?

I decided to get some cider, it was the Hills Cider and I got an apple one whilst G., got a pear one. I didn't like it, not sweet enough to my taste and with a mildly hops like flavour?

Disliked ):

I have no idea what this was called as it doesn't appear to be on their menu, however it was an absolutely delicious cheese, dill and shallot flat bread drizzled with hummus. I cannot even begin to describe the enticing smell that came from this bread from the liberal usage of dill. We cut apart the bread to share amongst our end, S., NZ-A., H-Dizzle and myself and I was a bit too slow to take a photo of all that oozy cheese. The bread was puffy and crispy, somewhat like pizza dough haha.

What are you called delicious thing!?

This was D., and L.,'s entree mujver, vegetable fritters. They're not the most attractive of entrees but they are incredibly delicious, being made of a light, creamy interior and a crunchy chickpea batter. I can't remember what was in them but I remember wanting to eat more of them.

So ugly, yet so tasty

Quite a few people got Turkish bread and dips to share as a starter. Me? I just ate what was offered to me haha. Both A., and G., got some as well as L., and her husband, D. The bread was soft, thick and puffy with a slight chew, it was very good stuff.

Soft and puffy

So much bread and dip!

From left to right, we tried the jajik, avocado, beetroot, hot and spicy, baba ganoush and hummus dips. The jajik is a creamy, yoghurt, cucumber and garlic dip which I avoided due to yoghurt upsetting my lactose intolerance like a bull in a china shop. The avocado was also surprisingly creamy and bland, I was expecting a guacamole type dip but it was quite bland. The beetroot was sweet, earthy and super pink. The hot and spicy relish was like an oven roasted capsicum that had a good heat behind it, it was a favourite. The baba ganoush was my pick of the lot with my love of smokey eggplant. The hummus was surprisingly average, with a very, very smooth texture, it wasn't bad though.

Dips in all the colours of the rainbow!

A., the house special pide consisting of salami, chicken, capsicum, mushroom, mozzarella and egg.  I didn't get to try this but A., remarked that she has had better and didn't really enjoy it. How can I say I didn't try this and still know what the pide base tasted like? There was one down my end! This picture was taken by H., as I was pinned against the wall and couldn't get up to take a photo.

Its so darn dark

Here is another pide, this time a vegetarian one. Z., ordered this are remarked that the mushrooms were very good, there was also capsicum, spinach, onion and feta. I found this one to be much cheesier than the tavuklu one for some reason, the cheese was so stretchy. Z., didn't really like her meal, stating that it was nice but she wouldn't go back.

So blurry

This is the lamb shish that Professor J., ordered, it came with a few pieces of flatbread, very buttery, garlicky and super fluffy potato mash and a tasty rice pilaf. I didn't see her afterwards so I was unable to ask her how her meal was.

Two thick skewers of meat

G., got the lamb iskander, a drowned looking combination of slow cooked lamb, Turkish bread and tomatoes with a tomato sauce and a dill and yoghurt sauce on top. It looks very, very saucy in my opinion. G., remarked that she didn't like it as the flavours were very bland.

It does look a bit struggle plate to be honest

My end of the table ordered the tavuklu pide to share, a garlic chicken, capsicum, mushroom and mozzarella topped Turkish style pizza. The pide base was delicious! Like the best deep pan base you've ever eaten, super fluffy, with a slight chew and crustiness.

This the chicken shish which came with turkish bread, mashed potato and rice pilaf. I can't remember who got this but it must've been someone sitting nearby as I've got a clear photo of it.

Much blur.

I was gunning for the king's mixed grill which had a little of everything on it. L., and D., got one to share and H-Dizzle and I split ours since we wanted to try lots of things. It came with turkish bread, rice pilaf, mashed potato, two prawn skewers, lamb, chicken and adana shish as well as a lamb cutlet. Delicious! A perfect size to share between two people. The prawns were a touch on the small size, bursty, sweet and garlicky. The chicken shish was also garlicky, so juicy and tender. The lamb was also very, very tender and I enjoyed that the most out of all the meats on this plate. The adana was mildly spicy and very tasty. I didn't get to try our sole lamb cutlet cause someone else at the table pinched it.

All the food!

H., once again, ordered the worst thing out of the menu. Not so much so, in terms of deliciousness but in size. She received about eight or ten garlic and lemon marinated prawns on top of some mashed potato and rice pilaf. She was highly disappointed and said that she was expecting more, especially with the price of the meal.

Much sadface.

The last dish that ordered to share was the ali nazak which came with your choice of chicken, lamb or adana shish. We got the lamb to compliment what we already had. This was a thick, slow roasted and very hearty stew of eggplant, capsicum, tomato and onion topped with lamb cubes and garlic and yoghurt sauce. I really enjoyed this dish as did NZ-A, H-Dizzle and S.,

So delicious

Ahmet's on Oxford
Atmosphere: 6, busy, dimly lit but with very comfy tables and seats.
Service: 5, ordered and got our food, nothing much to say.
Food: 6, the food at our end of the table was much better. I think it's because we all choose very different dishes and decided to share amongst ourselves. The other end ordered stuff that was a lot harder to share out and found their dishes very repetitive. I'm not sure if I would ever go back here again with that being said. The turkish bread was very good as was the pide, I think the flavours of the meat can be a little plain at times but they are very well cooked, always tender and juicy with a lovely smokey, charcoal laced flavour from the bits I sampled.