Kudos.
Yes I went somewhere other than London! Reason why? Well you guys should know by now? I was with the Dude! And the dude don’t do London. And if he does, he complains the whole way, regrets it and then he doesn’t do it again.
So we did London with the fam-a-lam just recently and so the fact that it would happen again so soon? Not a chance.
And so where did we end up? In Nottingham. A bit random no? Like all the places in the UK we could go to. We ended up in Nottingham. But hey wait for it ill tell you how we ended up here.
Well it was just before our Aqua Sana Spa day, we were going to be heading that way, so why not try and find a spot on the way?
Read here: An Evening at Aqua Sana
And we found a spot:
Tipoo Turkish Restaurant
Entering the place- I was in Turkey. The whole look of the place and the smell was just a huge nostalgia of being in Turkey near the Sophia Hagia. It brought back so many memories.
The ceiling was so high, so unlike normal buildings, this added to the whole look with the arched tall windows. The dangling morrocan mosaic colourful lights, the wallpapered walls with the iconic blue mosque and Sophia Hagia and the traditional stone built brick walls in warm brown colours reminscent of Turkey.
The arabic art at every given free space, the plants set up around, all the way to the basics of the felt chairs and wooden tables. It wasn’t flamboyant, it wasn’t classy, it wasnt pretty. It was Turkish, in all its little details.
Its as if we had entered a portal into Turkey.
What we had
Being light eaters and just the two of us, and knowing we were going to a spa straight after, we kept the order to a minimum. (which honestly ended up being too much for us too!)
Initially we were given Free bread and dips. I mean can you get more Turkish than that?
For Mains we ordered the Tipoo Mixed Platter, This came as a plate full of rice topped with a meat sheesh kebab, chicken tikka piece’s, Donner meat, chicken shawarma meat and a side of salad. We also ordered a plate of Chips, because everyone loves chips
At the end we wanted tea- but Turkish tea was complimentary for every guest! I told you we were transported to Turkey!!
My Verdict
I mean the reality is can you go wrong with Turkish? Ever? On most occasions Turkish food is very similar and we found that here. we love our Turkish food so this place was definitely a hit, the meats were rich in flavour, and fresh.
The rice was in 2 styles, one was a normal rice, the other was a saffron infused fat rice. I’m not really a fan of fat rice, but the plain white rice perfect.
The service was slow but good. The service actually reminded me of Turkey too (I don’t know whether that’s good or not) The people inside were very laid back and slow. I mean it sure works when your abroad, but here we felt a little lost. Luckily there were very few people inside and so although it was slow, we were still ok to wait.
Would I go back? Yes I think I would. we love our Turkish food and the ambience in this place helped. However im not too sure if I would attempt to go in if it were busier. Also I noticed Nottingham has a few Turkish places, so might be popping in to them soon.
Tipoo is a halal Turkish restaurant on Alfreton road. ( A road which has quite a few Turkish restaurant. I need to go back!) They do not serve alcohol yet they do allow you to bring your own.
Have you tried any Halal Spots in Nottingham? Which ones are your favourite?
Love and regards
M11bna
