Having taken over a defunct credit union’s banking location, Sibel’s dining room offers soaring ceilings that creates an airy comfortable environment. Its large bar and modern décor provides a swanky vibe to the place – it’ll likely become a popular destination for corporate parties, milestone birthdays, and showers buyouts.

The Turkish focused menu offers an array of dips. We started with the fatteh ($10), one that I’ve never had before. The pressed yogurt reminds me of a thinner labneh. Covered with oil, which the menu describes as infused with garlic and shallots, it tasted liked nothing except for the roasted cashews on top. The dip really needs more spices or seasonings to add interest.

Luckily, the starter arrives with complimentary feta, butter, and hummus. Ultimately, with some feta on the fatteh it helps augment the flavours with a bit of saltiness. Maybe Sibel just likes to shy away from salt, as their hummus was also served neutral so tastes like nothing more than blended chickpeas with a bit of oil.

Even the Turkish babaganoush ($9) was also relatively tasteless. There wasn’t the expected smokiness from using grilled eggplant any any onion, garlic, or parsley was muted. If anything, the sweet and tangy pomegranate glaze stood out the most.

The best thing about the dips is having the pita. Freshly prepared in a wood burning oven, it was sizzling hot and delicious. Sprinkled with an everything bagel seasoning, it thankfully adds a bit of zest to the plain dips.

Sibel’s fried kubbeh ($14) was surprisingly fluffy in the centre, the mixture of beef, bulgur, onion, walnuts, and spices crumble onto the plate upon breaking through the crispy coating. Dipped with pistachio it’s beautiful to behold and tasty, just a rather small portion (two per order) for the price.

The mixed kebab platter ($38) is a great way to try several proteins:

• Despite the lamb chop being cut thinly and being overdone, it was still tender and well seasoned.
• In comparison, the cubes of filet were done a perfect medium rare but wasn’t as flavourful. While not necessarily bad, I’d recommend you having these first, so it doesn’t seem as plain.
• The full adana kebab was juicy and mixed with enough spices so it’s flavour without being overwhelming.
• Lastly, the chicken wings were done well, cooked through without becoming dry and having a nice char on the skin.

Overall, for incorporating so many different types of proteins with bones and different cooking times, the platter came together well. Made to feed a sumo wrestler, it’d be a lot of food for one, so is ideal for sharing. Aside from all the proteins, there’s also a bed of deliciously saucy bulgur, fluffy white rice, bread, shredded cabbage, onions, spicy grilled peppers, and half a tomato. It’s not a lot of vegetables, so if you want something to balance out the proteins, pair this with a salad.

On another visit, I stuck with just the adana kebab ($34) and it was equally juicy. It’s just surprising that by itself you don’t get much more of the kebab despite the main being almost equally priced to the mixed kebab platter. In my books, the mixed platter is a much better deal.

At least that had more sides than the shrimp kebab ($35). It was almost comical how noticeably smaller it was than the other two mains, served with only bulgur and a roasted tomato. You'll only want to order this if you're in the mood for a very light meal. At least the shrimp were sizable and cooked well. 

Their pide are a great option for any pizza lovers. A thinnish chewy toasted bread forms the base and the chicken fillet pide ($24) was filled with a healthy portion of mozzarella and chicken. It was enjoyable, but a little plain since there were scant amounts of other ingredients listed on the menu (mushrooms, olives, and tomato). I would have liked more of the vegetables to balance out the dish.

Their display case of desserts will beckon you to take a closer look. Warning: once you get there it’ll be very difficult to say no.

If you don’t mind the sugariness, the triliche ($11.50) is an ideal option for sharing. The moist cake was soaked in the sweetened condensed milk mixture until it had a pudding consistency. Topped with caramel or strawberry, we likely should have gotten strawberry as the caramel’s sweetness mixed with the already sugary cake was a lot. Still, I enjoyed the caramel’s depth of flavour.

Sadly, the baklava ($10) must have been sitting around for too long after being precut and plated. The bottom layers were completely fused together so the honey mixture had a glue-like consistency. It’s a shame, as there were ample amounts of ground pistachios within the pastry that gave it a lovely richness. On a return visit, a fresher version of the dessert was better, but didn’t have as many pistachios. I guess you can’t win with the baklava.

Sibel’s dining room has a lovely modern feel, but the hulking television screen suspended on the ceiling was almost too modern. It kept showcasing a loop of footage from the Maldives. While beautiful, the tropical scenes were out of place – something sultry like whisps of swirling smoke may be more appropriate. I guess the enormous screen will be useful for hosting viewing parties for final sporting events or even broadcasting something during private events. Who wouldn’t want to see their slide show in all its full glory? 

Perched over Bloor Street, Amal’s dining room is an oasis of calm with coastal tones and lattice walls coaxing me to stay for a leisurely lunch. Indeed, if the timing allowed, I could lounge there for an entire afternoon - with no pressure to order and eat quickly, Amal gives you the luxury of time to relax and enjoy.

Everyone seems to start with a cold mezze sampler platter ($27), three large mounds of prettily adorned dips where we opted for baba ghanoush, garlic labneh, and the lesser-known muhammara. The later is a zesty concoction made from a base of fire-roasted red peppers spiked with spices and diced walnuts that creates a bit of texture.

The muhammara a stark contrast against the cool and creamy labneh where toum (a garlic sauce) and mint tones down the acidity of the yoghurt while giving it an extra boost of flavour. Still, I enjoyed the more traditional baba ghanoush the most where the roasted eggplant with thick and pronounced, just lightly seasoned with lemon and tahini.

