The entrance to Erciyes Turkish Restaurant is a little deceiving. You can easily mistake it for just a takeaway shop in Surry Hills with its Coca Cola signage. But alongside that section lies another space with a bar and a dining room decked out with Turkish insignia and carpets on the wall.
Erciyes Turkish Restaurant, Surry Hills
In this odd mix of setting, you’ll find a modern space that serves tasty Turkish fare at reasonable prices. The restaurant is BYO and licensed but for the full experience, indulge in Rakı, the Turkish equivalent of Arak or Efes, a Turkish Beer.
Rakı and Efes Turkish beer
The menu is divided into mezzes, side dishes, pide (meat and vegetarian), grills and kebabs. Banquets are available with a minimum of four persons starting at $40. On Fridays and Saturday nights, a belly dancer performs and the vibe gets a little lively with loud Turkish tunes during her performance.
The dishes shown below were ordered to share among four hungry diners. Every dish was flavoursome and passed the taste test from a Turkish-born friend, particularly the beetroot dip, fried zucchini, pastirmali and Iskender Kebab.
Beetroot dip ($10)
Cacik – cucumber, garlic, mint and yoghurt ($10)
Turkish bread
Kusbasili (flat) – Diced leg of lamb onion, tomato, capsicum, parsley and spices ($15)
Fried eggplant $10
Fried Zucchini ($5 each)
Iskender Kebab – Layers of beef on chopped up Turkish bread, with yoghurt, garlic and traditional
Iskender sauce ($16)
Pastirmali (folded) – Turkish style pastrami with cheese, egg and spices ($15)
Mixed Grill – mixture of lamb cutlets, kofte, lamb and chicken shish ($39)
Assorted sweets: Kadayif , Tulumba, Birdnest Baklava, Diamond baklava ($4 a piece)
You can choose dessert from the takeaway shop and have it there with a Turkish coffee or take it home to enjoy it at your own leisure. Each of the pieces is syrupy sweet and puts a sugary and satisfying end to your Turkish experience.
Belly Dancer
Erciyes Turkish Restaurant – Go there for: casual, cheerful and no fuss dining, easy drinking rakı with flavoursome Turkish food, fast service. And if you’re not inclined to have your Iskender Kebab interrupted by a shimmying belly dancer beckoning you up from the seat, just avoid eye contact. Afiyet olsun!
Erciyes Turkish Restaurant
409 Cleveland Street
Surry Hills NSW
erciyesrestaurant.com.au
I love Turkish food! This place is so underrated but yeah, skip the belly dancer :-p
This place sounds great. Love a good kebab, but always great to try other Turkish dishes like the ones you’ve mentioned above 🙂
Well I saw Erciyes in the title and that got my interest straight away. good to see a glass of Efes make it onto Gourmantic! 🙂 Looks like a fun restaurant.
Julia
Can I suggest trying the walnut pide next time you’re there? It’s my go-to dessert option whenever I’m in the area, it’s just heavenly!