Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Turkish Time

Saturday we met my cousin and her boyfriend for lunch in New York. We didn't realize that there was a Turkish parade through Manhattan that we had to cross in order to meet them at the restaurant.

Along the parade route, we saw what appeared to be a float of Xinjiang Uyghurs under the heading of Turkestan (which includes Xinjiang and part of Russian and Afghanistan). Jia was surprised to see Uyghurs in New York, but was a little confused about the lack of a Chinese flag (or about their relation to Turkey).

By coincidence we had lunch at Kanaat Turkish Cuisine on Lexington and 55th. Probably because of the parade the restaurant was quiet. The atmosphere was pleasant, and it probably would be with more patrons. We began our meal with fairly large plates of humus and patician salad (which resembles a non-spicy version of 老虎菜 lǎohǔcài). Everyone was happy with the entrees that included adana kebab, chicken sarma, and istim kebab. Every dish was good and the portions were decent for the price in Manhattan ($14-17 each).

The only disappointment was the Turkish coffee. My brother and I agreed that it was too sweet. And for my brother to say that means that it was excessively sweet (he likes a lot of sugar in his coffee).

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Uyghurs? Well they are Turkish and we do not want to see under the commie flag.

Greeting from Turkey.