Lokanta Turkish Kebab Cafe

 


Rating: 1/10 Complaints - No BYO, Amazing Food, Delicious, Friendly, Fresh, Healthy

When this place first opened, the only kebabs I'd really eaten were obtained from Abrakebabra in the city, the flavour obscured by a haze of alcohol and queasiness and the fillings unrecalled due to aforementioned alcohol. These always made a good finish to a night on the sauce, but I can't say I've ever eaten one sober so it's impossible to say if they were any good, or whether my abused stomach lining was just so grateful for food that a salad from the New World would have done the job just as well.

While the kebabs at Lokanta would definitely make as good a Friday night booze sponge as any, I think they are best enjoyed sober as they are transcendently delicious, very fresh and deserve to be appreciated beyond your standard kebab.

To begin, this place is conveniently located on the main drag and is easily accessible by car, bike or foot. When I worked a physical job up the road from here I'd walk up on my breaks and order a kebab for lunch for some much needed energy. 

When you go in, they have this beautiful decor with colourful mirrored lanterns hanging from the ceiling, and a large and tempting display of Turkish delight in varying flavours sits above the counter. Say what you like about Turkish delight, I love the stuff and I'm always the one who finishes all the Turkish delight and Cherry Ripes out of the box of Christmas sweets. I once went to Lokanta specifically for a bag of Turkish delight and finished it all in front of Mr Bean. Goes great with a glass of pinot noir or a bourbon and coke.

Kebabs standard and Iskender are just the start of a rich and varied offering at Lokanta. They serve meze platters, dips, salads, burgers, kids meals and desserts so you can put together a whole feast and invite your fussy mate who only eats chips. The burger comes with Turkish bread rather than just a burger bun, and the garlic bread is also a kind of flatbread so the risk of overloading on bready things is minimal. I usually get a mixed kebab with garlic yoghurt, BBQ sauce and hummus.

The salads that go into the kebabs are fresh and interesting, with a wide range of options and the choice of adding spicy peppers if that's your jam. A lot of salad is packed into the kebabs, so you feel like you've eaten something vaguely healthy.

 The staff are always super friendly and one of them even brought our food out to us when we were standing in the carpark waiting. I miss the girl with the perfectly executed eyeliner who used to work there for a while, felt like we were eyeliner buddies and she was always really nice. There's also a bearded man who we always see there ( I assume he is the owner) who turned green with admiration of Mr Karenson's rather impressive beard and told him never to shave it off. I like to think these two were on some kind of bearded man wavelength as well.

My only complaint about this establishment is that they offer dine in, but not BYO. To be fair though, they seem like easy going, law abiding people and certainly don't deserve to be descended upon by me and my 20 drunk mates having a birthday party that ends in the Coin Game and someone losing a shoe. Perhaps they weighed up what offering BYO really means and decided to choose peace instead.

Top marks for Lokanta, I will be back regularly. Appreciate this place so much.

 





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