They're an anomaly at Fortune Center on Middle Road- these Atas Turkish Kebab guys.
Doesn't matter that they have two entrances, that they're located on the side that runs along Middle Road tucked between Ya Kun kaya Toast and Wawa clam Bee Hoon, and which you can enter either by Middle Road or by Fortune Center.
They're still an unusual sight in the building.
Especially when you consider that Fortune Center is more known for the (Chinese) vegetarian of mock meats, dim sum, vegetables and eggless cakes rather than platters of mixed meats being grilled over a vertical rotating spit.
I wonder what the pious, devout believers thought of this outlet when they first opened there.
But this is a multi-racial, multi-religious society, and Fortune Center is a commercial property.
So it's amazing to see these guys there.
I think they've been there a while.
At least it seems to be, from the looks of it.
It was more of an impromptu discovery that we went to have a meal there.
My friend had been missing his Turkish food.
And he really wanted his plate of sliced meats.
So we changed dinner plans and went there.
If the local colloquial of 'atas' tends to refer to the realms of luxury, elegance, class, HNW and UHNW, Atas Turkish Kebab demonstrates little of that at all.
It is, instead, a homely cozy place where its easy to say hi to the chef behind the counter, where the tables are pushed up close together and where you have to talk with your fellow diners just to get to your seat, or out.
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We took a table with a sort of cushioned bench set against the wall and studied the menu more thoroughly.
There was a lot to choose from.
Big portions, small portions, portions for the group, portion for one.
We knew what we didn't want.
We didn't know what we wanted to have.
Eventually we settled on this platter of mixed meats (chicken and beef) that looked hearty enough to fill a hungry appetite.
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After a bit of wait (queue, Ramadan month and all) we got our food on a shiny silver-colored platter. :)
Aesthetically it didn't look much, but it was good.
The meats were skillfully sliced, and they were tender.
The portion too was generous- the guys didn't stinge on the chicken nor the beef.
There was a huge blob of (what I think is) sour cream at the side, there was tomato sauce and some sort of red pepper sauce which they had slathered over everything.
I took a fancy to the sour cream.
It added a smooth texture to the meats, especially the beef, and enhanced the flavors in a sort of milky, rounded way.
The greatest surprise of the dish was hidden at the bottom.
I had not been expecting bread.
And because I hadn't known what that chunk was, I initially mistook it for a piece of tender chicken meat.
But grilled chicken isn't mushy.
It doesn't absorb the flavors of the sauce nor of the sour cream.
And it won't be chewy either.
This one was.
Took me a couple more bites and another chunk before I realized it was indeed bread.
So I finished up a fair portion of it.
We've since discovered other dishes that we'll want to have the next time we are there.
But maybe we'll sit somewhere further in, closer to the counter this time.
At least the random fly from outside will have lesser a chance of pestering me in the midst of my meal.