We ended up at Turks KL because of Instagram, which is probably how half our questionable dining decisions begin.
Neither of us had properly sat down for a Turkish meal before, and since we were already in Kuala Lumpur, we figured we might as well commit. Go big or go home, except in this case “go big” meant opening a menu filled with dish names we could not confidently pronounce.
Turks is tucked inside the residential Bukit Tunku area, away from the usual KL mall-and-skyscraper restaurant circuit. When we arrived, we were the only table there.
For about three seconds, this made us nervous. Then we realised it was simply quiet.
The restaurant itself is surprisingly spacious, with indoor and outdoor seating plus more tables upstairs. The outdoor area looks pleasant if you enjoy Malaysia’s warm weather voluntarily. We chose air-conditioning because we have nothing left to prove.
One public service announcement before the food: parking can be annoying. There are paid spaces around the development, but they are limited, and Kenny Hills Bakers nearby generates its own ecosystem of people searching for parking in the morning.
Mixed Mezze Plate with Flatbread
Opening the menu as first-time Turkish diners was slightly overwhelming. There are a lot of options and several names that meant absolutely nothing to us.
So naturally, we chose the safest strategy available: order five things at once.
The Mixed Mezze Plate came with hummus, patlıcan soslu, spicy tomato, caramelised yogurt and an eggplant dip, accompanied by flatbread. For anyone equally indecisive or equally unfamiliar with Turkish food, this is an excellent starting point.
The hummus was smooth and creamy, with that familiar chickpea nuttiness and enough tahini character to keep it from tasting like supermarket hummus that has been sitting beside baby carrots.
Patlıcan soslu was more interesting. Essentially eggplant cooked with tomato, it had a softer, more savoury character, with the eggplant soaking up the tomato rather than fighting for attention.
The spicy tomato was probably the easiest one to understand immediately. Think somewhere in the direction of salsa: fresh, bright, slightly punchy and useful when the other dips start becoming creamy.
Despite its name, we did not find it particularly dangerous.
The caramelised yogurt was the simplest of the five. Tangy, creamy, yogurt. If you like yogurt-based dips, you will like it. Nobody at the table experienced spiritual awakening.
The eggplant dip was another quiet winner, creamy and slightly smoky, and particularly good scooped up with the warm bread.
By the end, we had stopped worrying about remembering everybody’s Turkish name and were just rotating between dips.
Probably the correct approach.
Grilled Lamb Kofta with Rice
The Grilled Lamb Kofta with Rice was where lunch became considerably more serious.
The lamb was easily the star of the savoury dishes. It was well seasoned, juicy and most importantly for anyone suspicious of lamb, had none of that strong gamey smell that can make the whole experience feel like you have accidentally licked a farm.
The rice underneath was fluffy and competent. It did not need to compete with the kofta and wisely chose not to.
Two sauces came on the side. The white one had a tangy yogurt quality that worked nicely with the richness of the meat.
Our server warned us that the red sauce was spicy. Naturally, we tried it immediately.
It was not particularly spicy to us but it had a stronger raw-chilli flavour that we did not love. If that fresh chilli taste is your thing, go ahead. If not, the kofta is good enough to eat without either sauce, which is probably the better compliment.
Pistachio Baklava
We had not planned to order dessert.
Then, just as we were finishing, our server approached carrying a tray of freshly made Pistachio Baklava and asked whether we wanted some.
There are sales techniques and then there is walking up to somebody holding warm pastry.
We folded immediately.
There was a brief moment after saying yes when we wondered whether we had just been successfully pressured into dessert.
Then we ate it. No regrets.
We have never been particularly enthusiastic about baklava because the versions in our heads are aggressively sweet: pastry, nuts, syrup, sugar and perhaps a dentist appointment afterwards.
This one completely changed our mind.
The pastry was buttery with crisp layers, and the pistachio actually came through rather than appearing as three decorative crumbs sprinkled on top for legal purposes. There was enough nutty crunch in each bite to balance the syrup.
And yes, it was sweet. Baklava is not pretending to be a salad. But despite being soaked in syrup, it never became cloying.
Maybe freshness helped. Maybe we simply got lucky. Either way, if a server approaches your table carrying a tray that has clearly just come out, we would strongly suggest surrendering.
If yours has been sitting around for six hours and tastes different, please do not come looking for us.
So, Would We Return to Turks KL?
For our first proper encounter with Turkish food, Turks KL did a good job of making the cuisine feel approachable without reducing everything to kebabs.
The mezze gave us plenty to explore, the lamb kofta was excellent and the baklava went from completely unplanned to probably the thing we talked about most afterwards.
Portions were generous too, so bringing a few people and sharing several plates seems like the smarter way to tackle that enormous menu.
If you are continuing a KL food crawl, our Cili Kampung KLCC review heads in a completely different Malaysian direction.
Would we return to Turks KL? Yes, but next time we are ordering more adventurously.
We have now graduated from pointing at the mixed mezze because we recognise nothing.
Progress.
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