This week I wanted to try something more out of the “comfort zone” from the typical cuisines we enjoy. The weather was perfect for our first top down, no doors Jeep ride so we took the Jeep on over to Cafe Istanbul in Easton.

We arrived around 5pm as we are early eaters. We were seated right away and were quickly given water. Our server arrived and took our drink orders, Sprite for the kids, and a nice glass of Pinot Noir for me. They then brought out a basket of bread and some oil for dipping. We aren’t sure what type of bread it was and what all was in the oil, but it was delicious. It reminded us of a fluffy pizza crust. I think we could have all eaten that as our meal!

We’ve had Greek gyro’s before so I figured the kids would be good with that at least. We took a lot of time looking over the menu as we didn’t know what many of the dishes were. We weren’t given any kids menus so I asked if they had any and they did. This gave the kids less options which I think was good. However, neither of them could decide. I had thought that Chloe had tried gyro meat before and would like that so she let me choose for her. Kids can get fries instead of the rice that comes with it, which Chloe did. Alex looked at several things but also decided on the gyro meat and fries. Alex loved it, especially dipped in the tzatziki sauce. Chloe unfortunately didn’t like the gyro meat. Luckily she ate a lot of the bread and wanted to save room for dessert.

I was so worried about finding them something to eat that I didn’t spend much time looking at the menu and felt a little rushed to make a decision. The sever said that the kabobs were pretty popular so I went with a pick two combination. I chose the chicken adana and the doner kabob (gyro). Given that I should have known the kids wouldn’t finish theirs, I probably should have went for something other than gyro, but I really do love it so I’m not disappointed. We walked out with my lunch for tomorrow! Oh, and Chloe did eat my carrots so she didn’t go totally hungry.

And now for the best part of the night, dessert. I knew exactly what I was getting before we even went. Most people’s favorite desserts I think are “normal” ones, in the cake, cookie, ice cream categories. My favorite is definitely bread pudding which is more non-traditional and not the easiest to find. My second favorite dessert is also not found everywhere but it is found in Mediterranean restaurants. If I can get some good baklava, I’m going for it! Sure enough, Cafe Istanbul has baklava and it was fantastic. I had the kids try it and they liked it as well. I’ve only had it with walnuts before so this was the first time I’ve had it with pistachios. That’s why it looks green, in case you noticed. It definitely wasn’t moldy!

After dinner I pulled up on my phone all the pictures of the desserts so the kids could decide what they wanted. Alex decided he was going to share my baklava. Chloe wanted to try the Kazandibi (Milk Custard). Strangely, Alex said after the first bite he almost threw up, but then liked it after that. I have no idea what that was about but it surely didn’t stop him from eating much of it. It had a bit of a Jello consistency so they had fun bouncing their spoons on the top of it. It was a close call between the Kazandibi and the baklava, but they said they did prefer the Kazandibi.

We all really enjoyed Cafe Istanbul. Even though Chloe didn’t enjoy the gyro meat, she even said she had a good time and would like to try it again, just a different meal next time. You know it’s good when you don’t particularly like your meal but still want to go back. There’s definitely more entree’s (and desserts) I’d like to try so we’ll definitely be back. I’d highly recommend Cafe Istanbul when you’re in the mood for Mediterranean food.