Bosphorus, Cardiff Bay

Sometimes your regard for a country’s cuisine is influenced by your experience on holiday in that country. We had a great holiday in Turkey and are always happy to spend an evening eating Turkish food.

Bosphorus Turkish Restaurant is located on stilts out over the water of Cardiff Bay; an impressive location for this restaurant named after the strait between Europe and Asia.

On a previous visit to Bosphorus we had eaten mainly grilled meats, so we opted for some different choices this time. As a family of four, we went with four vegetarian starters, freely shared, along with pitta-style bread.

Patlikan Kizartma was the pick of the starters for me. Slices of floured aubergine that had been deep-fried, to a crisp outside and melting inside, served with tomato sauce on top, alongside slivers of fried bell pepper and an oversize dollop of yoghurt.

Muska Boregi were triangles of crispy filo pastry stuffed with a mixture of feta cheese, dill and spinach. I particularly liked the taste of dill coming through the cheese here. 

Kisir was a mixture of bulgur, pine nuts, bell peppers, celery, spring onions, tomato juice and herbs. 


Yaprak Sarma comprised vine leaves stuffed with rice, raisins, pine nuts and herbs, along with olive oil.

For mains, we went for a diverse selection of dishes.

The Kiymali Mussaka contained minced lamb, aubergine, courgettes, red pepper and onions under a cheesy béchamel sauce, all afloat (in a slightly deconstructed way) in a sea of tomato juice. This was refined Mussaka, in contrast to the more rustic version I made the other week.

Adana came as an attractively-shaped blend of minced lamb with herbs and spices. Grilled on flat skewers (not present on the plate), it is served with a mound of plain rice and a salad. A minty-herb flavour at first paved the way for a gradual and attractive mild-hot spiciness.

Ciftci Boregi was served as a couple of crisp rolled pancakes stuffed with feta cheese spinach, peppers and herbs. It was served with roasted vegetables.

Tuna Steak was a thick chunk of grilled tuna served with plenty of capers in a lemon sauce, with a good mixture of vegetables.

For dessert, there was a trio of different flavour ice creams (with two spoons), a Crème Brule and, for me, Apricots. These dried and stuffed apricots had a concentrated apricot flavour supplemented with cream and crushed nuts in a fruit compote. There was strong Turkish coffee to finish.

Bosphorus also serve Turkish wines and Efes beer, with its refreshing citrus tang.

This was our best trip to Bosphorus to date. The place was busy (it can be a bit quiet overwinter) and the view across to the Penarth headland was spectacular on a sunny spring evening.

In the first photo above (to the right) you can see one of the latest additions to the landscape: the new Dr Who Experience (opening this summer). Our holiday in Turkey was also pretty cosmic. We stood on a beach and watched a total eclipse of the sun.

Bosphorus Turkish Restaurant

31 Mermaid Quay, Cardiff Bay CF10 5BZ

http://www.bosphorus.co.uk