New restaurant Tike gets 5 star status of TUCC

Usually it happens that when Turkish cuisine is mentioned it is associated with Shaurma or Kebab from street stall or other mystical origins.

What is well known is that Turkish dishes should be spicy and in large servings. And the newly opened Turkish restaurant in Kiev Tike, where the February TUCC meeting was held, both proved and disproved this theory.

Tike was founded by four cousins from Adana in 1998 in Levent - Istanbul. Today with first days' enthusiasm, Tike offers unique dining experience of ethnic barbequed kebabs at its best in Turkey, Greece, Israel and now in Ukraine.

The Kiev Tike pleasantly surprises its guests from the first entry. The entrance hall is bathed by a gentle ultraviolet lighting, featuring a wall mirror with a bar stand initially give the impression of a night club. But go upstairs and décor changes to a comfortable dining salon.

The first thing that strikes you is the huge shining brazier in the very middle of the first room of the latest technique. You can watch every dish being prepared. The three dining rooms are not glamorous but cozy. A relaxing aura for dining.

The evening began with aperitifs kindly sponsored by Pilsner Ukraine (including a specially made champagne cocktail) and NAI Pickard providing the Gin and tonic – a drink that gas become traditional for TUCC. While tasting these drinks guests looked with curiosity at the served tables full of different dishes: Gavurdağı, Hayırlı Salata, Çiğ Köfte, Çerkez Tavuğu, Patlıcan Kavurma, Lahana Sarması, Sarma, - and cold collations were just the beginning of the tasty evening. One very interesting dish is Çiğ Köfte which is prepared in 2 stages of 13 minutes each. At first a raw meat is ground together with chopped wheat and when the spices are added that is the delicate taste achieved. The Hayırlı Salata was highly appreciated by the gourmets as well. The dish is a very soft herb combination (parsley, spring onion and mint) dressed with olive oil and lemon juice that offers a fresh taste with an anti-oxidant effect.

These were followed by a number of hot starters carefully served to diners plates by the waiters. There were traditional Pastırmalı Humus, Avcı Böreği, Fındık Pide, Fındık Lahmacun, Mütebbel and Patlıcan Közde. The last two with an aubergine as the main ingredient greatly impressed our gourmets by their original subtlety and delicacy. They just melted in your mouth.

For our guests to recover from the generosity of the first courses a small break was allowed followed by tambourine sounds. And while waiters, chefs and even managers (!) were carefully preparing for the next culinary furor, our gourmets attention was taken by two charming Turkish belly-dancers. The atmosphere of the evening was so homily that some guests even joined them showing their Turkish dancing skills at their best.

The time for the key moment came, the presentation of the main courses:
• Fileto - Fillet of lamb marinated with soy sauce and spices, barbequed and served with tomato and green pepper
• Ali Nazik Şişten - Diced lamb shish kebab on a bed of aubergine puree with yoghurt and garlic
• Patlıcanlı Kebab - Minced lamb kebab with barbequed aubergine served with barbequed tomato, green pepper and rice
• Tike Çıtır Beyti - Crispy lamb kebab wraps, sliced and barbequed, served with yoghurt dip
Just as you started to think that nothing could surprise you after all this, and there was no free space in your stomach a couple of new dishes appeared quickly and nearly unnoticeably on to the tables – the deserts. And you cannot but help tasting at least a little bit – too tasty a smell, too tasty a look to ignore:
• Tike Helva - Dessert made with semolina and pine nuts, filled with vanilla ice cream.
• Revani - Cake made with semolina and bathed in syrup, topped with coconut.
• Şekerpare - Small cakes in syrup with walnuts topped with coconut.

At the end of the evening yet another unexpected surprise was prepared for our gourmets. It was a lottery draw for a golden pendant kindly provided our new sponsor – HARARUK Jewelry Design Studio.

So in summary after all the drinks had been drunk and all the dishes had been tasted the evening was declared a success. And the 5 star status that the restaurant achieved was honestly deserved. On behalf of The TUCC Chairman we want to thank Tike restaurant for this great professionally planned evening and to wish further success with the high quality service, tasty dishes and hospitality and to remain at the same level or higher.