It's not a Turkish delight - Business Review

Divan, Franceza 46,
Lipscani, tel 021 312 3034
Michael Barclay

There is a somewhat ambivalent expression in the English language: “he was a victim of his own success”. This applies perfectly to Divan, and the customers are the victims. For 16 months ago it was the most dynamic and successful new restaurant of the year, but alas no more!

As with virtually every good restaurant in town, the predictable “Bucharest madness” kicks in and the result is that the quality goes down and the prices go up. Although the décor, location and staff are all charming, our expectations of a good value meal were spoiled by the prices of ordinary Romanian wine which started at RON 60 and went upwards. I am not mean, but in low priced Lipscani this seems incongruous with the budget conscious clientele of the area.

But off to the menu. It is huge and broken down into sections such as kebabs, appetizers, roasts… and so on. Each section is headed by a general description in tacky tourist-speech. For instance, kebabs have “…spices kept a secret for generations”, appetizers “when our [waiter] brings the plate you will visit the times of the Ottoman Empire”, roasts “the good old taste of a home meal… will conduct you to childhood”. Oh cut it out House, this is so patronizing.

Of the ingredients, virtually every one can be found in a local Romanian market, all of them emerging over and over with eggplant, onion, tomato and peppers predominating.
So away to their “appetizer” section of small mezzas. You can of course dine exclusively on mezzas, but they are so small you would have to order a hell of a lot of them. There was eggplant
with tomato sauce and pepper for RON 14, eggplant with grilled tomato for RON 19, roast eggplant, garlic, yoghurt and tahina for RON 14, fried potato for RON 12, hummus for RON 10… and much more.

There was even a dish of the day, which was roast eggplant with chicken at a too high price of RON 52. Blondie ordered a chicken salad (roast chicken, cucumber, parsley and tomato) which was extremely good value as it was gigantic and only cost RON 18. But it was spoiled by the inclusion of one long black human hair, which came free of charge.

We were horrified and sent the salad back. Our charming waitress made all the correct apologetic noises, but would you not think that if the House were truly penitent they would send over the manager to apologize together with a complimentary wine? But no, and I had to ask myself if the House even cared.

Next was a kebab. There was a choice of meats, including “veal shish kebab” for RON 72, minced beef and lamb with eggplant for RON 38, minced beef and lamb with yoghurt for RON 46 and the same with tomato at RON 32. I chose the cheapest option – minced beef and lamb at RON 29. It arrived inexplicably warm rather than hot, with the minced meat roll undercooked and far too pink.

In keeping with Turkish tradition, their kebabs are grilled over coals together with tomato and peppers. They also include sliced red cabbage, onion and bulgur. The latter needs explaining. It is a portion of durum wheat cooked with tomato and onion. It looks like couscous, but it clearly is not. As I recall from eating it at Divan last year it was fabulous. But now it is bland and lacking in flavor.

Given the popularity of fish in Turkey, there was not much on offer here. You could have grilled sea bass or baked dorada, both priced RON 42. But when you take off the head, bones and tail, you don’t get much for your money. Grilled octopus came at RON 57.

To be fair to the House, I have only listed a fraction of their extensive menu, and it really is representative of Turkish cuisine. But it is a shadow of its former self and that is a shame.

michaelbarclay32@gmail.com

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