It’s 6pm on a Saturday night and all is quiet in North Adelaide’s suburban side streets. A dim light emanates from a home on Gover Street, illuminating what appears to be a dinner party between friends. It’s not. In fact, it’s Mini Lokanta, a pint-sized restaurant that’s home to one of the most hotly contested tables in town.

The 10-seater is only open on Saturday nights. It feels like dining in someone’s home – because you are. Enver Tuğrul Özbecene and Gökçe Özbecene, who moved to Australia four years ago, set up the restaurant in the front room of their heritage-listed home. Their goal was to share the flavours and customs of their homeland, and now they are bemused by its popularity.

“We wanted people to experience Turkish hospitality as we do and realised that our home would be the best way to achieve this, hosting guests as if we were hosting friends,” Gökçe tells Broadsheet. “Mini Lokanta comes from the way I grew up: big tables, lots of food and always people around.” They’d love to open more frequently, but they both have day jobs (Gökçe as an environmental advisor and Enver as a business solutions expert).

In Turkey, a lokanta is a casual eatery. “It’s not as formal as a restaurant, but is a cosy spot where food is served from a display,” says Gökçe. “Mini Lokanta is not a traditional lokanta, but we liked the name because it gives the feeling of a warm place where you can enjoy homemade food in a comfortable atmosphere.”

Gökçe was born and raised in Istanbul to parents from the northeast of Turkey, while Izmir-born Enver has family hailing from the Balkans. Mediterranean, Balkan and Middle Eastern flavours influence dishes, thanks to Turkey’s position at the nexus of Europe and the East. Their eight-course menu is a love letter to the slow dining approach of the meyhanes (Turkish taverns) back home.

The meal starts with cold appetisers, a tradition harking back to the Ottoman palace kitchens. Among them is girit ezmesi, a mix of aged feta, fresh herbs and pistachios, believed to have been introduced by Cretan Turks in the early 1900s. Gökçe isn’t a trained chef but there’s no teaching this kind of cultural heart connection.

“My grandmother Nafiye worked as a cook in different places, and my mother made manti [Turkish dumplings], sarma [stuffed grape leaves] and Turkish round bread with filling to sell and support us when I was at university,” she says. “Most of the recipes I use today come from her. I used to help her roll sarma, fold manti, and prepare the bread. Now, I get to share these dishes here, which makes me really happy.”

Reminders of their homeland are dotted throughout the dining space. Gökçe’s parents helped decorate the place with sentimental treasures during a recent visit. Among them is a 1960s copper cooking pot and pitcher which Gökçe’s grandmother used to make jams and mulberry molasses over an outdoor clay stove. There’s also a traditional backgammon set from 1980s Istanbul, a beaded 1990s tablecloth stitched by a friend’s grandmother, and lace-trimmed curtains which Gökçe’s mother sewed using lace from her çeyiz (wedding trousseau).

Highlights of the small drinks menu include raki, an anise-flavoured spirit served in 1970s lemonade glasses, previously owned by Gökçe’s grandmother. Enver takes great joy in the ritual of pouring with a hearty “serefe” (cheers). Salgam (fermented black carrot juice) is also a salty head-turner. For serious imbibers, there’s the option to BYO, with free corkage.

As the hours and the glasses of raki slowly disappear, there’s a chance Enver will pick up the baglama, a traditional Turkish instrument often accompanied by singing.

“Hospitality is about making people feel welcome, and all these items bring together past and present, tradition and new experiences,” says Gökçe. “We love that Mini Lokanta is not just about food, but also about sharing memories and stories.”

Mini Lokanta

214 Gover Street, North Adelaide

0414 387 690

Hours:

Mon to Fri closed

Sat 6pm–10pm

Sun closed

minilokanta.com.au

@minilokanta