Mado Turkish Restaurant (Brisbane, Australia)
If you want to eat in a certain cuisines restaurant make sure it is filled with their locals as that ensures its authenticity. This is what Mado is, a place in South Bank filled with Middle Eastern patrons, and that’s what attracted us to eat at this place.
While having a leisurely stroll in the park, we started to get hungry and tried to find a place we can have a diner, there are tons of options in the South Bank and it was quite hard to choose. Upon reaching near the end of the park we notice this place filled with customers, some enjoying some shisha and some having good time with their meals. Without thinking twice, we dined in and was greeted with a nice smile by the server.
We got presented with a large menu, to be honest I guess most of you know I hate large menus, it’s quite stressful to choose, so we just picked the ones we know and already had heard of, no need to browse the whole thing. We first ordered some Entree in the form of Dips, Served with Turkish Bread (AU$23.50), s plate of Mixed Dips of Humus, Carrot, Cacik, Eggplant and Beetroot. The bread was awesome, freshly baked, chewy and but moist and soft, the dips were amazing as well, it was so good it was quite hard to find which one is our favourite. Just imagine I did liked their carrot and beetroot dip, it never occurred to me that I would love such flavour as a dip but it did.
While waiting for our mains we had some beers and grabbed some Efes (AU$ 8.90), initially I thought they would not serve beer but to my surprise they do and it was a Turkish beer, where were others but to be as authentic as it can I ordered their local beer. It was my first time trying it and it was not bad, crisp and light.
Then came our mains starting with Adana Iskender (AU $30.90), a Spiced Ground Lamb roasted with Chargrilled Red Capsicum served over buttered layers of Croutons, topped with Fresh Tomato Sauce, dressed with a Creamy Yogurt topping. On the menu it was noted as “Named after Alexander the Great’s favourite meal” and that’s what caught my attention. Lamb was very tasty perfect with the yoghurt side, the croutons below was also tasty and very crispy, sucking all the juices from the lamb, tomatoes have perfect acidity that cuts through the meat.
Then we have this Kuzu Iskender / Lamb Iskender (AU $30.90), Chargrilled Marinated tender diced Lamb Fillets served over buttered layers of Croutons, topped with Fresh Tomato Sauce, dressed with a Creamy Yogurt topping. Similar concept as the Adana but instead of minced lamb it is served with chunky lamb fillets, it has the same delicious taste and the lamb was so tender.
We also had some Musakka or Moussaka (AU$29.90), Oven Baked layers of Eggplant and Spiced Ground Lamb topped with a rich tomato sauce, served with our own freshly baked Turkish Bread, Rice and a Side Salad. At first when I saw it, this was not the same moussaka I am used to, but after giving it a try I might have a wrong concept at all, it was delish as expected.
It was a full-on meal, servings were large and we are greatly satisfied with everything but we left a bit of room for dessert and the perfect way to complete this dinner is with a Baklava (AU $8.90 / 2 Pieces), Traditionally Layered Filo Pastry with Mixed Nuts and Rich Syrup, it was sweet, really sweet a nice way to finish a very tasty meal.
Was it authentic? Well based on the clientele it was, food was really great very flavourful and the staff was really friendly. I would glad to recommend this place so if you are in South Bank and craving for some Turkish or Middle Eastern cuisine then this is your best bet.
Mado Turkish Restaurant
Address: 1-3/15 Tribune St, South Brisbane QLD 4101, Australia
Website: http://madorestaurant.com.au
