New And Noted: Black Pepper
What: Turkish delights from the owners of Pasha and Garlic
Where: 2F, 89 Taixing Lu, near Wujiang Lu. Tel: 138 1833 6837
Why: For a feast worthy of a sultan
Before Pasha and Garlic opened, Turkish food in Shanghai meant little more than kebabs, then the restaurants gave the city’s residents a proper introduction to the sophisticated tastes of the Anatolian peninsula. But raising the bar wasn’t enough for the owners; they wanted to show off more of their homeland’s rich cuisine and take diners beyond their regular orders.
So they created Black Pepper, the host of an authoritarian 17-course menu, which dictates that everyone eats the same meal. Made up mostly of the best of the best from Pasha and Garlic, they’ve also slipped in a handful of undiscovered favourites. Sure, this requires the guests to entrust their dining experience to the kitchen, but the chefs know exactly what they are doing. And the set-up helps the restaurant cut back on food waste and serve the freshest ingredients possible, both of which lower the overall cost to the consumer (the bills comes to the jaw- droppingly affordable sum of RMB 228 per person).
The spread comes out in four distinct intervals: cold starters, warm appetizers, grilled meats and traditional desserts – each more lavish than the last, so try to show some restraint. It’s hard not to fill up on the dips, like haydari (a blank slate of white yogurt where smashed garlic and dill shine) or warm hummus crowned with sucuk (paper-thin slices of spicy beef pepperoni so fresh and soft that they melt into the silken chickpea dip).
Then the grilled platter arrives. A wooden board that stretches almost the length of the table, it is a carnivore’s fantasy. Fatty lamb chops roasted on the bone, lahmacun (flatbread) topped with minced lamb, seasoned chicken filets and kofte (hand-squeezed lamb and beef meatballs) are enough to make you forget about the last course. Well, maybe not the seared-on-the-outside, gooey-in-the-centre zucchini cakes...
All these dishes fall squarely on the region’s beaten food path, but there is so much more to go. Delicate smoked salmon wrapped around rocket and parmesan never made it on to our radar as a Turkish dish, but it will be one of the first we order the next time we go to Garlic – as will tavuk gogsu, a surprising smooth pudding of finely shredded chicken breast, rice and cinnamon.
It’s the perfect setting for group dinners (they cater to vegetarians and pescetarians upon request), hence the long, welcoming tables. They’ve taken a page out of the Garlic playbook with its airy open design, but turned the colour scheme negative, replacing the white tablecloths and beige chairs with sexy black tones under vaulted ceilings.
Like a “Best Of ” album, they play all the classics from Garlic and Pasha, and throw in a few new singles to keep things fresh. It’s not breaking down any barriers, but we’re definitely adding it to the rotation.