Get Turkish lunch in Bryant Park at Mmm…Enfes

IMG_5538

Outside of doner kebabs, I don’t know a ton about Turkish food. That’s a shame because the last time I tried some was way back at Turkish Kitchen in Gramercy. So, when I saw in the forums that there was a Turkish stand in the Bryant Park holiday market, I decided to check it out.

IMG_5530 - Version 2

The stand, which is right near the corner of 6th Ave and 42nd St, has a selection of around a dozen different types of filled wraps and pastries. The flat gozemes caught my attention, but there were others that looked very much like meat filled danishes.

IMG_5534

There were also these larger than bite-sized nuggets that I believe were made from lentils with crab meat and spinach mixed in.

IMG_5532

The stand doesn’t have anything like a menu that I could see, so the only price I ever got was $6.50 for the Beef Gozeme, which I ordered.

IMG_5536

It got a quick heating on the sandwich press, which left some light grillmarks behind.

IMG_5540

I was happily surprised to find the gozeme is more substantial than I thought when I was ordering it. It’s a good size and heavier than it looked behind the counter.

IMG_5546

I was also surprised to find that the wrapping wasn’t a flatbread, but seemingly a million layers of soft, thin, phyllo bread. Soft and slightly chewy, the gozeme was moist and much more satisfying than I’d expected.

That said, the ground beef inside wasn’t packed tight or overflowing. Having never tried it before, I can’t say if that’s the way it’s supposed to be, but of course I wouldn’t have objected to more.

IMG_5544

I washed the gozeme down with one of the many different canned fruit nectars they were selling. This one, apricot flavored, was sweet, but not sugary and I wished there had been more of it. Next time I might have to get two, perhaps another of these and one of the other flavors.

IMG_5542

Since I wasn’t sure how filling the gozeme was going to be, I’d picked up an order of pistachio-laden baklava as well. It was wonderful. Not as excessively thick as some I’ve had before, it also tasted fresh in a way I’d never had before.

The great sadness of Mmm…Enfes is that it’s here temporarily. This stand and the one in the Columbus Circle market are just here for the next few weeks. In the meantime, I plan to do my best to explore the other options available before they disappear.

2 Comments

Leave a Reply

You must log in or register to post a comment.