Saray Sultan – Jumeirah 3

Here’s a new Turkish restaurant that’s open at Jumeirah street. You probably would have noticed this one if you commute by Jumeirah road. The restaurant is on the first floor of the building(Reem Mall) so you need to keep your head high to notice while driving. Saray Sultan serves you authentic Turkish cuisine. My only regret was coming here for lunch as I missed out on their favourites such as the donners and Iskendar kebabs since they are only prepared after 05:00pm.  Hence it’s a better idea to be here for dinner so you have their entire menu available.

Except for the chandeliers and crockery matching the Turkish theme, the restaurant had a simple design. The best part about eating at a newly open restaurant is that you get to use brand new cutlery. The weather is good and they do have a sit out facing the Jumeirah road with the winds blowing from Jumeirah beach side. There is also a mosque adjacent to this restaurant which made it convenient for our prayers.

The drinks came very pretty as you can see. We tried a mix of mocktail and smoothie. Out of the lot, My pick would be the mocktail which came with a mix of Orange, green apple, mint. The drink was a real thirst quencher. Then came the soup of the day. I was quite surprised to see the size of the bread accompanied with the soup. The bread was freshly baked, hot and fluffy. I am glad it came in a big size cause I enjoyed every bit of this bread specially when the Saray mix mezze platter came in. The most I enjoyed from the platter was the ezme which was a mix of chilli spices. Ezme was an item that we swapped with moutabal from the platter. Everything in this platter was so perfect including the hummus and is a must order.

Definitely meat is the way to go here. The hot lahmacun pide was a nice warm treat of minced meat on a thinly baked dough. What really impressed us was their Hatay Tepsi Kebab which is cooked in traditional claypot. Had it along with their warm fluffy bread and it was just adorable in taste. This is a dish I highly recommend you to try.

The Saray Mixed grills was a combination of different meats which includes chicken, mutton cubes, minced meat, chicken wings and lamb chop. The platter is accompanied by thinly sliced spicy arabic bread which goes well with the grilled meats. Surely they know how to make good breads here, they make them very well. We also tried the healthy burgul which is actually a cereal dish usually made from dried cracked wheat. It is supposedly high in fiber etc but you definitely need a taste for it.

The dessert was another jolly ride at Saray Sultan. The cheese kunafa was definitely their best dessert in the menu. It was just simply outstanding in quality and taste. I am a die hard fan of cream kunafa and my favourite ones are typically from Al hallab or Al baba. But here the cream kunafa was a little different. The cream was closer to milk and so not the kind I look forward to. The Turkish baklawa was pretty long and filling, but not as convincing as the ones found at other Turkish restaurants like Sultan Baba Iskendar. They also have the same baklawa with ice cream filling instead of pistachios.

I’ve never been able to enjoy a turkish coffee until I had this one today. A very nice coffee that anyone can enjoy. Their Turkish Coffee also comes accompanied by Turkish sweets and plain water. It came very presentable as you can see.

Besides the donners and Iskhendar kebabs, they also have a signature dish which is stuffed chicken covered in salt shell marinated and cooked for over 3 hours. You need to tell them well in advance if you want to try this dish so that they can prepare and keep it ready. Click here to visit their official website. Click pictures below to see them in full screen view: