A Turkish favourite expands to Vic Park – and brings an exclusive doner with it
A different doner kebab, the smoky kiss of coal, wonderful breads and the best baklava of all time: Just four reasons to turn your route to the new outpost of Antep Mangal.
Turkish$
“Daaaaad,” one of the young boys at the table next to us bleats. “Do they make meat boxes here?”
“Of course they make meat boxes,” says Mr. Can’t Wait Until School Holidays Are Over, after a short while. It turns out his answer is also a bit wrong.
Yes, the menu at Antep Mangal Victoria Park, the glossy 40-seat Turkish restaurant that opened on New Year’s Eve, includes doner kebab meat, a key component of the meat box. halal snack pack or HSP. Yes, there are chips on the menu, too: thick, crispy blocks of potato the color of a potato. The Simpsons character.
But no, there is no option on the menu to order both items together, or at least in a box smothered in sauces.
Restaurant reviews, news, and the latest openings delivered to your inbox.
become a member
A theory: Maybe my father is a regular at the original Antep Mangal, which Welat Yılmaz and Hasan Siringül opened on Beaufort Street six years ago. shish kebab, observation, pita bread and meatbox shortages facing the region?
When the news broke that Antep Mangal was expanding to the south, it was certain that venue number two would offer the same menu, right? Wrong.
Yılmaz and Siringül want you to consider getting your döner in more traditional formats instead. aspect Alexandermaybe: a saucy arrangement of meat, tomato sauce and melted butter, piled on flatbread and served with a refreshing drizzle of tangy yoghurt. Türkiye has strong historical ties with Central Asia, so dairy products are prominent in its cuisine. (see: homemade) ayranA lightly salted drinking yoghurt.)
Or maybe try the gyro platter, which invites buttery rice, an unusual green salad, and fluffy fluff. bulgur wheat (cracked wheat) boiled in Turkish pepper paste pepper paste to the party This is just an option that doesn’t help you mark up. five servings of vegetables for the day: it also showcases the chewing and eating quality of the meat.
Look carefully at the piece of meat slowly rotating on the vertical spit in the open kitchen; you will see numerous layer lines throughout. This is not a garden type doner, but it is a leaf or “leaf” döner: the name is a reference to the layers or leaves of lamb and beef that master chef Celal Per uses to make each puff pastry. Per is also involved in cutting, shaving slices of doner kebab into both long strips and short pieces to create different mouthfeels and textures. Batter? Yaprak is exclusive to the new Vic Park adaptation of Antep Mangal.
Like the Mount Lawley mothership, all the spits (fog) grilled to order over compressed charcoal. The important thing is barbecue – the Turkish word meaning “grill” – smoldering all day, meaning chargrilled meat is available from just before lunch until the early hours of dinner, and any time in between. (Many grill places understandably only burn their coals at night and during peak periods.)
True, you’ll wait longer for your skewer here than in some places, but the juiciness and controlled aroma of the finished dishes suggest that your patience will not go unrewarded. My choice of skewers adanaA delicious mixture of minced meat and lamb, red pepper and spices, pressed by hand onto each skewer.
Besides rice and salad, these skewers can also be ordered as kebabs, tucked into fluffy arms of Turkish bread with red onion, diced tomatoes, some leafy things, and nothing else. No questions about toppings. No egg sales. No double meat option. These are minimalist kebabs deliberately designed not only to highlight the quality of the meat, but also to quietly reinforce the restaurant’s “less is more” mantra. Although Vic Park’s menu does not cover as wide an area as Mount Lawley’s, it brings customers closer to Türkiye.
This kebab bread, by the way, is one of the many products made at home. There is also a boat shaped range pita bread Depending on its filling, it is either cooked open or closed like a pastry. Food is good but my choice among baked goods lahmacun (impressively thin flatbreads topped with lamb and veal minced meat) and excellent baklava, densely nutty and layered, crowned with ruffled crispy edges. dough pastry
Despite the simple details in its dishes, Antep Mangal is very similar to the ordinary kebab restaurants in the neighborhood. Diners order at a long counter. (The room’s layout occasionally causes bottlenecks when there’s a line and staff have to hand out food to dining guests.) Exhaust fans work valiantly to blow all that smoke out, but they’re not powerful enough. The fridge is full of multinational soft drinks. But don’t be fooled. Beneath this unassuming exterior is a shop that cooks and serves some pretty impressive Turkish food. I dug. Too much.
But I also love the wilder, less classic moments of Turkish cuisine; especially the restorative power of a two-handed kebab at the end of a night out. (Please do not bring alcohol to Antep Mangal, it is a halal restaurant.)
Some might argue that this makes me a bogan. I prefer the term open-minded. I think this town is big enough for both types of Turkish food.
Vic Park welcomes anyone willing to think and eat outside the (meat) box.
Down
Atmosphere: A promising second act that slowly expands the public’s perception of Turkish food.
Dishes to use: Adana shish ($20), doner leaf plate ($27), lahmahcun ($10).
Beverages: Turkish salty yoghurt buttermilk (no BYO) backed by a fridge full of multinational soft drinks.
Cost: About $65 for two people, excluding drinks.
Good Food reviews are booked anonymously and independently paid. A restaurant cannot pay for a review or inclusion on a list. Good Food Guide.
Max Veenhuyzen is a journalist and photographer who has been writing about food, drink and travel in national and international publications for over 20 years. He reviews restaurants for the Good Food Guide.
