Best Istanbul Restaurant – 235 Augusta Ave, Toronto, ON M5T 2L8
Country: Turkey
Seating: Larger Indoor dining on second floor
Must-try Dish: Künefe
Dinner Guest: Darth-Sid

This new spot came on to our radar at a street market when the rice pudding at the stall gave off a tempting vibe among all the flavours wafting around us. We met the restaurant’s owners and learned that it had only been open for ten days, and since there wasn’t a huge selection of Turkish cuisine in the city, they wanted to give a proper introduction of Turkish food to Torontonians. 

Fast forward two weeks, and we finally made it there for a meal with our friend Darth-Sid, who also happens to be new to the city. He’s a fantastic dinner guest as he’s a sort of encyclopedia on foods from around the world, without being the least bit picky when it comes to actually eating. 

All three of us have been to Turkey in different capacities, and this is perhaps the first time where everyone dining had stepped foot on the soil of the country we were eating from. If you haven’t been to Turkey, it’s an exciting fusion of cultures, while being home to the only city on the planet situated in two continents. Dinner in Asia and drinks in Europe anyone? 

The Best Istanbul Restaurant’s menu is approachable with small images and the number of options available is easy to digest. There descriptions are simple and to the point and the staff, who all hail from Turkey, are helpful in offering the most authentic dishes from their homeland. 

We opted to go big or go home with a double order of french fries and an addictive yogurt sauce riddled with garlic to keep us busy as the larger plates made their way to the table. The group pounced on the Mixed Pide which is a pizza-like flatbread topped with chicken, beef, spinach and mozzarella cheese. I don’t know what they do to make the bread base, but it’s incredible, almost as if it melts in your mouth. 

With the intention of keeping things traditional. We ordered the Iskender Plate and the Istanbul Plate with chicken to share family-style. The first, the Iskender Plate is made up of beef slices topped with tomato sauce over pide bread, all misex with melted butter and yogurt. If the description alone, doesn’t tempt you to order it, I can assure you that it can’t be missed if you’re stopping in for a bite at Best Istanbul Restaurant. It is rich, making it a great option to share, especially paired with the Istanbul Plate. This meal gives you the option of taking the beef or chicken route, and we went for the chicken to spice things up. It’s served with rice and salad, we opted for the garlic yogurt sauce because we couldn’t get enough of it. This option felt healthier than the last, which is why they went together very well to have a taste of everything. 

Although this place is fresh to the Toronto food scene and there definitely is an excellent product, we couldn’t help feeling like a few crucial things were missing. First, no tea or even Turkish coffee, and secondly, no table service even though the upstairs space seems to be designed in a typical restaurant style. However, this could all be a work in progress and it would be interesting to see what’s changed after a year in the game. But I mean, let’s get some Turkish coffee brewing people! 

We have decided to give them a pass on the things missing because the food was top-notch. The obvious favourite is the Künefe, a dessert of melted cheese that was introduced to Mandrea Bike that evening by Darth-Sid as his “favourite dessert in the world.” Needless to say, there were high expectations in anticipation to get through the first few courses. 

But seriously, can you really go wrong with cheese? This masterpiece is baked so that the cheese is hot and stringy. It’s coated with a shredded-wheat style topping and a generous drizzle of honey. Unlike other Turkish desserts that tend to be tooth-achingly sweet, the cheese balances any excessive sweetness.  

Eat with you soon,

Mandrea Bike
(Mat & Andrea)