Our family’s a big fan of Middle Eastern food but we know that lots of Pinoys don’t like it so chancing upon a good restaurant that serves it is quite rare.
So we were surprised to discover Istanbul at Serin Tagaytay. Save for Turks, whose food truly caters to the Filipino palate (a.k.a. their stuff is too sweet to be authentic), we don’t get to see Middle Eastern food in mainstream malls that much!
Istanbul Restaurant review
Istanbul serves Turkish food that are still pretty familiar to Filipinos. We had the Lahmajun, which is similar to shawarma, and chicken kebab. I don’t have a reference for what’s authentic, but the ones we had here definitely doesn’t taste like the popular offerings here — and that’s a good thing!
The ingredients are fresh, nicely spiced, and cooked well. We had a good meal (and we’ve come back again since taking these photos).
If you’re looking for a new addition to your Middle Eastern restaurants list, Istanbul’s ready to be penciled in!
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