It's a bold claim but the family behind one of Nottingham's oldest Turkish restaurants says their kebabs are the tastiest. But it's not just the owners of Tipoo boasting, customers agree.
Turkish kebabs and salads, reminiscent of holidays in Antalya and Olu Deniz, are bursting with flavour, freshness and colour. "The best grilled platters and doner kebab in Nottingham," said one review. "I had lamb chicken kebabs. Just the greatest flavour," said another.
Murat Yalcin and his wife Emultan have been bringing an authentic taste of Turkey to Alfreton Road for 14 years, and since 2020 they've been joined by their son Mehmet. The 28-year-old, who studied motorsport engineering at university and was working for Volkswagen, quit his job to help out his parents run the business, where everything is made from scratch.
Read more: Nottinghamshire 'gem' to star in Channel 5 show searching for UK's poshest farm shop
The restaurant has just reopened after shutting for 17 days to revamp the seating, display counter and flooring and the owners are looking forward to showing off the new look. Mehmet, who helps out on the charcoal grill, said Tipoo's food tastes like no other. "It's only my dad who does the marination, so it's comes from one person, always one person to keep the same taste and consistency. He's the main chef.
"I can guarantee out of the whole Turkish restaurant community in Nottingham our kebabs can definitely beat their kebabs. It's a big claim and I can 100 per cent guarantee it.
"When we were closed for 17 days our customers went to other restaurants but said they can't find the same taste they find here. Don 't get us wrong they are good but they can't find the same taste. Tipoo has its own taste."
The extensive menu kicks off with a Turkish breakfast served from noon - best accompanied with a strong Turkish coffee. A wide selection of meze, small plates not unlike tapas, feature. Diners can pick from cold starters such as olives, hummus, saksuka (aubergine) and sarma (vine leaves) and hot ones, like fried mozzarella sticks, grilled halloumi, calamari, falafel and sigara boregi (a pastry filled with feta cheese). Soup, lentil or lamb, comes with Turkish bread.
Kebabs are the star or the show when it comes to mains, served with rice or chips and salad. Lamb and chicken doner meat is sliced from the rotating grills, while skewers of lamb shish, chicken tikka and kofte are cooked over a charcoal grill.
A meat lovers dream, there's lamb ribs, lamb chops, chicken wings and lamb or chicken iskender (doner meat covered in tomato sauce on bread) to feast on. For those who can't make up their mind, platters for one, two or more come with a mix. Biggest of all is the jumbo platter for £58 laden with the whole caboodle.
Cheese-eating vegetarians can choose from cheese kofte and halloumi wraps. Other veggie favourites served include moussaka, garlic mushrooms and a colourful kebab made up of onions, peppers, aubergine, mushroom, courgette and tomatoes.
Seafood fans aren't left out and with the fish grilled, it's not an unhealthy meal. Sea bass, sea bream, salmon and king prawns are served. Even the most unadventurous and fussy eaters are catered for - who doesn't like chicken nuggets and chips?
Pide (or lahmacun as it's called) is Turkey's answer to pizza. The variety of toppings includes garlic sausage, minced lamb, chicken, lamb chunks, feta cheese, and egg, all with melted mozzarella cheese.
Not so traditional but just as popular are lamb and chicken burgers. A flurry of burger shops opening in the neighbourhood could have dented Tipoo's trade but it hasn't been the case. "Since they've opened we've started selling more burgers. I don't know why that's happened," said Mehmet.
If you're spoilt for choice and want a personal recommendation Mehmet said his favourites are the ribs and lamb kofte, and the lahmacun. One thing for Tipoo newcomers to note is that the restaurant doesn't serve alcohol - just a range of hot and cold soft drinks. If you work for the emergency services you can bag yourself a free drink with your meal.
While other well-known Turkish restaurants Dalyan, in Mansfield Road, Antalya, in Forman Street, and Istanbul, in Alfreton Road, have closed their doors, Tipoo seems to be going from strength to strength. Although it's 14 years since Murat took over, the name Tipoo has been around for 30-odd years, starting originally as an Indian takeaway.
Murat turned it into a Turkish takeaway but decided to keep the name Tipoo as it was so well known. Two years later he converted it into a restaurant, but it was much smaller than the place it is today.
Five years ago the business expanded, moving into empty premises next door - once a bank, then a cafe and later a bedroom and kitchen centre. The revamped interior, which now boasts plush grey seating, and Ottoman-style wall lights, benefits from the bank's grand windows.
"That was the last time we did a refurbishment here. The tables were getting too old, the tables, everything was getting too old so we decided to change them," said Mehmet.
Even though it can now seat 120 there's still times over the weekend when customers queue to get a table. "Between 5pm and 10pm we get really packed out. We get big footfall around this area," added Mehmet.
Attracting a diverse customer base, Tipoo welcomes families, couples, students, birthday celebrations and wedding parties. "We get everyone. I can say from 13 to 70-years old. It's lively when we're full. People love it. We have 40-year-olds coming here who say when they were ten-years-old they'd come here and get a takeaway."
Customers can still get a takeaway but they have to collect - delivery is not an option. "The main reason is because we don't want to lose the taste in the food. When you send it out it's going to get cold and you'll get complaints. We have all this capacity - I'd rather have customers come and collect it so they can see the atmosphere and next time they can come and eat in.
"Even in the pandemic when there was lockdown everywhere we didn't do delivery. We just did collection only and I think that was the best thing we could have done as customers were saying 'I can't wait to come back and eat in here,'" said Mehmet, who was born near Antalya in Turkey.
However, he now considers Nottingham his home. He said: "We moved here 18 or so years ago. We were in London for about a year and it was overcrowded and the city we're from is not overcrowded. We had some family in Nottingham that my dad knew so we decided to more here and I love Nottingham, I pretty much grew up here. All my friends are here.
"In Turkey the weather's nice, the sea, the beaches, everything is nice but we see Turkey as a holiday place now and this is home."
READ NEXT:
