Blog 15: The best of Adana Kebab 2012

Blog 15: Good bye and the best of Adana Kebab

Dec 6^th, 2012

We’ll it’s time to say good bye to Adana for another year and as I do, I would like to thank all those that have contacted me whilst blogging and also those that have made me welcome whilst in Adana in 2012. I will be back, that’s one guarantee!!

I also wish to thank my fabulous parents-in-law, Salim and Mehtap for their wonderful hospitality. My wife’s mother, Mehtap is an awesome cook of traditional Turkish foods and her father Salim grows all the vegetables so easy and perfect!  So unfortunately I haven’t lost any weight in our time here this year! LEZZETLI (delicious!!!)

If it’s ok with all of you I will continue to blog about Adana (so keep checking in from time to time for new blogs) In doing these blogs I have realised just how much there is to blog about Adana!! What a wonderful place!

I have so many stories and experiences and further interesting places to blog about so stay tuned to this "aussieinadana". I have literally a library of thousands of photos to share and much more to say.

Alternatively drop in on "Adana Adventures" at (link at the top) for an authorative web site from a chap (Jake Olson) who lived here until recently. You really won't find a better site about Adana from a foreign perspective.  

I will also dedicate at least 1 blog to where I live when I arrive back home later this month, about my life in Australia so my Turkish friends can gain an insight into cultural differences.

I’m currently I’m in Istanbul for the last week of my stay in Turkey. It’s cold and wet here in Istanbul! :-/ But we are made to feel welcome by Aylin’s sister and brother-in-law so it’s nice here.

Istanbul today 6th Dec - Cold, wet, but nice still.

But for this blog I want to share my thoughts on “Mas Kebab”, my favourite Adana Kebab restaurant. Future blogs won’t cover Kebabs so intensily so this is a final critic before I return again.

Mas Kebab was the first restrurant I tasted "Adana Kebab" in 2008 and now is always the last Kebab I eat before I leave the city each year. I know I rave on about Adana Kebab’s but it’s my favourite food in Turkey, made best here in Adana so don't bother anywhere else if you see it's name. It's not a true Adana Kebab unless it's made here!! I have become a bit of an critic of what makes a good Kebab now.

Mas Kebab.

Mas Kebab, 322 453 37 65, kurtulus Mah.Mücahitler Cad.Sunaoğlu Apt. No:17 Seyhan / Adana , Kebapçı - No: 17 Seyhan / Adana Kebab

This restaurant I am told by my wife’s family started with a very humble beginning, as  a small street kebab shop but with a great taste. It has grown over the years with reputation and expanded very much from its simple beginnings. (you can see lots of old photos in the shop like this one)

What was once a humble small restaurant is now a classy, clean and over-all well-presented large restaurant offering both large outdoor and indoor seating. The restaurant even is divided into special sections for preparation like salads etc..

When you first arrive at Mas Kebab you are attended to by very well dressed waiters that check up on you often throughout the meal to see if there’s anything else they can serve you.

The seating is comfortable and the tables have a fine black marble sparkly finish that works well with the overall appearance. The ceiling and walls all finished very well to create a very stylish effect.

You will notice straight away by the introduction of Salads to the table that Mass Kebab is a “step-up” from your average Kebab restaurant. You paid for that step-up but, let me tell you, it’s worth every cent as the Kebabs here are to die for!
Don’t get me wrong, Mas Kebab is more expensive that others I have blogged about but it’s still not expensive for what you get and not like a fine French Restaurant price or meal.
(French restaurant meal = expensive, perfectly presented by a master chef, but small and super expensive, usually followed by McDonalds on the way home to fill you up! lol )

All that to say, we’ve paid a lot more in Adana for a Adana Kebab that are much inferior to this Mas Kebab.

The salads are superior and it pays off that they have a separate section dedicated to the preparation of salads. Although served salad is not quite as perfectly presented as those in the picture that’s above the counter in the entry area, they are never-the-less, very presentable.

All the right salads and all the right tastes. fresh, spiced, just right! :-)

They asked us if we wanted our Kebab spiced hot or mild and I chose mild because we were in the company of Aylin’s Father Salim, and “Baba”(father) is famous for his hot chilli’s that he grows on the his apartment balcony. They are seriously hot “aci” (ager). Just because he was with us my phycology told me this Kebab spice would be “aci” as well so I declined.

I was wrong. The Hotter lamb kebab strip was perfect, spiced so you could taste every little section you break off to wrap in your bread with salad.
But the main spice difference between hot and mild that I found was the bread. Let me tell you the mild is mild, tasty but mild. On the other hand the hot spiced bread was not so hot but, omg, totally delicious!! I found myself requesting an exchange of my mild bread for the hotter variety from my wife and then for the bread left by her mother! lol It is much better than the mild bread.

The bread was fresh, perfectly weighted in thickness. If you get a choice, take the hotter Kebab because the spice is oh so much better!!

The whole deal, salads and Kebab was very good. Higher standard for a slightly higher price. Well worth it at Mass Kebab. The dinning was great and finished off with a very refreshing glass of chi tea.

 

A very fine finish to another memorable stay in Adana.

Dinner for four, plus child and drinks, and chi 52 lira.

