Merhaba    瑪哈巴  

We decided on this restaurant in Knutsford terrace as the menu looked good and we thought we would give something new a try. Also it had had quite a few good reviews on Open Rice so what could go wrong?! We were seated straight away as it was early and given menu's. The menu looked good and we selected about 7 dishes from the meze and a hot pan Turkish special.

The first dish to arrive was the hummus and pita. You would think that you couldn't really get this wrong? Something so simple? The portion was tiny and the hummus a very strange shade of yellow. It was watery and tasteless and almost powdery at the same time. Not a hint of garlic or lemon. I actually wondered if it contained any chick peas at all..?? The only thing i can think of is that it came out of a packet that you added water to...

The second dish to arrive was the "Turkish" sausage. Even being British, I was more turkish than the turkish sausage.... it was just a regular cheap and nasty pork(ish) sausage, sliced thinly with some boiled apple chunks. The flavour was disconcerting to say the least, and it left a slimy film in my mouth. It looked like it had been boiled to within an inch of its life. truly one of the nastiest things i have ever put in my mouth and there have been a few...

Other dishes that were also stomach turning included the "hot pan Turkish Special" of ostrich and mushroom. i actually spat this back out onto my plate, as did my dad, as i think the meat was "off". personally i didn't want a trip to A&E that evening... Also the tuna and cheese vine leaves (Turkish..???? i think not) Certainly not a gastronomic spin on a well loved classic... The vine leaves tasted like they had just been plucked off the banyan tree outside the restaurant and the tuna was straight out of a skipjack tin. lovely...

The two dishes that were just about edible were the cheese and spinach mint cigars (deep fried filled filo pastry cigar shapes) and the cheese and spinach puffs... we have a theme going here dont we..?

At this point, we wanted to minimize damage to both our stomachs and our wallets and cancelled the rest of our order and asked for the bill. We refused to pay for the "hot pan special" as i'm sure it breached more health and safety codes than i care to think about. Anyone lost their dog recently??

There is absolutely NOTHING TURKISH about this restaurant and unless your completely drunk to the point where you don't know your own name, i can't believe you will like this place. The food is terrifying and if you value your life i would run as fast as you can past this place.

On the other hand if you fancy losing a lot of weight fast via both ends this could be for you...

We picked Merhaba to celebrate my little sister's birthday as she is the kind of person who likes to try out all different kinds of food. None of us has Turkish food before and thus have been were quite excited about it. We booked the table at six in the evening and didn' need to wait to get in at all. The restaurant was not full even at the time we left.

The decoration and setting of the restaurant was typical of the kind -- with lighting dimmed and background music turned on. Our group of 5 people were seated at a table for four which was a little crowded. As the table was small and we were not in a hurry, we ordered food in two rounds. Here are what we ordered:

Doner Kebap Salad
Air Dried Beef with Arugular
3 kinds of Grill on the Swords -- Lamb, Ox Tongue & Sardines
2 baskets of Pita Bread
Braised Octopus and Pearl Onion
Lamb Spare Ribs
Grill Fish with Rice
Turkish Lamb Pizza
3 bottles of Turkish beer

We didn't ordered a lot as we kept thinking of going to try out another restaruant nearby. The food was average overall. The grills were also quite tasty. I was, however, quite disappointed with the Grilled Ox Tongue as it was smoked ox tongue (not seasoned fresh ox tongue) which is not what I've expected. The Lamb Spare Ribs was best of all, which was tender and with herbal seasonings, and went especially well with mint yoghourt. The Braised Octopus and Pearl Onion was also something neat to try out. It's cooked in squid juice which made the dish totally black. The Turkish Lamb Pizza was a crispy thin pizza sprinkled with minced lamb.

The service was same as the food -- being average -- not good, not bad, and not much comments. But sure it's good experience to try out Turkish food... although we don't know whether it's authentic or not. Anyway, it's always good to gather with family to try out different things as we are all food lovers!

Good that we weren't too full that we have a chance for the next move -- desserts at another place

This is the perfect restaurant for a Friday night. It serves dinner, alcohol and shisha! The décor is very Turkish like and the restaurant has a beautify lady to do belly dance during the dinner service. However, the food isn’t Turkish at all and the staffs don’t know what they are doing, horrendous.

Cuisine: Turkish
Food rating: 1/10*
Service: 1/10
Ambiance: 3/10
Price: HK$350 (per head, including alcohol and shisha)

* Food Rating: 6/10 is equivalent to 1 Michelin star, 8/10 to two Michelin stars, and 9/10 or above to three Michelin stars

I have been carving for Raki since moving back from London, after a year wait, finally, at the end, I have tasted it again.

So the fantastic night started with us easily getting a table just walking-in.

We picked a 4 dishes which were not amazing:

The fish salad was too salty;

the pita bread with smashed eggplant was alright

the beef was not unforgettable;

and there was one more plate that I already forgot.

