Food review: Hazev
TURKISH
Hazev
4/5
IN A NUTSHELL
A waist band busting feast of Turkish delights just across the water from Canary Wharf.
REVIEW
When you can take the time to really enjoy your food, why not make the effort to walk that extra few minutes from Canary Wharf, to South Quay.
Set right on the waterfront and just over the swing bridge, Turkish restaurant Hazev only opened in November, but is already attracting a regular crowd of nearby residents.
The venue has a deli, cafe, bar, 400-seat restaurant and private dining area and is a great place to graze.
Evening and lunch time restaurant dining offers a choice of very reasonably priced set menus, starting at £8.95 per person or your own combination of starters, mains and sides.
Be warned, however, this is the kind of restaurant that is difficult to leave hungry.
Stuffing yourself with the complimentary bread, olives and cheese dip, would be a schoolboy error as the portions are generous and the food enticing.
Our meze style selection of starters was quite a feast. The patlican salatsi, an aubergine dip, was deliciously smoky and great with the mercimek kofte, melt in the mouth patties made from lentils, bulgar wheat, spring onions and tomato puree.
As a vegetarian, you are thoroughly spoilt for choice at Hazev, with eight different mains to choose from. Apparently the Anatolian diet is heavy on vegetables, which explains the selection. Main courses start at £7.95 and for that price you get a well heaped plate.
The ispanakli nohut, a hearty dish of spinach, chickpeas and helim cheese arrived beautifully presented.
Although tasty and thoroughly satisfying on its own, it would have benefited from a side dish as it did become a little repetitive.
Meat eaters are also indulged at Hazev and have the option of grills, casseroles or fish dishes.
If, like us, you overdo it on the first course, the kuzu shish, marinated lamb cubes, will make a comfortable choice.
Succulent, tender and great with a dollop of chilli sauce this is a fairly unfussy dish, served on a well seasoned pile of couscous.
The decor is beautiful throughout and stays the right side of stylish to avoid giving the appearance of a theme bar.
The private dining room is particularly striking, decorated with bold peacock blue panels on the walls.
My mother always says you can tell a good restaurant by the quality of its toilets and the attention to detail carries on into Hazev's bathrooms, with smoked glass mirrors and ornate fixtures and fittings.
Hazev is a huge space and on a Monday night did feel lacking in atmosphere.
However the traditional music was pitched at the perfect volume for conversation and diners were seated cleverly to create a more intimate experience.
If you are going to dine at Hazev, be sure to arrive with hours to wile away, good company and an elasticated waist band.
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Read The Wharf E-Edition
it was my friends graduation and we chose to come here after the ceremony to have dinner. The food was fantastic, I mean absolutely 100% authentic and very very well served, tasty and I would recommend it to anyone.
The interior is simple and not overtly oriental (Arabesk) a balanced fusion. There is a wonderful water front view, but it seems they have managed to add little things that perhaps would not have been in the original design. there were little flower baskets and deflating balloons amongst the plants. There were flashing Xmas lights along the railings outside. It just made me cringe. Sorry guys in this might work in Turkey but not London.
Generally clean but the toilets were not unfortunately.
The service from booking to our good bye was efficient and very well organized. The staff were polite and courteous, except for our waiter who seemed to be rushed off his feet and not so polite, repeating the names of the dishes back to us in a very Turkish accent which made my friends feel uncomfortable as though they had annoyed him by saying it the wrong way. Not everyone knows how to read Turkish Mr Hazev, not even if its now written in Roman/Latin alphabet.
We took the group menu, which was a mix of starters, and we had to choose the main courses, The food was fantastic, the best Turkish food I have eaten in the UK and Holland. The Turkish coffee unfortunately was flat, not enough froth on the top but still tasty so I wont complain.
I will be going again very soon but this time with a much more casual approach and not as formal as we had imagined it to be. I rated it a 4 only because of the waiter, the dirty toilets, the general up keeping of the initial design concept, and the flat coffee otherwise they would get a 5 for sure. WELL DONE GUYS AND KEEP IT UP