With its jolly blue and white colour scheme and terrace close to the water, Fish Beach Taverna does a convincing impression of transplanting a traditional Greek restaurant to the shores of the Persian Gulf.
The menu take the Aegean sea as inspiration, so you can expect some Turkish-style dishes alongside the Greek cooking, although only the most purist connoisseur is likely to notice the difference between the two cuisines.
Start, perhaps, with something salad based. The roka comes with rocket, tomatoes, white cheese, walnuts, garlic olive oil and lemon dressing, or there’s a classic Greek salad with feta cheese, black olives, tomatoes and red onions. For a protein hit, go for the ahtapot, which comes as seasonal greens, pepper and herbs, drizzled with honey mustard sauce and topped with baby octopus.
As the name of the restaurant suggests, fish is a speciality, cold plates especially. Try octopus marinated in orange vinaigrette, served with lemon olive oil dressing and fresh dill, mussels stuffed with brown rice, onion, pine nuts, sultans cinnamon and all-spice, or smoked salmon rolled with labne, dill and lemon.
Hot dishes continue the fish theme with the likes of pastry-wrapped prawns with garlic yoghurt sauce, pan-fried sea bass and sea bream mixed with onion, parsley, garlic and cheese and topped with tomato sauce, or the classic of deep-fried squid with tartar sauce. You can also have pretty much any fish you wish grilled, pan-fried, deep-fried, steamed or served up in a casserole.
There are a couple of vegetarian options, too – think battered feta cheese topped with sesame and honey or baby marrow stuffed with tulum cheese and goat’s cheese with herbs and tomato sauce – while there’s a lone meat dish of grilled Turkish beef sausage with fresh haloumi cheese skewers and chips.
Desserts are traditional pastries along the lines of borek and baklava served with ice cream, or there’s a seasonal fruit platter, too.