If you work in the CBD and have a hankering for Turkish food, then you might want to pay a visit to Izgara. This family-run Turkish restaurant, located at the fringe of the CBD area offers a quiet respite from the maddening lunch crowd and serves some of the most authentic Turkish food in Singapore.
Head Chef of the Turkish Embassy
The man behind the restaurant is Chef Mustafa Gungor, aged 59, who arrived in Singapore in 1989 upon the Turkish Ambassador’s invitation and subsequently served as the Embassy Chef for 22 years before venturing to establish his own restaurant, Arkadas, at Fusionopolis in 2011. Despite recommendations from several friends over the years, I never visited Arkadas as Turkish cuisine was not yet on my culinary radar.
In 2021, Chef Mustafa sold his restaurant with plans to retire in Turkey. However, his daughter, who had grown up in Singapore, harbored a desire to manage her own restaurant and persuaded Chef Mustafa to stay a bit longer to help her set up the restaurant. Fate intervened as the restaurant was being set up and she had to return to Turkey, which meant that Chef Mustafa had to postpone his retirement plans for a few more years!
As I am planning to visit Turkey this year, I thought this was an opportune time to familiarize myself with Turkish cuisine when my friends told me about Izgara. Despite, being such an accomplished chef, the restaurant is still pretty much under the radar since its opening last year. I think it has to do with its location and also the lack of proper marketing. The restaurant also looks like the typical family-run joint with simple decor which can come across as sparse and uninviting. But if it is authentic Turkish food you are looking for, then this is a place to find it.
Review of the Dishes
Lamb Pide
Pide has to be the most iconic of Turkish food. You might find hummus, kebabs and pita bread at most Middle Eastern restaurants but when it comes to Pide it is always only associated with Turkey. It is, in essence, Turkish pizza but with its very iconic boat shape and upturned edges.
The pide at Izgara is very good. I like the flavour of the spiced lamb and mozzarella, but it does lack that rustic charcoal smoke flavour that comes from a wood-fired oven. 4.25/5
Adana Kebap
My exposure to Middle Eastern Cuisine has largely been limited to my time living in Australia where there are many Middle Eastern enclaves. I have always had kebabs that were heavily spiced with warm Middle Eastern spices like cumin, black pepper and paprika. But Chef Mustafa tends to be light-handed on the ground spices and instead uses fresh herbs like onion juice and tomatoes to marinate his meats.
He tells me that the main flavour of the Adana kebap comes from Aleppo pepper flakes which is made from dried red capsicums. The meat is nicely seasoned, but still tastes fresh and has a lively texture and juicy. Again, I am missing the smoke, but I won’t hesitate to order this again the next time I visit. 4/5
Musakka
The musakka that I am more familiar with is the Greek version which usually contains eggplant and tomatoes. It is a dish found in many countries around the Mediterranean and every country and every chef has his own variation. Chef Mustafa makes his without tomato sauce, which created a bit of cognitive dissonance for me. He also adds spiced lamb to the dish. Still, it is a tasty dish which I would not hesitate to recommend. 4/5
Grilled Haloumi Cheese
Grilled Haloumi cheese is a very simple dish of haloumi cheese which is grilled and served with a drizzle of olive oil. It’s the kind of thing which I hesitate to order as it doesn’t feel like you’ve purchased any creativity or skills of the chef. Then again, customers also pay for milo, sashimi and wine, so what do I know? The dish still made an appearance on my second visit there and I’m told it’s one of their popular dishes. 4/5
Chef’s Specialty – Salmon with Tomato Sauce
This Salmon dish is not something you’d find along the streets of Turkey but it is one of Chef Mustafa’s signature dishes. I suspect he must have made this at the bequest of the ambassadors when he was still working at the Embassy. However, if you like salmon, you would like this.
It is one dish that my wife would certainly order again. The sauce is made of onions, tomato and butter and is quite mild and creamy. I am ambivalent to salmon, so it isn’t something I’d order. 4.25/5
Pilav that comes with main dishes
The rice that is served with the kebap is surprisingly good. It’s one of those unexpected gastronomic moments as I really wasn’t expecting anything from such a placid-looking dish. The rice is cooked with a thin vermicelli pasta which is first browned in butter and then cooked together with the rice. It went really well with the meat and seafood dishes but is also tasty just eaten by itself. 4.25/5
Künefe – if you don’t like it, you don’t have to pay for it!
The one dish which seems to be everyone’s favourite is the Kunefe. They are so confident with the dish that they even have a poster proudly declaring that if you don’t like it, you don’t have to pay for it. For those who are not familiar with the dish, it is made of cornflour vermicelli and baked with cheese in the middle. It is usually served with a sweet syrup but chef serves his with sweet cream which actually works really well. We were happy to pay for the dish and you would be too. 4/5
Conclusion
If you are looking for authentic, unpretentious Turkish food in the CBD area, this might just be what you are looking for. The place has a homely vibe and the owner is very friendly and down to earth even though he must have served his food to many high level dignitaries in his tenure at the Turkish Embassy.
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