Just yesterday, I got word from @EatingOrlando that Efes Turkish Restaurant has closed. The post is already written, so here are my thoughts on the restaurant anyway: I recently tried Efes Turkish Restaurant in Sanford. Efes is hidden away in the Sanford Marina in the building that formerly housed
Limoncello's. The location, with it's outdoor seating and unobstructed view of Lake Monroe is wonderful. The food is also a vast improvement over what Limoncello's degraded to.
Our meal at Efes started with an order of
Lahmacun, also known as Turkish pizza. This consists of bread covered in a puree of meat and vegetables, served alongside assorted vegetables. The vegetables were piled on the slices, lemon was squeezed, and the pieces were rolled up and eaten. It was my first time trying this, and I definitely liked it.
The mixed grill was also ordered. This dish came piled with lamb, beef, and chicken cooked in various ways over rice and vegetables. While I thought a couple of pieces of meat were a bit bland or overly chewy, the majority of the meal was really tasty. The rice was also surprisingly flavorful compared to most rices. This was meant to serve two people, but between this and the
lahmacun, three of us couldn't finish everything.
Finally, for dessert we all shared some baklava. I can honestly say that this was some of the best baklava I've had in the area with lots and lots of pistachios...
Efes was not cheap by any means. They definitely weren't in the low-cost Turkish food category like
Steak & Salad, but they did give huge amounts of food and it was all good. Maybe the higher prices had something to do with them closing...
