This is another awesome Tasting Collective dining club event we attended in November 2023. (You can read about the previous posts about Tasting Collective events here: Jaz Indian Cuisine, Fish Cheeks, Win Son, FOB, Xixa, Huertas, Bessou, Maharlika, Traif, Lalito, Noreetuh, Traif #2, Txikito, Oka, Xixa2, TabeTomo, Houseman, Nowon, GAUDIr, and Contento). Tasting Collective is a dining club for food lovers, and they offer brunch and dinner at great NYC restaurants. They close off the restaurants for the club, so we get to have the entire restaurant and Chef(s) all to ourselves. So, this is more than just eating food at a restaurant, but you get to have the background story and its passion from the Chef(s), eating 5- to 12- or more course brunch/dinner created specifically for Tasting Collectives. There is a discount code at the end of this blog for those of you who are interested in joining.
This event was held at NAR Modern Turkish Cuisine, 5-course Ottoman Opulence Tasting Event. They opened in August of 2023, NAR made Eater’s, Infatuation’s, AND the New York Post’s Lists of the “Best New Restaurant Openings of 2023.” They offer modern Turkish dishes, such as grilled octopus with white bean puree, mulberry emulsion, and walnuts, zucchini blossoms with potatoes and tomato sauce, sultan’s bliss, char-grilled quails wrapped in wine leaves, and so much more.
The inside was cozy and welcoming, really liked all that distressed wood everywhere. The large artwork on the wall, flooring, everything was in warm earth colors. Then, there was this fun pop of blue, making the space to be more modern. NAR means Pomegranate in Turkish, and you can see a little designs of pomegranate here and there.
We decided to have some cocktails to start off this event. I ordered Purple Velvet ($19), made with Whisky, Egeo Syrah, Sweet Vermouth, and Pomegranate Juice. It was sweet and fruity, with beautiful color. It was really tasty! My husband who is a big fan of any type of mule drink, went with Raki Mule ($19). It is made with Turkish Raki (clear brandy made of distilled grapes, flavored with anise). It came in a small glass, but not much ice so it was strong. Minty and refreshing, with that notes of spice from anise, interesting drink. The candied ginger on top was a nice touch. While we were enjoying our drinks, Chef Fahri Cetinyurek came out to talk all about the food we were going to have tonight. He has cooked in restaurants across the globe, and also at Two-Michelin-Starred L’Atelier, as well as at Pädaste Manor, before joining NAR in 2023.
The first course was Mezze Trio with baba ganoush, hummus, pistachio, and Turkish nuts & spices. We also received some warm pita breads, which was great for dipping. Baba ganoush is made with Smoke Eggplant, Greek Yogurt, Tahini, and Organic Garlic. I liked the creamy texture, and the subtle smoky flavor from the eggplant. Hummus was velvety, fresh, and really tasty. Pistachio had crunchy texture, which was different from the others, and I really enjoy that as well.
The second course was Beetroot Carpaccio with mixed greens, chef’s choice vinaigrette. It had a nice sweetness to it. Velvety. I liked the sweet droplets, tasted like sweet yogurt or cream cheese? Acidity from vinaigrette balance out the sweetness perfectly, super fresh and refreshing dish.
The third course was Pan Seared Scallops with Turkish pastirma, and Turkish spice. Pastirma is a highly seasoned, air-dried cured beef, looks and taste similar to pastrami or even prosciutto. Scallops were super plump and seared just right. The pastirma had a good amount of salty flavor which went great with scallops that needed the extra oomph. Creamy purée underneath was really nice too. Everything was just so darn delicious! And I love their plates here as well, different colors and design that goes perfectly with their earthy decor.
The fourth course, which was the last savory dish, was Grilled Lamb Rack with hazelnut parsley duqqa, and mashed potato. It sure was the sight to see! They looked impressive, and they were accompanied by some carrots and other vegetables, including mashed potato purée on the bottom.
The lamb had great flavor, and hazelnut coating was really tasty. We were not given a steak knife for this dish, so it was a bit tough to cut the meat with regular butter knife… And, I felt that the mean was ever-so-slightly overcooked. Other than that, it was a beautiful dish. Very filling and satisfying. All the vegetables were nice too, giving the nice balance to a meaty dish.
The last course was the dessert. Roasted Pumpkin & Kaymak Mousse with tahini, roasted walnut, and sugar cooked pumpkin. This was an interesting dessert. It was almost like a mix of sweet and savory dessert, if such thing exist. The pumpkin was cooked with sugar to have the caramelized effect, served with puff pastry in sort of a stick shape. One of my pumpkin slices was thicker and larger, and not cooked all the way. I started with that piece, so I thought it was the texture they were going for, a rather tough piece of pumpkin. But then, the second piece, a smaller and thinner one, had much better, softer texture. When the pumpkin pieces are in different sizes, they don’t all cook the same way… I did like the second, softer piece. It was elegantly sweet, and tahini went great with pumpkin. Kaymak mousse was sweet and tasty!
The bathroom is located downstairs. There is a staircase across from the bar, a bit of a narrow staircase. At the bottom of the stairs, there are two gender-neutral bathrooms. There was a huge diffuser in the kind of the waiting area in front of the bathroom doors. It sure had great aroma. There was no way of telling if the bathroom is occupied or not, which was not a good design…just give a knock to see if someone is in there.
The inside of the bathroom was a good size, well-lit, and clean. Not accessible since you have to go through a flight of stairs.
We sure had an amazing Tasting Collective Event here at NAR. They care a lot about the ingredients, with its quality and where they source them from. And you can taste the quality with every bite. Service was great, friendly and polite. The chair was really comfortable also. If you want to try some modern Turkish dishes, head over to NAR!
For those of you who are interested in joining this great dining club, Tasting Collective, you can use this link to get a discounted annual rate of $125 (over 25% off the normal $165/year) for the first year: https://tastingcollective.com/?invite_code=JUN4346
NAR Modern Turkish Cuisine – 34 East 20th Street, New York, NY 10003