I am going to be honest and say I am not one of those people who have reinvented themselves during lockdown.
I wish I could say I was but really all the last 15 months or so have taught me is that I crave company, I live to be social and I get bored really easily of my own cooking.
So when normal life started to resume, slowly, I was itching to get out about again.
Having gone from sitting in front of the TV every night with my stir-fry or fish cakes I was desperate to taste the flavours of some creative chefs once more.
So when our resident foodie at the P&J asked if I fancied dinner one night I was delighted to meet for some girlie chat and delicious food and suggested we hit Rendezvous @Nargile.
The restaurant is situated in the West End on the corner of Union Grove and Forrest Avenue and was the perfect destination for the pair of us who both stay almost a stone’s throw away.
This meant we could both finish work and, handily, pop down from our home offices in no time at all. We arrived at 6.30pm having booked and it was a bustling hive of (Covid safe) activity.
We were shown to our table, by extremely friendly staff, who you could even tell were grinning under the guise of their facemasks.
The menu was different from what had been advertised online, slightly, which threw me a bit, as I am one of these people who like to plan ahead, but this was merely a minor inconvenience as what was presented to us still offered a decent choice.
I had been to Rendezvous before and have always enjoyed my meals, however I was shocked to discover my dining partner and head of food and drink for the Journals, had never tried out the fare.
She was not disappointed.
Why pick one when you can have it all?
We both love our grub and struggle to pick just one thing, so we went with the mantra ‘why pick one thing when you can have it all’. Opting to go for the meze platter, which gives you a choice of both hot and old plates, we were treated to a mini feast in itself – and that was just for starters.
Homemade Turkish delicacies including indulgent humus and warm pitta bread, a fresh and zesty prawn salad and Saksuka – sautéed aubergine in a tomato onion and garlic sauce – were delivered first. All were delicious.
Following the cold meze we were brought two plates of warm tasty morsels.
The first was called Borek which was fried filo pastry rolls filled with spinach and feta. This was followed some fried calamari and a dish called Kanat – which is basically Cajun spiced chicken wings alongside Sucuk, chargrilled slices of traditional Turkish Sausage.
To accompany our food we ordered a bottle of Sauvignon Blanc to toast being in the same room together again since the start of the pandemic.
We both hummed and hawed a bit about what to choose for a main course. The menu offered many traditional, pitta based options including Kebabs and Iskender however having had some with our meze we decided to opt for something different.
I settled on a dish they called Kiremitte Levrek which is marinated seabass fillets, oven roasted and served on a bed of wilted spinach. This ended up coming with rice on the side, which I hadn’t been expecting, so ordered a side of garlic and rosemary roast potatoes.
Julia, despite really enjoying venison, admitted she didn’t often order it so she opted for the Geyik Antrecot Izgara – escallops of venison served with those garlic and rosemary potatoes I had so greedily eyed up as a side. This was accompanied by a rich brandy and redcurrant jus.
Just delicious
I’m not sure how many times you can use the word delicious in a review but I am slowly running out of alternative adjectives to use to adequately describe the meals that were placed before us.
The plates were clean and Julia and I made short work of the equally delicious roast potatoes that were in no way needed, but definitely enjoyed.
And there was no stopping us after that. Having tasted all that Rendezvous had already offered us there was no way we could leave without ordering some of the Baklava teasing us from the dessert menu.
We were presented with a mixture of flavours, all were exceptional but the chocolate was out of this world. Just like a little piece of heaven.
Because it had been more than a year since we socialised in person we ordered another bottle of wine and sat putting the world to rights for a short while longer.
During our time there the service was excellent and you could tell it is still a popular eatery from the number of tables turned over during that time.
As a local restaurant, it was nice to see trade doing so well given the trials of the last few months and long may it continue.
I know I will certainly be back sometime soon. So if like our resident foodie Julia you too haven’t given it a go, I recommend you do. If only to try the Baklava.