Review of a Restaurant: Park Köftecisi - Meatball of Mr, Osman

I recognized that all of my recent entries were about Italian cuisine. For that reason, today I’ve decided to post an entry about Turkish cuisine. I’ll introduce you a restaurant from my hometown, Edirne. This restaurant has a great fame because of delicious meatballs and their good service. In addition, the side dishes are outstanding. They always give importance to the quality of ingredients that they use.

 One of the most famous restaurants of Edirne - Köfteci Osman - Park Köftecisi

First of all, I need to clear up what is “meatball”. Meatball exists almost in all cuisines even if there are some differences among countries. For instance, Italians have “polpette”, in Sweden they have “Köttbullar”, in Greece, instead, “keftedes”. Basically, it consists of meat and other ingredients such as bread crumb, parsley, spices. The shape is almost always round form. Regarding the way of cooking, it shows diversity in different regions: fried, cooked in oven or grilled on barbeque.

Typical meatballs of the region, Trakya and the special "köfte" of the restaurant, Park Koftecisi. 

In Turkey, meatballs are called Köfte and are extremely popular; basically they are made with some ingredients such as ground meat (minced meat), onions, spices and bread crumbs. There are at least 50 different versions in Turkey. Every region or city has its typical type. Meatballs in Turkey are usually made with ground lamb or a mix of ground beef and lamb.

 The name of the restaurant is Kofteci Osman which means meatball seller, Osman. Mr Osman is the owner of the restaurant and for him good taste, quality and freshness of the ingredients are very significant.

As a loyal costumer of the restaurant, every time that I’ve been in Edirne, I always at least one time go to eat these famous meatballs. Perhaps most important is the fact that the quality of the meat that they use is outstanding. In Turkey, the restaurant is so famous they always welcome lots of tourists at their restaurant. 

The side dishes are extremely delicious.

According to Mr. Osman, the ratio of the meat and fat is so important. While preparing the mix for meatball, if too much fat is put, it will be too heavy and fatty. If the fat content will be too low, the texture will be hard. In addition, the onion should be sliced with hands, not by some blender.

Besides the delicious meatball, other dishes deserve some words. Traditionally, in Turkey, meatball is eaten with “yoghurt”, “hot souce” and “typical salad (Piyaz)”. These side dishes are extremely delicious at least as much as meatballs. Especially, the combination of these side dishes with meatball is incredible!

In the restaurant, they always serve also fresh breads which are cooked in the wood ovens. Traditionally, at the region, Trakya, we eat the meatballs with yogurt, hot sauce and tasty salads.

 Typical tasty pepper sauce. It's really good when you eat it with meatballs. If you feel to hot, you can balance the taste with yogurt. 

Besides the main and side dishes, I would like to make some comments about desserts. They are, in a word, amazing. In the restaurant, it’s possible to have typical desserts which have an origin of the region. 

The restaurant is not an elegant one. However, the quality will be higher than luxury ones. In my opinion, the place deserved 5 stars out of 5 in terms of the prices, tastes and service. With 8 €, I think that it will be possible to have one portion meatball, some side dishes, dessert and drink.

To sum up, if one day, you would like to visit my cute hometown, Edirne, it’s sure that you will be always welcomed. And when you visit Edirne, please don’t forget to visit “Kofteci Osman”.

Quality: 5/5
Cost: 4/5
Original Tastes: 4.5/5

See you on the next entry.