Antepliler

When I moved to Brighton three years ago, one thing I really missed about living just off Green Lanes was the brilliant Turkish bakery Yasar Halim and all the fantastic, cheap Turkish restaurants. All serve pretty much the same food yet vary in quality, and Antepliler always stood out for me as being head and shoulders above the rest.

I returned to my old haunt on Saturday night to find that Antepliler has had a revamp - they've gone a bit more fancy with kilim-covered chairs and Turkish lamps dotted about, making it cosier and a bit less canteen-like. Yet the place was still full of Turkish couples and families, meaning the food mustn't have suffered in the light of the revamp. The main restaurant is flanked by the Antepliler patisserie on one side and the Antepliler kebab shop on the other, which serves up authentic kebabs made with unusual ingredients like sweetbreads and offal, which the Turks are seemingly really into. This expansion must mean the business is doing well, and deservedly so.

We had a brilliant meal. We started off with melt-in-the-mouth sliced aubergine in spicy tomato sauce and a plate of cacik (the Turkish version of tzatsiki), both beautifully flavoured and mopped up with warm, crusty bread. A lamacun each followed – thin, crisp dough bases topped with minced lamb, chilli, garlic and herbs. We rolled them up and devoured them. Antepliler is renowned for its lamacuns, plus the huge clay oven churns out amazing pides (Turkish pizzas) as well, which locals queue up for to take away.

We shared a plate of mixed grilled meat - lamb chops, chicken shish, lamb shish, spicy chicken wings and lamb koftas, which came with chickpea-studded rice, a sweet onion salad and a salad of cucumber, tomato and sumac.

All this stuffed us entirely, and came to a mere tenner each, including one soft drink and Turkish tea each. Bargain! I love this place, when is someone going to open a decent Turkish in Brighton??
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BrightonSuz
8 Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 7 | Value for money 8
Monday, January 11, 2010