We’d never been to the Istanbul Grill before, although we did have a couple of home delivery meals from them during lockdown. They were OK so we thought the restaurant would be worth a try.
Houmous was fine and comes with a flattish bread (a bit like focaccia), rather than pitta. The bread makes up for what was a middling sort of houmous. They sell similar bread at Venus – the mainly Turkish supermarket on Anson Road in Longsight. The other starter was a skewer with a couple of cubes of grilled halloumi and chunks of sucuk sausage. That comes with salad. We also had some olives.
For mains, there was an Adana kofta which I’ve had on the home delivery and also in other Turkish places. It’s usually quite spicy but this one was quite muted. I was offered chilli sauce which perked it up. There’s good rice and a fresh salad.
The other main course was imam bayildi (literally, the imam fainted as it tastes so good). A baked aubergine stuffed with an onion and tomato mix. It was fine but a bit underseasoned from versions we’ve eaten before (and, indeed, cooked at home). It also comes with the rice and salad.
Cheadle’s a bit crowded with Eastern Mediterranean places, with Janna next door and Yara (both Lebanese/Syrian) round the corner. In truth, I’m not sure that the Grill offers us anything over those two to make it a regular place for us as, unsurprisingly, all three offer a broadly similar cuisine. .
