Food review: Turkish delights at Alaturka BBQ Restaurant in Shrewsbury

But sometimes it’s nice to discover new places with the hope of adding them to our list of firm favourites.

My husband and I aren’t frequent visitors to Shrewsbury but when we do find ourselves in the county town, we know a few places that can always be relied upon to provide a tasty meal.

But during our most recent stay in the area, we decided it was time to branch out and try somewhere new.

That’s why on a drizzly, autumnal Tuesday evening we find ourselves at the delightful Alaturka BBQ Restaurant in Wyle Cop.

This part of town is renowned for its wide array of independent businesses and is always worth a visit.

Having sampled Turkish cuisine during a trip to Basingstoke in the summer, Alaturka caught our eye straight away with its promise of authentic cuisine.

It’s fair to say the weather had become pretty miserable by the time we were ready to eat.

So the bright and bold colour of the restaurant’s exterior was a welcome sight on such a dreary and soggy day.

When we arrived, there was only one other customer seated in the restaurant, which opened last year, but after a while it started to fill up with more diners. From our table I caught watch the chef preparing the meals in the kitchen, something I think is always nice to see and is evidence that the food is being freshly-made.

A friendly waitress took our drinks order and gave time to peruse the menu further. It took us a while to read through all of the options and whittle it down.

At this point, we were fairly hungry but we knew we wanted to make sure we would be leaving enough room for some baklava at the end of the meal.

So we decided to share a starter and opted for the sucuk, pieces of grilled spicy Turkish sausage because it was something we had never heard of or eaten before.

We were brought some fresh, warm bread to enjoy with some dips as we waited for the dish to arrive.

It was delicious and it was a generous portion, possibly too generous as we were risk of filling up on bread. The dips were also pretty tasty, there was a creamy one which I think was cacik, containing yoghurt, cucumber and dill. The second was a slightly spicy tomato-coloured dip, which went really well with the soft bread.

While we were tucking in, our sausage starter arrived. It was a good portion, and I was glad we had chosen to share it.

Sucuk is generally made from beef and is a dried sausage.

It lived up to its spicy description and I was grateful for the creamy dip to eat with it.

It was very nice and my husband said he could happily have eaten the whole portion.

It had taken us a long time to choose our main courses, because there was a wide range of options including grilled dishes, Turkish pide, kebabs and sharing platters.

When it came to placing my order, I made a mistake but it turned out not to be a bad move after all.

My error was caused by me not realising that there were two different moussakas options on the menu.

I was looking at the traditional meat moussaka, made with lamb mince but there was also a vegetarian version available, which was listed on a different part of the menu.

When the waitress took our order, I simply asked for ‘moussaka’.

I didn’t say I wanted the meat version because I hadn’t appreciated there was another option but to be fair, the waitress, who would have known, didn’t clarify which one I was referring to either.

As it turned out, I didn’t realise I hadn’t received what I thought I was ordering until I was about halfway through because it was so delicious.

There were layers of aubergine, potato, courgette and peppers with a creamy bechamel and tomato and topped with melted mozzarella cheese. It was served with rice, bulgur and salad.

I was enjoying it so much that it took a while for me to realise that it was lacking the lamb mince that I had been expecting to taste.

But it really didn’t matter because it was so tasty and full of flavour.

I suppose I could have mentioned it to the waitress but I had already half of it without any complaint and I had enjoyed every mouthful so there was no need to.

It’s definitely something I would order again without hesitation.

My husband opted for one of the Turkish pide, oval-shaped flatbreads with a variety of toppings include mozzarella cheese.

He chose the Alaturka Special Pide with minced lamb, spinach, sucuk, onion, tomatoes and mixed peppers.

At first glance, it look similar to a pizza but there was a lot more topping than would usually be on your average deep pan.

The ratio of filling to bread impressed him and he also like that the meat was folded into the edges of the crust.

He particularly liked the tasty tomato sauce and that they was plenty of it. It was 10/10 from him.

Thanks to us holding back on the bread, even though it was delicious, we still had room left to share a dessert.

While we were looking at the menu, just to confirm that we could order the baklava, the waitress arrived with a complimentary portion, which we had not been expecting and was a nice surprise.

This traditional dessert was made of pastry layers and pistachio and covered in a light syrup.

It was a real treat to end what had been a great meal and we were glad we had taken the time to try somewhere new.

The baklava was so good that we decided to order a second portion to take home with us to enjoy another day - we were on holiday after all.

Next time you’re in Shrewsbury and fancy a bit to eat, I thoroughly recommend Alaturka. The food was delicious and well-priced. We felt we’d had a lot for the money.

The restaurant also offers an online ordering system with its full menu available and have delivered straight to your door, meaning local diners can enjoy the meals at home too.

9/10

alaturkabbqrestaurant.co.uk