My wife and I have been big fans of Ely Turkish Restaurant for years. Unfortunately, we haven’t dined in since after the first lockdown (before the Cambridge Foodies group had even started). This meant that we never managed to do a review for the blog until today.

I have been on record many times, saying how much I enjoyed their ‘Ely Special’ as a takeaway option, as it offers great value for a small group of people looking to explore the menu.

The restaurant

The restaurant is open, clean and has a rudimentary contemporary style with decorations that fit in well with the theme of the restaurant. I was not very keen on the brick wallpaper but otherwise it was practical, comfortable, and a pleasant place to eat. Instead of music playing they had the radio on, which I thought was a little unusual but it wasn’t that annoying office radio you get at work, so it wasn’t intrusive.

The staff

The staff at Ely Turkish Restaurant are excellent. We were warmly greeted from the moment we entered and waved off as we left.

We had our 1 year old son with us, who was happy but noisy and messy from start to finish but nothing was too much trouble for the team. Better still, they engaged and played with him during our experience while reassuring us that any mess was not a problem. This really helped us relax and allowed us to enjoy our meal without the stress of thinking we were causing any problems. This is a very family friendly restaurant. In fact, we noticed a few other families in the restaurant with children too.

The menu

The menu was large with a good selection of the Turkish classics. I also noticed seafood dishes such as seabass and calamari. Salads were also available, something I have always felt has been strong with this restaurant. If anyone is thinking of visiting who is concerned that it is all just bread and meat here, you can relax.

Vegan options and a children’s menu also available 👍

Cobra beer is served on tap. An unusual choice for a Turkish restaurant (I thought) but a good option nonetheless.

Starters

My wife and I always like to take advantage of their set menus that often prove to be of a decent value.

The ‘Ely Special’ is our favourite and serves 3-4 people. This offers a wide selection of everything and comes to £53 for takeaway or £72 to dine in. I noticed that the price hasn’t changed significantly in several years, considering the inflation we have had, I thought that was rather impressive. 👍

As there were only the two of us tonight, we decided to go for the cheaper ‘Chef Special’ designed around serving 2 people. This is £40 for dining in and £30 for takeaway.

We also ordered a ‘Mixed Cold Meze’ for just under £15. This comes with hummus, cacik, baba ganoush shaksuka and beetroot dip and is a great sharing dish between a table, bringing that communal dining experience to life.

This also came served with a basket of bread and a few sides. Everything was beautifully presented and portions were fair for the cost. The bread came out soft and warm with delicious sauces for dipping.

The cicik (a Turkish tzatziki) was my personal highlight and my wife enjoyed the roasted beetroot dip that came in a fun and funky vivid colour.

As mentioned above, I have always felt that the salads here have always been very strong and tonight was no exception. This wasn’t an overly leafy salad but had a lot of vibrant colour and a lovely crispy crunch that was very refreshing. I was particularly fond of the carrot and the lemon slice added a zesty flavour and complimented the olive oil really well.

For our mains we decided to give our usual ‘Ely Special’ a miss and instead opt for the ‘Chefs Special’. This is a mixed platter for two people that consists of adana kofta, chicken and lamb shish, and chicken wings, all served on a bed of rice, cous cous, and salad.

The cous cous is served in much larger grains than you get in a supermarket and this improves the dish significantly by giving it much more depth to the bite. It also has a golden colour with a lightly spiced flavour that is subtle enough to allow the quality of the meat to do the talking while still adding something itself.

The lamb and chicken shish are both of tremendous quality and are succulent enough to eat without the need of anything else.

The adana kofta is enormous and is placed as the centre piece of the dish, reaching across the entire length of the plate. This was much softer than the other meat on the plate due to being minced, adding more textual variety to the dish and a juiciness that was very welcome. The chicken wings were small but mighty and fell off the bone with minimal effort. They had a really bold chicken flavour that was absolutely delicious.

We were presented with our bill along side a few blocks of Turkish delight. The price for two included a 10% service charge, which is something I am not usually a fan of including automatically on the bill but the team here clearly deserved it.

Conclusion

My wife and I left feeling like we had a satisfying meal, reaffirming our love for the restaurant. My son also enjoyed the food (and attention 😂) during his experience. Most of all we didn’t feel stressed about bringing him along because of the excellent communication from the staff.

The food is quality with nothing failing to hit the mark. The service is friendly and prompt with a really good staff ratio meaning we were always able to get sometimes attention immediately, if required.

The interior felt a little basic and for someone looking for that more traditional and authentic Turkish experience may feel better going to Efes in Cambridge but otherwise I couldn’t fault the restaurant.

Thanks for reading.