Unfortunately our beautiful city of Palm Coast is yet to have a Turkish or Greek Restaurant. You can't even travel to Daytona Beach or St. Augustine for a Turkish Restaurant, they are non-existent! But only 1-hour drive from Palm Coast is a welcoming, charming, and good restaurant which combines Turkish, Greek, Italian, and Mediterranean Cuisines: Istanbul Turkish and Mediterranean Restaurant in Jacksonville.
Terrific oldtime Turkish & Italian Restaurant atmosphere with table cloths (though paper sheets), good looking servers, with nice wooden chairs.
Here are some select items from the menu well worth trying:
Appetizers:
- Smoked Eggplant Salad (aka Baba Ghanoush)
- Saganaki Greek Flaming Cheese
- Manti (lamb stuffed dumplings served in yogurt sauce)
- Cigar Borek (fried flaky phyllo pastry with white cheese & parsley)
- Fried Calf-Liver (if you are into liver, you want to try this)
Main Dishes:
- Yogurt Lamb Shish Kebab
- Istanbul Combo (mixed kebabs and doner --aka Shawarma or Gyro)
- Shrimp Casserole
- Mediterranean Sea Bass
- Lamb Chops
- Ali Nazik (mashed, smoked eggplant with lamb shish kebabs)
- Lahmajun (Turkish pizza)
Deserts:
- Baklava
- Kunefe (must have! Prep time=20mins, order with your meal)
Enjoy the video above, and here are some pictures:
Located at 13170 Atlantic Boulevard in Jacksonville. Phone: 904.220.9192
Tell the hostess "Neda" that you learned about it in the Palm Coast blog and she'll be happy to hear. Her husband, Yusuf, is the maestro in the kitchen. The drive from Palm Coast is just about an hour, and the directions are below:
Directions:
- Take I-95 North (towards Jacksonville) for 47.5 miles
- Take Exit 337 and merge onto 9A (towards Jax Beaches)
- Take the FL-10, Atlantic Boulevard Exit
- Keep right at fork, follow signs to Neptune Beach/Atlantic Beach
- Merge onto FL-10 Atlantic Boulevard
- The restaurant is at Ace/Publix Shopping Center: 13170 Atlantic Blvd.
- Located between Publix and Jerry's Grille
