UK Trip Travel Food: Newark on Trent Food (The Old Post Office, The Old Bakery Tea Room, Turkish Delight, and The Sir John Arderne)

I took a trip to England in the summer of 2019. I began this trip in Brighton, left early in the morning, and took a train to Newark on Trent where I stayed for about a week.

The Old Post Office:

My first meal in the city was at a pub called The Old Post Office. I had a meat pie, served with mashed potatoes, peas, and gravy. Not the best food, but not the worst either. There was some confusion with the service where they mixed up what I had ordered, but we'll forgive them.

The Old Bakery Tea Room:

I thought tea in a royal palace was pretty cool in my last post, but this was different. This restaurant was in a building that was amazingly old from an American perspective. The Old Bakery Tea Room is located in a medieval Tudor style cottage which has been around since the 15th century. Their website lists them as one of Nottinghamshire's Most Haunted Buildings too, but I saw no ghosts... 

Started out with tea. I had Earl Grey.

I ordered the Ploughman’s Lunch. This came with a salad, various cheeses, fruit, pies, and slices of bread served with butter and chutney. Everything about this meal was delicious. 

Of all the foods I ate on this trip to England, this won as my favorite meal. The food was great, combined with the environment of eating in a restaurant who's building has been around since the middle ages...

Turkish Delight:

Middle Eastern food located next to a church which has parts dating back to the 12th century. I'm glad the crusades are over... 

I had the lamb and chicken combination doner kabab. The meats were served over chips, topped with a tzatziki style sauce, and pickled vegetables. This was a huge amount of food for the price. More than I was able to eat in one sitting. 

The Sir John Arderne:

This was the second pub I visited in Newark on Trent. The Sir John Arderne was the better of the two. Better service, better atmosphere, and I enjoyed the food more as well.

I ordered what seems to be a standard British pub food: The Chicken Tikka Masala. I guess this is a side effect of colonialism. The chicken was served alongside rice and garlic naan. No complaints at all with this meal. 

Efes Turkish Restaurant in Sanford, FL

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...

Istanbul Grill in Manhattan, NY

To continue my recent New York dining experience, I had dinner at a Turkish restaurant called Istanbul Grill in Chelsea. I ordered the Gyro Doner, consisting of lamb, lettuce, and tomato in a pita. While the gyro wasn't bad, it did lack flavor. The gyro meat was unusually bland and the three sauces that were brought to the table didn't help much either.

Istanbul Grill was okay, but don't think I'd return with their flavorless gyros. Perhaps I caught them on a bad day because they have good reviews on Urbanspoon and Yelp, but I think I would have enjoyed a gyro from the halal cart at the end of the block more than what I had at this restaurant based on smell alone...

Chicken Kebab in Rosyln Heights, NY

Chicken Kebab is a Turkish restaurant in Rosyln Heights on Long Island. On a recent visit to New York, I found the restaurant by accident and decided to give them a try.

The meal started with the House Cold Platter. This consisted of four stuffed grape leaves served with feta, olives, peppers, cucumbers, and tomatoes over an eggplant dip. The grape leaves had a nice minty flavor, the cheese was salty, and the baba ganoush was very tasty.

For my main course, I had the Chicken Gyro which was both massive and delicious! It was actually one of the most overstuffed gyros I've ever seen.  When it was served, the gyro almost looked like a salad. Hidden below all of the greens, there was an abundance of thinly sliced chicken. When I managed to pick up this overflowing gyro and take a bite, I had nothing bad to say. The chicken was tender and had great flavor. The greens gave a nice crunch, and when I added some tahini, this became one of the best gyros in my recent food memory!

Steak & Salad in Orlando, FL

I recently visited a small restaurant in Orlando called Steak & Salad. They had a split menu, serving both Turkish food and generic steak & salad. I was mostly interested in the Turkish side of the menu...

My meal started with an Eggplant Dip Salad appetizer.  It was very similar, if not the same to baba ghanoush. The eggplant salad had a consistency similar to hummus and was served with two slices of bread.

For my main course, I had the Chicken Kebabs. This came with three skewers with chicken, peppers, and onions served over a pita. Bulgur pilav was served on the side along with a parsley and onion salad. The flavors in the food were great and the prices were really reasonable as well. My meal cost a grand total of $7.99 and was plenty of food!