Where: Tas, SouthwarkWith who: The Vole
How much: £42 a head for the set meze menu. Otherwise starters are around £4 and mains hover under the tenner mark. You'll eat well on £20 a head.
Come here if: these days, the local kebab house just isn't sophisticated enough for you.
You know those days when you wake up craving chickpeas? No, me neither, but the Vole pleaded pulses so I cancelled a planned trip to Hawksmoor (the things we do for love) and we headed to Tas on The Cut. It's one of the first and largest branches of this thriving, good value Turkish chain and our bill came to an end of the month pleasing £42 including a bottle of wine and coffees.
If they've skimped on anything, it's not the decor.. Clean light woods, plants and linen tablecloths take this flagship upmarket enough for that snooty auntie, if not a key client. The wipe-clean laminated menu lets the side down a little, but that's a minor whinge... The food is good, simple and authentic (at least to my untutored palate). We go for one of the set meze menus, the Renk, they're all broadly similar combinations of hot and cold small plates but this one includes Borek, small filled, fried, filo parcels I'm an absolute sucker for. There's also a two course, more Anglicised menu, ideal for snooty auntie.
Standouts include the aforementioned Borek, hot but ungreasy, stuffed with soft cheese and spinach, a smoky stewed aubergine number, palate cleansing parsley and mint tabbouleh, fresh and crunchy and some excellent bread. Less of a success were the deep-fried mussels, little chewy sacks of salt in a too thick batter, and a solid falafel, puckish in the wrong way.
I have, over the years, eaten at a number of branches and had decent meals every time. I've usually been with large groups, as the set menus suit communal dining (and lower budgets) so well, though have occasionally ordered a la carte too.
ReplyDeleteI think they're decent. Nothing to blow one's mind. But decent.
@ Kavey - thanks and yes, agreed. It's a good standby. I often end up in this one when the queues at the Hope and Anchor or Meson Don Felipe are too much to cope with!
ReplyDeleteRich