Tulum

One Hatted restaurant established in recent years, 2016 – focussed on turkish cuisine. I was so lucky that my dear friend C took me here for my birthday! I can’t believe it’s taken me this long to do a post on Tulum.

Off the busy street in Balaclava. Tulum is quite dim when you walk in, the most lit area is the bar and the light reflecting on the beautiful brick walls of the restaurant. Cosy dining area but enough for just a bit of privacy…

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Katmer, $18, was something I remember quite clearly, a turkish flat bread, eggplant salad, cherry and tulum cheese. The cheese was so soft that it just melts in your mouth. While the flat bread was very crispy. It reminded me much of a pizza. This was C’s favourite entree.

Manti, $18, was one of my favourites because it came out very different to what I expected. Turkish beef dumplings with garlic yoghurt. The dumplings were so small that you probably only have a speck of beef inside the dumpling. All hand made… I was gobsmacked by how delicate these dumplings were. As we take a spoon full of it, the flavour was light but each dumpling kept to its own intricate self. The texture was most pleasing to eat.

Ahtapot, $20, was another dish that had interesting texture. I’m a sucker for Octopus/squid dishes, so we had to try this octopus, suck, tarhana with tulum cheese. Again light in flavour but the texture of the octopus was soft, it reminded me of spaghetti! Presentation was beautiful.

Balik, $34, was the main we selected – Barramundi, eggplant, walnut muhammara and saffron fish milk. Fish was booked perfectly. C enjoyed it very much and she likes fish in general! Whereas, I prefer the other entrees more than this main because the entrees were so interesting, something completely different to what I usually have.

  • 09200851-561f-4cdc-b26c-c29562fbe633-2563027 Pomegranate Fizz, $10.50
  • a0a96fa7-b207-4787-a510-dcc1e76675e8-2303342 Cilbir, $16
  • 05b9d440-c76f-4e44-b42f-b2366e2402a7-1866241 Katmer, $18
  • 21175ff1-344b-4ee9-80e2-64bf526d1212-8163531 Tulum Peyniri, $16
  • b14b579f-b137-4afb-a78e-5a48c85ef9e9-5465628
  • fc7507a3-8ec5-4ce4-ad63-ce6d6733aa6e-5269389 Balik, $34
  • fb264878-b851-4be3-bd69-10120870dde2-6197408 Manti, $18
  • 1ab23ddb-dd86-4447-bb12-801964c45f8e-2461669 Ahtapot, $20

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Unfortunately we were so full from entree and main, that we didn’t have enough room for dessert! After seeing Tulum setting a Masterchef challenge for 2020 contestants, I wish we had tried their dessert! Tavuk Gogsu, is a dessert that is cooked using chicken… it was gobsmacking hearing how it was made. I’d return to Tulum to try this after Melbourne Lockdown!

Tulum is currently doing “Tulum at Home” dishes for those who are interesting during this time. 🙂

Location: 217 Carlisle Street, Balaclava, VIC 3183

Website/Pre-orderhttps://www.tulumrestaurant.com.au/

NoWongFood Rating:Service: 5/5Ambience: 4/5Entree: 5/5Mains: 4/5Dessert: N/ABeverage: N/AOverall: 18/20

★★★★

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