Tashan

We moved yesterday to the Crowne Plaza Hotel — Old City and the restaurant choices in the neighborhood are far more limited than in our previous neighborhood. We wanted to eat somewhere other than the hotel’s café or restaurants. This was recommended by the Crowne Plaza desk staff because it was a short walk away. We walked over and were taken in hand by what Alan started calling in Athens a «roper», who ropes you into his restaurant. He led us through the corridors to the restaurant and arranged for us to be seated at a table for two.
The building the restaurant is contained in is historic and beautiful, made of stone and brick and illuminated by colorful Turkish glass lanterns. I gather from the website that there’s a large dining space and that there’s a belly dancing show. We ate in the courtyard which was open to the sky. It was very pleasant, although it was hard not to have our meal spoiled by the surrounding smokers. We were brought a huge, warm flatbread w/​a mixture of butter and cheese to spread on it. I asked the waiter what the bread was called and he replied, «lavosh». I was astonished because I’ve seen lavosh at home and it’s nothing like this. There’s a big difference between packaged and hot off the grill.
We perused the menu and decided on a starter of esme, a cold eggplant dish we’ve had and enjoyed at Bosporus in Walnut Creek. We ordered water to drink. Alan ordered a chopped meat kebob which came w/​rice, French fries, a roasted tomato and one of those treacherously unpredictable peppers Alan had tried at Meat House. I ordered chicken chops, which looked like a couple of chicken leg quarters w/​the thighs deboned. They had the same accompanying sides. The esme was so salty we couldn’t finish half of it. Even the lavosh couldn’t make it palatable. Alan’s kebab was delicious and so were my. chicken chops. The tomato and rice were good and the fries were underdone and could have used some of the salt from the esme. Neither of us risked the peppers. The restaurant was busy and service was a little slow, but friendly. The food was definitely not the best we have had in Turkey and the proximity of the smokers made for an unpleasant dining experience. It may be a short walk, but we won’t be back. We’ll find something else tomorrow night,