Hanedan, the Turkish restaurant on West Preston Street, is somewhere I’ve been meaning to visit for quite some time. It should come as no secret to regular readers that I’m a big fan of Turkish food, so the fact that I hadn’t made it along here before now was rather remiss of me.
Exterior
The place is very simply appointed, with plain white walls and understated Turkish stylings, adding little notes of authentic charm. The main dining room has lovely cornicing, although they don’t really highlight it to best advantage.
They do a two course set menu for £9.95, where you can choose from soup or hummus to start, then chicken skewers or pasta to follow. I was happy to opt for soup and chicken.
Soup
For bigger parties, I think the way to go would be to order a selection of their hot meze, as judging by the dishes that were brought out for other diners, these all looked really good.
My friendly and super-efficient waitress soon brought me some pitta and olives to contemplate while my soup was prepared. The pitta was warm and the olives excellent, so things were looking promising.
Chicken shish
The soup soon arrived and had a really welcoming aroma. I took a good long time to drink it in, as it was worth savouring. The soup proved to be every bit as good, with wonderful depth of flavour, and well rounded seasoning. It was properly good.
The main course maintained that standard. The chunks of chicken were extremely well-treated, with a flavour-rich sear to the outside and incredible amounts of moisture sealed within. The accompanying rice was simple but excellent, too.
A little greenery would have rounded out the dish perfectly, so that’s probably why the waitress suggested I should add a side salad. Sometimes I should just nod and agree to this kind of advice.
I rounded things out with some Turkish coffee, and relaxed in the glory of a rather curious lounge piano version of Purple Rain.
So overall, I was delighted with Hanedan. I’ll need to come back with a few chums to have a good go at their meze, but on the basis of today I have a strong feeling that this is the best place for Turkish food in the city. I’d heartily recommend you pay it a visit, at your earliest convenience.
Scores
Blythe scores Hanedan
4/5 for food
3.5/5 for presentation
3/5 for setting
4/5 for service
giving an overall 14.5/20
Today’s quester was: Blythe
I ate: bread and olives; red lentil soup; chicken shish
I drank: sparkly water, Turkish coffee
I wore: grey wool jumper
Total bill: £14.60
