So on my way back from the market yesterday, I was standing at the stop where I get on the mini büs to my house in İslambey mahallesi, when I realized the restaurant right in front of the bus stop was finally open.
I moved to Arnavutköy in the early days of the lockdown, so a lot of places were closed, and while Istanbul wasn’t observing a complete lockdown, certain places like cafes, restaurants (not including durum (shawarma) shops) and diners were closed, so even though I stood in front of Ercan Burger often, it was always closed.
Not yesterday though. After a long long day I stood at the bus stop waiting for the right bus, when I noticed that it was open and people were sitting inside dining. Now I didn’t have any plans to eat out, but I was drawn in by the hanging plants decor I could see from the big see-through windows. That and the fact that I hadn’t been eating, because I was tired of eating uninspiring food.
I really wanted to see the decor, as I’m a big plant babe. I love plants, and own a garden I’m doing up real nice and taking commercial Spring next year. I was definitely not disappointed when I saw the place. It was so much more gorgeous on the inside.
Walking in, the first thing you see is the kitchen, it’s an open kitchen where you can see your food being made especially if you’re ordering takeout and you don’t mind standing in front of the counter.
There’s also a sitting area downstairs, but the real charmer is the dining area upstairs. It was simply delightful to look at and it had a very comforting feel to it.
At first I sat at a table for two in the middle of the restaurant, but then these cute romantic booths for 4 at the other end of the restaurant caught my eye, and I wanted a view of the Merkez as well as great lighting so I switched seats.
The waiters were attentive, although they were busy, and I had to wave for a few seconds to get them to notice me each time I wanted something. Almost as soon as I got in, I received a straw, branded tissue paper, and wipes. I also received a paper menu that I could take home with me.
I appreciated that the menu was in English, even though the ingredients are in Turkish, because I had a great understanding of what I was ordering. I do understand a bit of Turkish as well, so I was able to discern the ingredients, but if you don’t understand any Turkish, you should still be able to have a general idea of what you’re getting.
About 10 minutes after receiving the tissue and wipes, a waiter came by to drop off bottles of hot sauce and mustard.
I placed my order at 14:33 and received my food at 14:54, so it took about 20 minutes to get my food which felt like a pretty long time, but I wasn’t upset or anything. I decided to get the 2 Cheese Burger and a Çilekli Magnolia.
The 2 Cheese Burger was somewhere above average, especially for what it was. The bun was soft and fluffy, although I could tell it wasn’t baked on the day. The lettuce wasn’t crunchy, but I don’t remember it being soggy either. The meat was also very tender and juicy. It was so juicy that I couldn’t tell at first that the sandwich didn’t have any extra sauce in it. The completely melted cheese and caramelised onions probably had something to do with that. It was also flavorful and you could tell that it had spice in it. Not extra flavorful, but not under spiced either. The pickle also gave it a bit of a tang wherever it appeared. I made sure to taste the sandwich on it’s own to get the originally intended taste before dousing it in hot sauce and mustard, because you know this girl is Nigerian, and we like our pepper.
The star of this show for me was the Çilekli Magnolia. Çilek is Turkish for Strawberry, so this is a Magnolia with strawberry. The other option was a Muzlu Magnolia which is a banana one, as Muz is Turkish for banana.
This dessert was simply fantastic. A quick google search told me that this wasn’t exactly a restaurant special, as a magnolia is apparently a Turkish pudding/dessert.
At first I couldn’t figure if it was a type of yoghurt or a pudding or a custard, but one thing was certain. Yoghurt, Custard or Pudding, it was simply delicious. I quickly ruled out the possibility of it being yogurt based on the consistency as it was pretty thick. I settled for custard until my google search.
It had this soft crumble on top of it - which is the only reason this isn’t getting a 10/10 as the crumble tasted a bit stale. Everything else was perfect. So perfect that the next time I go back I’m ordering 2 of them. It wasn’t extra sweet, but it was sweet enough, the strawberries were also perfectly ripe, and sweet - none of that sourness unripe strawberries tend to come with, and they weren’t stingy with it either.
All in all I think this meal was worth the money, and I certainly will be visiting Ercan Burger again.
Prices:
2 Cheese Burger - ₺16
Çilekli Magnolia - ₺8.90
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