Review: Tabure St Albans

I’m not going to pretend to be some amazing food blogger or restaurant reviewer, as I’m obviously neither of those, but what I am is someone who likes good food, excellent service and attention to detail and all three of those were completely in abundance last night when I was invited along to a special pre-launch night at St Albans’ newest restaurant Tabure.

Beautiful interior and really can’t wait to sit by the open grill @Tabure_Kitchen Thank you for a lovely evening pic.twitter.com/pmp7LjVtEw

— Food Ren (@RenBehan) April 23, 2015

Proper food bloggers like Ren take photos – I’m too busy sat there in the picture eating, drinking and chatting!

Tabure is the new baby of Harpenden couple Hulya and Mark and will be offering St Albans some of the most exciting and authentic Turkish food that I’ve had outside Turkey. After running a successful smaller venue in Harpenden the couple then went to spend a couple of years in Turkey (Hulya’s home country) researching Turkish food with the aim of coming back and setting up something special and they have done just that.

Now, this is where a “proper” food blogger would be showing you some of the arty photos that they took of all the dishes they were served up. In my case though I was far too busy chatting to people and enjoying the food to get my phone out until we’d devoured everything and a photograph of an empty plate doesn’t quite have the same effect!

Last night we were served a range of dishes from their new menu to give us a flavour, quite literally, of Tabure and we were all blown away by what we tried. The aim at Tabure is that you share a selection of small dishes and enjoy the atmosphere of the meal and sharing it with friends and family as much you do the food. There were Every single dish that came to our table last night was delicious. The flavours were fresh and intense and in some cases quite unusual too. The Dil Sogus (braised veal tongue) had one of the most amazing melt in the mouth flavours ever and I am also totally in love with the Creme Brûlée Sutlac (rice pudding) that was served as pudding.

Hulya and Mark have a real eye for detail and that was obvious last night. The restaurant doesn’t open properly until next Monday (27th April) yet everything was perfect inside with a real homely, comfortable feel and there was a wonderful, well trained, team of waiting staff, chefs and kitchen staff attending to our every need. The food itself, as well as tasting incredible, also was presented beautifully and I accompanied it with a perfect Sauvignon Blanc.

I wish Mark, Hulya and the team all the best of luck for their opening next week, but based on what I saw last night they have nothing to worry about. My biggest concern however is whether or not I’ll be able to get a table for a return visit with Mr C!

Tabure, 6 Spencer Street, St Albans, Hertfordshire, AL3 5EG (opposite Argos)

Further details and online reservations can be found at: http://www.tabure.co.uk

Disclaimer: I was invited to a special blogger pre-event at Tabure. All opinions here are my own and are not influenced by this.