While their skewer platter arrives with a thick hummus, I found the garlic labneh went perfectly with the chicken tawok ($22 for full platter, pictured in the post is an extra skewer added on for a lesser price). The morsels of grilled chicken breast were juicy with a faint herb and garlic finish, but the creamy labneh just gave it an extra burst of flavour, like a milder and creamier tzatziki.

Yet, what made us swoon was the beef tenderloin skewer ($24), the outer cubes cooked a perfect medium rare that seemed to cut like butter.  They were great on their own, with a sprinkle of the chopped grilled onions and parsley, or even with a smear of baba ghanoush. The kitchen should consider leaving space between the cubes of beef as I did find the inner cubes too rare, likely since they had less contact with the grill.

With a choice of rice or fries, our waiter smartly suggested the spuds since they’d be easier to share. The potato wedges were wonderfully hot and crispy but could use a bit more seasoning. Luckily, we had plenty of dip remaining to dunk the fries into.

I have a feeling that the front-of-the-house and kitchen are in close communications, customizing the experience to the diners. The pace of our meal was timed perfectly, with the main hitting the table just as we had slowed on the mezze and was focused more on wine and conversation instead. Beside us, a group of business diners, who were eating more ferociously, saw the procession of dishes speed up. At Amal, the diners seem to dictate the pace of the meal, which is merely a mark of great hospitality. 

Azhar Kitchen & Bar is one of the many restaurants that forms the Gusto 54 chain, and it is no less inviting and delicious. After attending an event in Ossington, we were peckish and in search for a satisfying dinner before calling it a night. After being turned away from other Ossington establishments, it was Azhar that took us in and welcomed us onto comfortable seats at the bar.

Famished, we opted for shared starters, and I was excited to find zucchini flowers ($15) on the menu. The delicate flora is stuffed with a smooth cheese filling, which the menu describes as feta based but I tasted a faint blue cheese element as well, and deep fried giving the flower petals a light crunchiness, the centre a heat that blends with the creamy cheese, and the stem that zucchini texture and taste. Now these are the kind of flowers I like getting.

The babaganoush ($12) could easily satisfy four people, a huge mound of the roasted eggplant with a tart hit of date and molasses syrup and added crunchiness from a sprinkle of seeds. I appreciate Azhar’s use of vibrant high-quality olive oil that can blend with the eggplant or shine on its own. Either goes so wonderfully with the hot-from-the-oven pita that so soft and chewy. We thought one pita would do but after the first glorious bite, we immediately wanted another. The second arrived in no time and was equally piping hot… like singe your fingertips type of hot.

Being a weekday vegetarian, I appreciate the host of meatless options on Azhar’s menu. Although, I found they are generally a series of dishes (a side, a plant-based protein, etc.) that need to be ordered together, rather than having one dish that works as a complete meal. Accordingly, unless others at the table also want to go meatless it would be too much for one person.

In the end, I thought the Mujadara rice ($21) would be the best bet for a main, albeit a tad heavy for one (there were leftovers to bring home). The fragrant stewed lentils and caramelized combined nicely with the basmati rice studded with raisins and spices to create a flavour-packed dish. Generally, I’m not a fan of fruit with rice, but when combined with the creamy labneh, the raisin’s sweetness helped tone down the yoghurt’s acid. I wish there was the option to add another vegetarian protein to really round out the dish, a handful of roasted mushrooms might be great with the rice.

Service was top notch even sitting at the bar. The bartender was by to make sure we were satisfied and taken care of whenever he had a chance, and despite also having to man the bar was engaging and welcoming. In fact, if I had to describe Azhar with one word it would be ‘welcoming’, from interactions with staff members to the dishes that draw you in for another bite - Azhar would be one big welcome mat.  

Me Va Me locations have been popping up around the city as quickly as it takes to say their cheerful sounding name. Serving an Israeli Middle Eastern menu, their most famous item is the laffa a thin chewy bread that’s a cross between a tortilla and freshly made pita. Restaurants are equipped with a taboon clay oven so that these can be made fresh and on location.

The falafel laffa ($11.95) wrapped up several airy chickpea fritters, which arrived warm with delivery and would have been amazing if eaten fresh and hot. They go nicely against the cooler sauces that I incorporated plenty of for maximum flavour - hummus, tzatziki, tahini, and hot sauce! With all the condiments, there was a chance the wrap would arrive soggy. Yet, lettuce helped form a layer between the bread and the other ingredients and added a nice crunch to the wrap.

After enjoying all the great flavours in the laffa, the lacklustre chicken shawarma plate ($17.75) was a let down. It comes with a sizeable portion of slightly dry chicken, tons of grilled vegetables, and a dense cold dry pita … but then only one measly tahini sauce to flavour everything.

Having had my fair share of shawarma plates, most places provide at least two condiments - tahini and garlic sauce - and many even have extra sides like pickles, beets, and tabbouleh. Instead, Me Va Me serves theirs with a huge side salad, which while great value isn’t the tastiest. I’d much rather they eliminate the salad and provide things that would enhance the overall plate instead.

We did order a couple of their dips, but they didn’t impress and reminded me of the prepared ones found in supermarkets. The fried eggplant ($3.95) started off nicely with big chunks of smoky eggplant, but the ketchup-like sauce they incorporated into the dip made everything way too sweet. Meanwhile, the babaganoush ($3.95) had so much mayonnaise added that it would be better classified as eggplant aioli. This is definitely not something you’d want to just eat a spoonful of plain.

Their laffas are by far the star of the menu. In the end, Me Va Me wasn’t a complete bust, but is a one hit wonder.