Top: Turkish Consul General Fikret Ozir, Chef Ismail Gundogdu, and Park Hyatt Director of Food & Beverage Ali Mansi at the Turkish Food Festival held at the Nafoura restaurant. Bottom (L): Turkish simit is a must at an authentic Turkish food festival, Bottom (C): Chef Ismail Gundogdu, who came especially to Jeddah from Grand Hayatt Istanbul for the Turkish Food Festival, inspecting the cold Turkish mezzo, and Bottom (R): A large selection of Turkish and international sweets are offered during the festival. Selma Roth Saudi Gazette JEDDAH – Foodies who enjoy the flavors of traditional Turkish cuisine will have a blast dining at Park Hyatt Jeddah's Nafoura restaurant from December 1 to 10, where an authentic Turkish Food Festival has been organized. The opening of the festival took place on Sunday evening and was well attended by guests, media and diplomats. Upon entering the modern and elegant restaurant, which usually offers Mediterranean food and features a large open kitchen, guests were greeted with a welcome drink in style of either non-alcoholic Martini, prepared with Turkish coffee, brown sugar and hazelnut syrup, or a more traditional lemonade that is commonly served in Turkish homes to welcome guests. It is the third time the Turkish Food Festival takes place at the award-winning restaurant overlooking the Red Sea and King Fahd Fountain, and this time the hotel brought two senior chefs from Grand Hyatt Istanbul with the help of Turkish Airlines, which sponsored the event. Striving to ensure the authenticity of their dishes, Chefs Ismail Gundogdu and Beysel Adiyman, who arrived to the Kingdom a couple of days before the festival kicked off, brought with them some of their own products and spices. To start with, they prepared a large selection of Turkish cold mezze in addition to two soups, a rice and yogurt soup and the traditional Turkish tarhane, essentially a soup made from a fermented and dehydrated mix of cracked wheat with yogurt along with peppers, onions and tomatoes that “are laid to dry in the sun for about a week in Turkish villages," Chef Gundogdu said. The Turkish Consul General in Jeddah, Fikret Ozir, attended the opening of the festival and confirmed the tarhane soup was “very good”. The salads included well-known regional favorites like taboulah and hummus as well as more typical Turkish mezze, such as a slightly tangy smoked eggplant salad, a garlicky salad of spinach and strained yogurt, and vegetarian bulgur köfte presented on a bed of lettuce. The chefs show they are not afraid to use a good amount of spices, giving the appetizers a distinctive taste. Confessing he had never tried Turkish vine leaves before, Ozir said they are different than the Arabic version, but in one word “delicious”. Proceeding to the main dishes, Gundogdu explained that the ouzi or whole roasted lamb on a bed of oriental rice prepared with pine nuts, fresh parsley and dill as well as several dried herbs and beef stew was one of his specialties, adding that the lamb had been cooked upside-down in the oven for two hours, which resulted in a crispy and low-fat dish. Another star of the evening was the salt crusted salmon, a whole fish infused with various herbs, covered with a mixture of rock and table salt and eggs after which it was baked in the oven for 35 minutes. Naturally, freshly baked simit, circular bread covered with sesame seeds and sold in abundance on the streets of Istanbul, could not be omitted in the festival. For vegetarians, the choice of mains was limited, but the huge variety of mezze certainly sufficed. Besides, it is always good to leave room for the special Turkish desserts. Especially the Turkish Delight, saccharine baklava, and fried kunafe rolls were highly appreciated by the guests. Fouad Hamka, executive chef at Nafoura restaurant, was positive the festival would be a success among their clientele. "We want our guests to taste exactly the same thing they tasted in Istanbul,” he said regarding the fact that the chefs had brought their own spices and seasoning. He added that the way shoarma is prepared in Istanbul is “totally different than the way we do it here,” giving away that due to the popularity of this cuisine, the restaurant was currently planning to launch a weekly Turkish theme night. The Turkish Food Festival can be enjoyed daily at Park Hyatt's Nafoura Restaurant until Tuesday, December 10 from 6:30 P.M - midnight. Buffet price is SR 220 per person including Turkish welcome drinks and soft drinks.
