Real Turkish food you only get in Berlin: Restaurant Hasir Ocakbasi (25. November 2016)
To my experience, besides Turkey, there is only one place in Central Europe where you get the real Turkish food experience – Berlin. The Hasir Ocakbasi restaurant offers exactly that: real Turkish food. The place is loud, unorganized, very busy, and the food is delicious. We went for a selection of a couple of different Turkish dishes to start – the “Efes Meze (peppers, yogurt, walnuts, garlic, olive oil, white pepper)” (EUR 7.00) eaten with pita bread is a good appetizer / starter.
The pitabread is served together with a selection of other small dips …
… which are definitely fine but nothing special really.
The “Zeytinyagli Enginar (artichokes, onions, carrots, potatoes, peas, olive oil, lemon juice, orange juice, pepper)” (EUR 8.00) is not something I would usually have chosen. However, given it was part of the starter selection, I decided to give it a try and was actually quite positively surprised at it was way richer than I would have expected.
The “Kurutulmus Domates (dried tomatoes with garlic, walnuts, olive oil, balsamic vinegar, pepper)” (EUR 7.00) is quite intense in taste as the dried tomatoes seem to have been soaking in the olive oil for quite a while. The chestnuts add to the tastiness of the dish and in combination with the pita bread, it really becomes a tasty dish again.
I absolutely love pomegranate seeds, so obviously I liked “Mutabbal (eggplant, yogurt, garlic, lemon juice, olive oil, parsley, pomegranate, white pepper)” (EUR 7.00) as it was an incredibly delicious spread on the pita bread.
Given we did not entirely understand what the dishes which were mentioned on the menu meant (translation to German and English was – let’s say – not optimal), we went for the “Ordöv Tabagi (mixed plate with cold appetizers)” (EUR 13.00) which was to a large degree redundant with what we have already had before.
As a main course I went for the “Lüle Kebabi (Sogan Kebabi, ground beef, spit of round and lamb, onions, grilled tomatoes, and peppers, served with rice and salad)” (EUR 16.50) and, frankly, it was quite a disappointment for me.
The prices for the dishes are absolutely reasonable – especially the amount and quality of the dishes. As I said, personally, I was just not a big fan of the Lüle Kebab. The prices for the beverages are absolutely okay too, i.e. 0,4L Warsteiner Pilsner (EUR 5.00).
The restaurant is very full, very busy, noisy, active, and the waiters do generally a good job of being friendly but you definitely have to be patient. I mean, it took them a full 10 minutes before they were able to take our order (despite the fact that there was a young waitress right in front of us not doing anything but it just looked like she was not allowed to take the order). However, overall, the waiters are friendly and helpful but have a quite limited ability to speak German and/or English.
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Contact Details:
Restaurant Hasir Ocakbasi
Adalbertstrasse 12
10999 Berlin (DE)
Tel.: +49 30 61 65 92 22
Homepage: http://www.hasir.de
About the Author: Sven
I started the blog in October 2009, while living in Milan which I definitely consider to be one of the food capitals of the world. I was in touch with food since my early childhood (as my father is a former chef). Whenever I can, I travel the world to discover new places, to meet people but mostly to try local dishes and to find hidden gems! If you know a place worth going, please drop a line to: info@thediningexperience.org.
Currently, I am a member of the following food-related associations: Chevalier @Chaîne des Rôtisseurs Zurich-Ville; Membre Gourmet Dégustateur @Ordre Mondial des Gourmets Dégustateurs [OMGD]; Gesellschafter @Goldener Fisch and Member @Slowfood Convivium Zurich City. 
