It's been a long time since we last had a meal here.
Life happens.
Things change.
But however long it has been, there'll hardly be a time that I'll eschew this place for another Turkish diner (even if there be one in the basement right across the road).
It's not the fact that one is better than the other, or that one serves less than the other.
It's just that we have been hanging out with this one for so long that I know just what food it is they serve, what food it is they have, and I know how well the food will be done.
Coming here to Donergy I don't have to concern myself whether the meat will be too burnt or too dry or too oily. Neither do I have to concern whether the vegetables will be meagre or limp or not to my liking.
There's a standard that Donergy's maintained ever since they got themselves here about 10, or so, years ago.
To be honest I can't remember exactly which year it was that we began coming here. My guess is that it was at least in 2015 or 2016 thereabouts.
My first time coming here was in the evening, if I'm not wrong, and because back then it was more of a restaurant setting with large dishes and all, I think we had ourselves one of them huge platters too.
After that we began coming here for lunch, and here's where I had my first Tombik, my first Pide, my first roll kebab, and my first kebab plate.
We have been having the kebab plate more often since a couple of years ago when my friend and I discovered that it was a portion we could share.
And that's what we had this evening.
Slices of kebab meat- I think it was beef- and a serving of salad heaped over buttered rice together with a dollop of garlic sauce.
I like the beef (skillfully sliced as they are)- it has a hint of smoky taste that you won't in other foods save that of grilled meat- but I like their salad better. There's never been a time where the lettuce isn't fresh or cold, or that the tomatoes aren't red and juicy. Sometimes I forget that there's a pickle, but I've since learnt that pickles (and pickle juice) go well with the rice. They also should go well with the beef, even though I haven't yet tried.
The chili sauce they give is sweet, not very spicy, and goes well with the meat.
But it is the garlic sauce that seriously boomz.
So good is it with the beef, the rice, and the salad, that the dollop is never enough and one of us has to go back to the counter to ask for more.
They always give, by the way, one little saucer dish with a bigger dollop that we end up finishing as well.
Another dish we often order when we come here is the lentil soup.
It's a healthy, charming, cheerful-looking dish this one.
So often do we include it that our meal actually feels somewhat empty without it.
There might be some amongst us who will say that this isn't a big deal of a soup- lentils be just that- lentils- but somehow Donergy does theirs really good.
I know, because I've tried others elsewhere, and so far they don't give the same tummy joy like this one.
Why, and what makes it different, dear me, I don't know. It might be the choice of lentils they use. It might be the addition of other vegetables that they blend together with the soup, or the way they keep the soup well stirred in the pot.
Whatever magic it is they do, the soup is always thick, full of flavor, incredibly satisfying on the stomach, and on the palate.
I suppose one could make this bowl of soup a full meal on days when there's only a little bit of appetite.
Warm toasted pita bread does make a difference.
As does the wedge of lemon.
It's been a while since we've gone to Donergy for a meal.
Next time I go, I wanna see if I can have this bowl of soup, and maybe back to the kebab wrap- with chicken.
In recent times- for some reason which I don't understand- I've got this thing to want big mouthfuls of food.
Not the shoving or the gluttony kind of mouthful, just the feeling of having meat and vegetables and the chew of the wrap in one single bite.