Turga Restaurant is the fine dining restaurant at the Ciragan Palace Kempinski Istanbul, a luxurious five star hotel overlooking the Bosphorus. In its former life, the Ciragan was an Ottoman Palace and home to a long line of sultans. Today it is one of the properties in The Leading Hotels of The World and provides some of the most luxurious hotel rooms in all of Istanbul.

Turga Restaurant is considered to be one of Istanbul’s finest and most romantic restaurants. The restaurant is beautiful and grand, offering sweeping views over the Bosphorus. The menu covers many classical Turkish dishes, some of which draw from ancient Turkish cooking techniques such as the ‘Testi’ lamb casserole, a clay pot dish that dates back to 1600 BC Anatolia.

There are hot and cold mezes on offer, and perhaps one of the most interesting and varied was the Classic Turga treats (TRY70 – about £19.70) which contained a lovely selection of different goodies. All of them tasted wonderful including mash curd cheese with fresh herbs, tomato and pine nuts, fava beans, lentil kofte with herbs, stuffed vine leaves with onions, Circassian chicken with walnut sauce, roasted eggplant, humus, melon and white cheese with rose water. The presentation of the meze platter was dainty and precise, and each meze showed off a skilled hand behind its preparation.

Classic Turga treats

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