Service was great but I still love the extra service and personal touch made by the Park Café staff as the best service I’ve had in Adana.

Never the less, until I eat a better Kebab, Mas Kebab scored a 10/10 for me.

So this is the last Adana Blog whilst I’m actually in Turkey but there will be more from me about Adana written from my “Summer” base in Australia. That’s right folks I’m on my way back to an Aussie Summer so I’ll by-pass your wonderful cold winter! Lol

Next blog will be in about 2 weeks.

Back in Adana 2013 /14

Cheers

Andrew

Post 6: Adana Road trip 1: Castle Day

Blog 6:  Adana Road trip 1: Castle Day

Tuesday November the 6^th

Adana is surrounded by some of the best ancient tourist attractions in Turkey and nobody seems to recognise this. We drove some 80 to 90 km’s outside of the city and visited 3 Castles and passed so many more. Truly there are some significant ruins and sites to be seen if you dare to venture a little outside the city. 

 It is amazing to me why there aren’t many tourist operators to take advantage of this fact. Our journey was also to visit family, but the castles was our first objective.

Along the way we past also some phenomenal sites and would have been great to stop and take some pictures of the awesome scenery. But Aylin’s father was on a mission and when the views opened between the trees, the car seem to accelerate with new purpose to reach our first Castle destination! Lol

One scene I regret not taking a picture was distant snow-capped mountains with a beautiful little village at the base, all beside a beautiful green river of glass. There was pictureous mosque with its minaret towers in the centre reflecting across the river. The village reflected perfectly also, serene and peaceful! It was a picture post card photo opportunity that I knew would not come back. But alas, I could not bring the camera to the car window in time! Que sera sera!

We did stop once for petrol, 10 litres for 50 lira!!!! OMG. And we did have to slow down for the goats, sheep or cattle to cross roads, but Aylin’s father finely navigated these obstacles  as any expert Turkish city driver does. (each time I turned the camera on to take a picture we were past the obstacles! Lol But I did get a couple of pictures)

 



Karatepe – Aslantas Castle

Karatepe – Aslantas Castle or Azatiwataya Castle is about 7oo to 800BC. Assyrien / Hittite Empire

The castle (in the outskirts of Taurus Mountains) controlled a main caravan road (Phoenician supply and trade road, ancient highway) and it also controlled the Ceyhan River (ancient Pyramos River) where cedar wood was shipped on rafts to the sea for the construction of ships. You can’t see it all because of the forest but I walked on the walks, huge! 4 meters wide with fortified rectangular bastions in regular intervals.

What’s great about this castle is not only the fantastic sculptures, but the wonderful and detailed bilingual texts inscriptions left mostly in tact. Because of these bilingual text found here, these stones at this castle have been compared to the Rosetta stone which Napoleon’s expert “Champollion” was able to decipher the Egyptian Hieroglyphs after he conquered Egypt in the 1790’s

A great castle, we took a nature walk around it and visited the museum.

2: Hemite (Amuda) Castle

 Believed also to be built around 800 to 700 BC This castle also has additions from other empires after the Hittites like the Romans.

This was pretty impressive and a steep walk amongst cactus and rocks to get up to the summit. I was first up of course as the most enthusiastic of us all, but little Michael would have kept up if he could. He certainly made the walk look easy. We had to hold him back.

From the summit of this castle we could enjoy the spectacular views of the village we just drove through and the river beyond. Not sure of the Castles significance because we were the only ones there and no signs other than the one in the pictures. But it does have commanding views of the plains, no doubt more trade routs, and views of the river and any possible villages from those times.

It was too hard and dangerous to get into the castle, (steep fall!) do I declined having a health fear of heights!  But I was able to climb up onto one of the fortified bastions or towers. Wow so great views, and so steep a drop off!

Castle 3 was Kastabala (Hierapolis) Ruins

(B.C. 175-164)

 This is not just a castle (which was so high and dangerous to climb we just couldn’t go up to it) but it’s also a city. A great city and it surrounds the castle. Having been to Ephesus in 2010 I found these ruins to be comparable. Ironically this city used to send delegations to Ephesus which was more the heart of government of the time.

They still have a great deal to excavate at this site but already of the main entry road with its prestige columns gives you an insight into the wonders to come. (They have excavated about 1/3 of the main entry road I guess.)

The amphitheatre and baths and many ongoing excavations are all very impressive. I am sure this could be a major Turkish tourist attraction in the years to come… if they realise its value!! Something they don’t seem to do very well in the country regions in Turkey. (graffiti over castles, stones taken to build their houses and general disregard for historical sites in general)

The Kastabala ruins have also been heavily damaged by earth quakes over the centuries. But what’s left is still very impressive. There is simply ruins and pottery and you name it, everywhere!! You walk over it, every square meter there are things to be found. It’s like nothing I have ever seen!! Incredible! I could spend a life time at this place under covering it all. It’s a must see and should be on the Adana tourist map. Just Incredible!!!!

 After the castles we went to a village and a city to meet with more family. All very nice but by then my camera charge on both cameras was over.

We also passed a forth Castle, the “Snake Castle” Purhapse the most Impressive of all. We went there in previous years so not this time. But I did take a photo from the road as we drove past.

And there endth the castle day!