Hit Hamsi Taverna for Chef Somer Sivrioglu’s Take on Turkey’s “Biggest Gift to Australia”

“When you have such a fresh fish off the boat, why would you want to play around with it?” Somer Sivrioglu is right: Australia’s seafood is exceptional, especially so within that flash new market on the Glebe waterfront. And this is where Hamsi Taverna lives, the restaurant Sivrioglu just opened with the Efendy Group (Anason, Maydanoz and Balmain’s now-closed Efendy). But it’s not only top-quality seafood that flows throughout the menu.

“We’re using the charcoal as the main ingredient,” Sivrioglu says. You can taste it in the skewered sardines and the rainbow chard flatbread that’s crowned with a golden egg yolk. It deepens the flavour of the eggplant, and brightens the muhammara that carries the excellent kataifi-wrapped king prawns. It hits the sujuk-butter scallops and the spread of main-sized proteins.

“In Turkey, in the fish restaurants, because the quality of the fish is very good, you don’t do much to it – and it’s exactly the same in here.” Charcoal, olive oil, lemon, herbs.

That less-is-more principle’s seen in the balik ekmek, a charcoaled fish sandwich that’s a common street food along the Bosphorus in Istanbul. The Hamsi rendition – also set to star on the menu at Hamsi Street, a casually leaning eatery opening next door on February 18 – sticks to tradition.

“We are not going to reinvent what is already perfect,” Sivrioglu says. “If you go to Istanbul, and you’re walking around the historic district – especially around the spice bazaar and Karakoy – you will just be led to those boats by the smell. That’s what we want to do.”

The celeb chef (who’s a judge on Masterchef Turkey) worked on creating a small Turkish roll with Organic Bread Bar, finessing until they had something not too filling. “The bread is only the carrying vessel, so it shouldn’t be too heavy. It needs to be about the fish.” The kitchen is using a full-flavoured local mackerel, zinging it up with lightly pickled red onions, fresh rocket and a parsley pesto that’s lifted with confit garlic.

“There are lots of fishes in Australia that are undervalued – like the mackerels. The line-caught mackerel we use in our fish sandwich, I think it’s amazing. Unfortunately, people say it’s fishy – well, it’s fish! It’s supposed to be fishy!”

An early favourite is the lobster snack pack. “That’s our take on Turkish culture’s biggest gift to Australia: the halal snack pack,” Sivrioglu laughs. Local lobsters from Northern Fisheries are cooked in basturma butter over the charcoal, then served with hand-cut fries, feta and parmesan. “Then we put the holy trinity on top of it: garlic yoghurt, homemade whisky barbeque sauce and chilli sauce.”

The venue sits on the Blackwattle Bay side, at the western end of the whopping market. If you want to avoid the hustle and bustle, you can skip up the Glebe-side stairs; just head for the bright-yellow umbrellas. Sit inside the breezy dining room or take a couch overlooking the bay dotted with fishing boats.

On the weekends, DJs spin Mediterranean music. Even better, Hamsi doesn’t close between services – you’re as welcome to dock for lunch and dinner as you are for a sundowner and a half-dozen oysters.

Hamsi Taverna
Shop E1B/1 Bridge Road, Glebe

Hours:
Daily 11.30am–10pm

hamsitaverna.com.au
@hamsitaverna