BUT

... amidst the exotic and heart-warming atmosphere, plus cherry-flavoured shisha, who still cares about the food

Merhaba might be the worst restaurant in knutsford terrace with absolutely the worst manners provided by the waiters and especially the managers. Though they have decent food and a decent pricing, they are appalling in their attitude and manners towards customers. For example, recently I have dined there with my friends and we ordered a chicken barbecue, and they end up bringing a chicken kebab, when we asked them nicely for an exchange due to their absense on serving the correct meal, they strictly refused and claimed 'I'm really sorry, but we can't do anything about it.'The way merhaba waiters treat their customers is absolutely ridiculous and I am disgusted by their manners and how disrespectful they are, especially the lack of manner from the manager.

Since I am a member of the King Parrot Group, I frequent their restaurants a lot. I have tried every single one of them in Knutsford Terrace except Merhaba, hence I went there for dinner last nite.
The ambience in the restaurant reminds me of Al Pasha, especially they have belly dancing as well. It's pretty dark in there yet I like their arrangement of tables, they are not packed like fast food chain & we were able to get a nice table at the corner. We ordered appetizers & snacks to go with the red wine and the overall experience was good. The service was good & the food was decent.

Turkish restaurant operated by King Parrot, the latter is fast cementing a reputation as the most entertaining Dining Group in Hong Kong and providing all the fun & trendy restaurants in town ~ its gradually leaving behind its past notoriety for running tourists and expats aimed dining venues within the Knutsford terrace.

During 2 night visits, we started with a Turkish Raki drink, which is very similar to Greek Ouzo with its licorice sweetness and bitterness. Efes Pilsner Beer was also better than expected. Pide Bread with a yogurty dip and Sigara Boregi cigars were tasty as well, but its the Fried Lamb Ribs & Dolmak (stuffed Vine Leaves using Asma Yaprağı) with Tuna and unpasteurised Goat Peynir Cheese which became my favourite items.

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To Continue Reading the Rest of the Review, Please Visit:

http://foodofhongkong.blogspot.com/2010/10/merhaba.html

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We waited for almost 1 hr just to get our bottle of white wine and strawberry flavor hookah. Obviously the waiter forgot to put in the order. we kept asking where's our wine, the waiter kept telling us he would change the order.... it was just a bottle of white wine... how long would it take!!!!

We were getting hungry and wanna order some food. The waiter gave us the food menu. When we were ready to order, another waiter told us we couldn't order from that menu because their "last call" hour had been changed. We could only order from their snack menu. If their "last call" hour had been changed, why would they even give us their regular menu at the first place??? we ended up ordering a few dishes from the snack menu and the food wasn't even good.

This is a rare restaurant with unique menu that is good tasting! The decor and environment are also distinct (turkish) and great for a romantic dinner or party with friends!

This is the second time I went there and this time we went there for a dinner for 2. We ordered 4 drinks at happy hour prices (before 8pm), plus 4 appertizers + 1 dessert. The bill came to less than HKD500 and our stomachs and tastebuds were both fulfilled!

I am a HK islander and rarely dine in Kowloon, but if I am in the neighbourhood I would definitely return again!

the dishes are small, good for 2 to 3 ppl. the pita bread with dips are good, kebabes are good, but the mango yorgurt drink I ordered was not that great, it was not thick at all like it supposes to be.
environment is great!!!
I'll definitely go there again.

sorry!<br />
ought to be >-<

The decoration is quite Mediterranean. A lot of cushions in the sofa seats. The worst is the roof too low.
We have had some apetizers,
Mediterranean Salad: just some chopped lettuce/cabbage and 3 to 4 pieces sashimi with no special dressing. Poor
Tuna with sour leaves: just 2 little leaves rolled with tuna inside, quite sour. but the focus of the dish is the leave not the tuna. Poor
Baked Bread with Yogurt: 4 rounded baked bread (the diametre is around 4 inches)is cut into 8 pieces with a herb/yogurt dip. The taste is too light, too plain. Poor
Main course:
Beef Kebab: extremely small portion, just 2 sticks. the 2 sticks portion equals to those kebab we eat in the street "from the hawkers". Poor
Mushroom Kebab: small portion, 2 pieces of medium muchroom cutted into 4 pieces. Poor
Sea bass with almond sauce: The best food in the dinner, but Cost about $130 for 3 pieces of fishes. Taste OK!
Seafood pasta: around $130, look like Penne pasta, but actually not, quite chewing. Seafood is fresh but not much.
Baked eggplant and lamb: also with mushroom and tomato. It tastes like italian food! Heavy tomato meat sauce, taste OK!
The taste of dessert is very sweet!

only a la carte
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1) mezza:
cheese curry shrimp casserole, taste is quite ok, but shrimp itself not good quality, very SMALL portion for $60, not worth, nothing "Turkish"
2) main:
roasted lamb rack, most ordinary, cheap cheap technique one, texture very so-so, taste a bit naive, side rice and vegetables quite stupid, nothing "Turkish", for $165, really NOT worth
3) Turkish coffee for $45
taste quite special, small cup, half is residue, too expensive
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service: overall just ok, but the staff talk themselve VERY loudly, the blender at bar also too noisy (as the ceiling too low)
environment: quite good
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worth to try once for curiosity (as many restaurants in Central much better and worth)