How to Start a Dinner in Side: Meze, Garlic & Fried Cheese

Watch any Turkish table and you will notice: dinner does not begin with mains. It begins with small plates, warm bread, and the unhurried agreement that the evening is going to take as long as it takes. Adopt this custom immediately; it improves everything.

The garlic wing

• Garlic bread — the universal opening move.
• Garlic mushrooms — savoury, sizzling, bread's best friend.
• Fried shrimps with garlic — the star: sweet shrimp, sharp garlic, gone before the mains are even fired.

The sea openers

Shrimp cocktail — retro and correct — and crisp calamari, both auditioning for the seafood mains that may follow.

The cheese chapter (respect it)

Two Turkish treasures: deep-fried sheep cheese — molten inside, golden outside — and oven-baked white cheese in foil, arriving soft and warm for bread-dipping. Order one of these for the table and watch scepticism dissolve in real time.

The meze plate & the soups

The mixed meze plate is the Turkish tradition on one board — rotating small plates built for sharing. On gentler evenings, three honest soups (tomato, mushroom, chicken) open quietly. And chicken wings, onion rings, cheese rolls hold the crowd-pleaser wing for match nights.

Opening strategy by table

Two people: one garlic starter + the fried cheese. Four: add the meze plate and calamari. Kids in play: wings and rings buy negotiation time — the family guide has the rest. Mains can wait; that is the whole philosophy. Book the long table.