A toast of Turkish wine at Anatolia

While most Turks profess to be Muslim, their homeland - situated between Asia and Europe - also produces several different wines and alcoholic beverages that are now exported far and wide.

Wine lovers in Jakarta now have an opportunity to try Turkish beverages at a Turkish restaurant with a special food and drink promotion for its customers.

This October, guests at Anatolia Authentic Turkish Restaurant in Kemang can sample Turkish wines including Kalecik Karesi Ankara or Bogazkere Diyarbakir, with a promotion offering three-course meals and free-flow of selected beverages including beer and wine.

Besides the Turkish wines, guests can also pair their cuisine with wines from Italy, France and Spain. The free-flow promo is available during lunch (from 11.30 a.m. to 2.30 p.m.) and dinner (from 5.30 p.m. to 8.30 p.m.).

With the majority of Anatolia guests drinking alcohol, the promotion was complemented by the restaurant's use of extra virgin olive oil, says Anatolia chef Sezai Zorlu.

"If you drink too much alcohol it can damage your internal organs, but our cuisine uses olive oil that can smooth out the damage," he said.

Anatolia has more than 50 vegetarian dishes on offer (noted with green leaves on the menu), ranging from starters to desserts. Not just for its extensive use of olive oil, Anatolia is also a good choice for health-conscious guests because it offers slow food, meaning cuisine prepared only after guests order it.

"Guests to Anatolia will not get their food quickly. They have to wait because we're not serving fast food. But we promise quality food. We process the food ourselves, including the meat cutting and marinating," Sezai said.

Appetizers range from corbasi (soup) and salatasi (salad), to mezeler (hot and cold appetizers). To get the whole range of appetizers, guests can order the Anatolia Meze Tabagi, comprising five appetizers: Zeytinyagli Hummus (chickpeas, tahini, lemon juice and extra-virgin olive oil), Tahinli Patlican (grilled aubergine, tahini, garlic, lemon juice, yoghurt, extra virgin olive oil), Beyaz Peynirli Ispanakli Borek (spinach, home-dried oregano and Turkish white cheese stuffed into filo pastry), Maydonoz Salatasi (chopped fresh parsley, tomato, onion, pounded wheat dressed with extra-virgin olive oil) and Etli Borek (minced lamb and a selection of vegetables and spices, rolled into filo pastry).

Anatolia's fine selection of main courses includes seafood, poultry and famous fork-tender dishes such as Incikli Hunkar Begendi (a wood-oven cooked fork-tender shank of lamb with tomato paste, laid on char-grilled Aubergine puree), Firindra Ezmeli Balik (marinated fish), and Tavuk Sis Kebab (marinated fillet of diced lamb leg or fillet of chicken breast).

"The meat is fork tender. If you have to use the knife to cut it, it will be free of charge," Sezai said.

An assortment of Turkish desserts including Kuru Kayisi Tatlisi (Turkish dried apricots stuffed with walnuts, cream and pistachio nuts), Baklava (layers of filo pastry, butter and pistachio nuts, baked and sweetened with homemade syrup and honey) and Irmikli Sobiyet (semolina, milk, walnuts and cinnamon wrapped in filo pastry).

Anatolia not only provides quality Turkish cuisine, but has also been designed to make you feel as though you have been transported to Turkey.

The interior seems to have been made to look as Turkish as possible, from white and blue Turkish ceramics and bells hanging on its walls, to the dim intimate lighting. On Fridays and Saturdays, Anatolia also hosts belly dancing performances to get your adrenaline pumping.

Anatolia - Authentic Turkish Restaurant
Jl. Kemang Raya 110 A
South Jakarta
Phone: (021) 719 4658