this is another one of the long-timers that populate the pockets of west end. with the ideal location, and the view from the top (river and everything), how could it not be? matching it with some excellent and affordable fair, along with great service and an ambiance to match caravanserai has a lot of the makings of a classic for the years to come. that is probably among the reasons that it has managed to persist for so many already.
it was that usual time again, meeting with a friend. the go-to area for food now seems to be around the south bank/west end area, and that is for a good reason - there is quite a breadth of options all within one or two blocks of each other, and the average quality is maintained at a high level. this time around, she was thinking of one of the options of hardgrave road - perfect. this is just as good as boundary or grey street (arguably better, but opinions are opinions), which has the concentrated options but is far from the maddening crowd. another thing about it is that hardgrave road is a little out of the way, but also that it has two seperate clusters. looking at them both, the further one (the one that connects to dornoch terrace) was where we ended up. looking at a couple of west end's best and most acclaimed places, it was down to one of these two. my friend thought that because she was yet to have done turkish with me, and what a way to mix it up. so caravanserai it was.
if you get lucky, you are shown the back door which goes to the balcony. while anywhere to sit in the restaurant would be great, there is something more that is added to the experience when going out back. you get the candle lit ambiance, the lovely service and, if it is a good night, cool breeze to top it all off. make no mistake, inside was also good. there was mood lighting, arabic artworks around the place even the lanterns and a lot of red hues. all of this does not look apparent from the outside, which gives it much more of a charm - one that is like a warm, homely sort of charm.
service is what it needs to be. they are friendly, they are efficient and they tend to leave you be. that is not to discount the ethic that they have, because these lasses are hard-working. one of them i saw - no exaggeration - carrying a stack of water glasses - one within another - that was about the length of her arm. suffice to say, that is a level that probably can't be taught.
with the beautiful view, the mood lighting and the generally quiet surrounds (they did score lucky with this one), one of the highlights of the meal were the visitors that we had. both our table and the one next to that saw the same thing. on the balcony, possums are a frequent guest during the night time rush and thestaffeven feed them from time to time. it was one of the cutest things that i have seen, and it was truly a surprise on the night.
getting onto the food, caravanserai's menu is definitely one that is aimed for sharing, as is anything truly middle eastern really. one of the first options that appear on their menu is the meze platters. these are good for entrees with a few people, and can be a substantial meal with less. other entrees precede them. a good range of mains is on the next page, with all kinds of meat and seafood that are well thought out and added with all sorts of fresh ingredients. these must be quite substantially sized. if you honestly are having a hard time deciding, not that i blame you in spite of a fairly compact menu with the good range on offer, with enough people there are the banquets. as always, sweets appear at the end along with tea and coffee. whether in a big group, or one of those special dates, this is probably one of the best choices in the local area.
both of us being poor students, and having to get a fair bit to sample, the way to go was one of the meze plates - also, not enough people for a banquet. getting the best bang for the buck, it was the ottomon feast. this had grilled asparagus, chorizo, haloumi, almond-crusted goat's cheese, baked polenta, chargrilled prawn skewers, several dipping sauces and warmed turkish bread. as well as the meze platter, some mussel were ordered. these came in a tomato-based butter sauce, and were also served with turkish bread. all of these items were really good, tender bits of meat and delicious vegetables cooked with gusto and spices. the prawns were really sweet and sauteed with garlic, plus the chorizo was a little less smokey than most, and haloumi is always a winner in my book. the goat's cheese was delightfull creamy, as was the polenta. those mussels as well were fantastically simple - cooked in a tomato sauce, the tomato sauce was delicious and full of flavour; the butter gave the texture a need bit of robustness. the mussels were sweet and the perfect texture as well, they alone could have been a great snack. even if there was a lot of it, the turkish bread was still fantastic and made for a good mop with all the sauces and such left over; it was hot, soft and had a crusty finish on the outside.
at the end of the meal, it was the thoughts about whether or not to get dessert. well, of course we did in the end - silly. looking at the menu, even with only a handful of options, it was still tricky. ultimately, both an order of turkish delight and baklava each. it also went without saying that i got a coffee on the side - can't resist a coffee where possible. as usual, both those sweets were reliable - the turkish delight was sweet and powdered with icing sugar, and the baklava had its usual stickiness from the honey drizzled over the pastry. turkish coffee manages to tow this line where the coffee will definitely be very strong, packing a real punch into a thimble-sized cup, along with having a sweetness to it that is couresty of cardomon. it is a delight each time to drink, and i thoroughly recommend all coffee lovers to give it a go. and it was with that, that we called it a night.
at one point, turkish cuisine was that kind that i was neither here nor there about yet hearing a lot about it. perhaps it was because until now i had not had the great experience of it, with all the places i had been to. bits and pieces were certainly sampled over the years, but not stuck with me as much as other cuisines. well, now i have found a couple of places which might give turkish its due - and caravanserai is one of those places. instead of being fantastic, i would put the word reliable at the forefront - you have a view that is worth a few grand, a lovely setting and good, relaxed service to go with the high quality food. in shorter words, caravanserai was really good.