Good selection of decent mezze. A bit hit and miss in quality, but excellent service and good atmosphere. Overall liked it!
Full review:I was meeting up with an old work colleague for a couple of of drinks and a bite to eat. She's moved to Victoria and was still trying out the various restaurants in the area. She was hoping to impress her new boyfriend by taking him to Kazan (apparently he likes Greek food) and so asked if i'd mind testing it out with her. Being ever the gentlemen, I said yes.
I did point out when we got there that Kazan was actually Turkish, but in her infinite wisdom my friend said same difference - I didn't have the heart to tell her about some of intricacies of Greek/Turkish relations over the years...
The place was packed when we entered and we were escorted to the small but cosy bar area and were quickly brought drinks. We waited about 10 minutes for our table and were presented with our menu that features a selection of hot and cold mezze (tapas style) dishes and some selections from the grill.
We went for the mezze option and opted for 6 dishes to share. They arrived pretty promptly and were accompanied by excellent, hot, flat bread. The dishes themselves varied from the excellent to the average and all were generous portions.
Highlights were:
Garlic & chilli scallops, accompanied with a citrus salsa: the scallops were perfectly cooked, well seasoned and worked really well with the salsa.
Drunken calamari: although couldn't taste the vodka it said they were cooked in, the batter was light and the calamari tasty and not too chewy.
Humus: tasted fresh and was lovely with the bread.
Disappointments were:
Icli Kifte: these were deep fried shells of bulgur filled with mince & pine nuts. The bulgur was really thick and overpowered the mince & pine nuts and so were a bit bland.
Hellimi: I normally love halloumi, but this was the biggest let down of the meal. The slices were too thin and were also under-cooked, which meant you lost the normal crispy outside contrasting with the softer middle. It was just too 'squeaky', which might seem a strange thing to say, but will make sense if you've ever had it before.
Overall the good outweighed the bad and I enjoyed the friendly efficient service and good atmosphere.
Special mention also has to go to the toilets, which were very grand: like something from a Ottaman Emperor's harem (only with urinals!)
I thought the pricing was simple, £5.95 for hot dishes and £4.95 for cold, but this meant some dishes were bargains (the scallops for example) but also meant the halloumi was ridicously overpriced. Overall it was good value and worth a vist.
