Picture of Mekan, CR8 2AB

Mekan, CR8 2AB

  • 2 Purley Parade, Purley High Street, CR8 2AB

Mekan was a Turkish restaurant on the High Street in Purley. According to Google Street View, by June 2021 it had closed down and been replaced by another Turkish restaurant called Ege.

The information below is retained for historical purposes.

Turkish restaurant on the High Street in Purley.

Care has been taken over the decor, with patterned tiles on the floor, chandelier-style lighting, and ornate mouldings on the ceiling, walls, and mirrors. Most of the seating is at freestanding tables, but a small dais running along the side of the room holds five padded half-height booths for 4-6 people. Towards the back, the charcoal grill is visible through a glass partition.

Kake and bob visited on a Friday evening in January 2016. There were only five other customers when we arrived a little before 6:30pm, but it was pretty lively by the time we left just over an hour later. Peaceful music was playing quietly when we arrived, also getting more lively with time.

A basket of bread was brought as we sat down, along with a little dish of chilli/olive relish photo. The bread had a decent crust, but aside from that was bland and crumbly. The chilli/olive relish was great though, with a good texture and flavour.

A shared starter of hummus kavurma (hummus with diced lamb; £4.90) photo was OK. The hummous itself was fine, but they'd drizzled a sweet glaze over it which looked pretty but spoiled the flavour somewhat. The lamb was flavourful but a little too chewy.

Kake chose the aubergine and minced meat kebab (£11) photo as a main course. There was a nice contrast of textures between the soft aubergine and the relatively dense meat, and they were also in good proportion to each other. This came covered in a tomato, onion, and red pepper sauce with a hint of chilli heat; the onions and red peppers could have done with longer cooking. The rice was a bit "easy cook", and the salad dressing tasted mainly of sharpness (and not in a good way).

bob's grilled mackerel (£10) photo was served with spinach and saute potatoes, and worked well as a coherent dish. The mackerel was well cooked, with a crispy skin, and the flesh not overdone.

We finished with some decent enough baklava, served with a pistachio-sprinkled scoop of ice cream (£l3.50) photo, and some fresh mint tea (£1.80) photo.

The bill photo was accompanied by complimentary Turkish delight photo, and no service charge was added.

Accessibility: A small step to get in, 1 or 2 inches. No further steps to toilets.

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Last visited by Kake and bob, January 2016.
Last edited 2021-07-11 14:51:51 (version 2; diff). List all versions.