Istanbul Grill

This blog is mainly based in Brighton and Hove with the odd road trip to sample fine food so to finish of 2012 I thought where can I go and what can I eat to see the year off in style. Of course dear reader the obvious answer was a takeaway in Scarborough.

Well it was obvious to me ;) Every year I make the trek up north to see my family in the week before Christmas (and hope that I don't get snowed or flooded in!) IT's been a few months since I've been up there and the first time since blogging about food, so I thought I'd see what is going on.

Unfortunately I was a bit of a recluse up there and only had home cooked meals most of the time. One exception to this was a takeaway, which I ordered via Just-Eat. This was the first time I'd used the service, mainly because my mum couldn't find a local menu quickly enough. The site was simple to use and allowed me to find a suitable meal in minutes. A nice touch was that one of the first emails that I received had the subject of "Thank you for not cooking", Just-Eat you are most welcome! ;) This email confirmed the phone number of the establishment that I had ordered from and my order.

Chicken Parmesan with Ham and Mushroom
The meal in question was a north eastern delight - a Parmo or Chicken Parmesan with Ham and Mushroom - from the Istanbul Grill. This beast arrived in a large pizza box with the free but optional salad and garlic sauce. Unfortunately my plate wasn't large enough to take the Parmo and any chips or salad, so I had to slice it in half and tackle it in two servings. The salad was pretty standard kebab/burger fare with onions, cucumber, lettuce and a couple of chilli peppers fancied up by a slice of lemon. The chips were served with a sprinkling of paprika that was a nice touch. The chips themselves were nothing special, not too greasy and crisp.

The Chicken breast was quite nice considering it came from a takeaway. The bottom was a bit soggy though and the breadcrumbs had a bit of a soggy cardboard texture. The ham and mushrooms were a good addition - other toppings were available - and helped break up the stodginess of the cheese. I'm not sure what kind of cheese it was, but it wasn't parmesan and I'm pretty certain that you won't find it in La Cave A Fromage on Western Road ;)

I didn't go local and smear the garlic sauce over everything, so I might have missed out, but I did eat some with each mouthful and it's quite strong! All I could taste the next day was garlic, which wouldn't have been good with a hangover :-)

Overall, quite a solid meal at a reasonable price that was very easily selected and ordered via the internet. A recluses dreams come true. I'm familiar with the Australian version of this dish and I'm going to do a recipe of my take on it in the New Year, so keep reading ...

Hope everyone had a Merry Christmas and I wish you all a Happy New Year!

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