Restaurant Review: MADO, where Turkish history comes alive

Turkey, a land harboring the spirit of rich heritage, bravery and splendour, home of the Ottomans, brings the word ‘fusion’ to life. With strong influences from Middle Eastern, Balkan, Mediterranean, Eastern European, Armenian, Central Asian and Georgian cuisines, it’s not just food on your plate, it’s an exquisite taste of history.
MADO on Bluewaters Island, Dubai offers you an indoor restaurant with modern decor right next to Ain Dubai, the tallest and largest Ferris wheel in the world. With turkey jewelry everywhere, feel the culture as you settle into the cozy atmosphere of. Start the meal with a leafy delight, their gavurdag salad of cucumber, walnuts, apricots, pomegranates, tomatoes, arugula leaves and sauces, we made it the perfect and healthy start to our dinner journey. Turkey is famous for its luxurious meat dishes and MADO’s Grilled Chicken Platter and Sac Kavurma definitely live up to that.The dish was topped with mashed potatoes and salted corn and presented beautifully on a dark industrial stone plate. The latter is a famous dish in Turkey, made from sautéed lamb and spices, served with rice and bread. When we saw pasta on the menu, a dish commonly associated with Italy, we knew we had to try the Turkish version.
This is how Manti came into play. It featured traditional ground beef meatballs topped with creamy yogurt, tomato sauce, and butter and mint sauce.To keep us refreshed and active, Minted Ayran, a blend of Turkish yogurt with fresh mint that was heavenly on the tongue and light on the stomach, graced the table. To top it off, the dessert menu offers a wide range of options. The MADO dish, served with baklawa and kesme ice cream sprinkled with pistachios, came in at number on our list. You must have seen the famous viral videos of Turkish ice cream. Well, while we were sampling this melt-in-the-mouth confection, the waiter told us an interesting story about how it was traditionally made by mixing layers of snow after preserving it with twigs, and then adding fruit extracts on hot days.Overall, MADO treated us well with their food and service when we were transported to Turkey on a sunny afternoon in Dubai.