Anatolia’s Gate

Anatolia’s Gate
7084 Kingsway
Burnaby, BC

Last year, I did some guest blogging and, in one of the guest posts, I wrote about Anatolia’s Gate, a small Middle Eastern/Turkist restaurant in Middlegate. It has been almost a year I went there and, while technically is not a revisit (it wasn’t blogged here), I thought the food was worth further visits. OK, I fibbed, I was on my way home and Anatolia’s Gate happened to be on the way, hehehehehe.

Before I continue with this post, I was able to locate the RAW files of the pictures I took last year. And, while I would rather not put the complete post I wrote (after all, I “surrended” certain rights when I accepted the guest blog gig), I still have artistic control of the pictures, so there it goes! Come to think about it, you can use it to compare how different my picture taking skills were then and now!

One of the unique features of this restaurant: a wood (?) oven.

What I ordered that day: Shepard’s guvesh, a mix of slices of meat with roasted vegetables, baked with cheese.

Served with pide (?), the turkish version of a pita, though it was more on the lines of a bagel.

On this visit, I was expecting more of the same; however, I was pleasantly surprised at some of the changes that happened since then, the main one is the expansion. See, last year, one of the “issues” I found with this restaurant was that of the limited seatings; however, they expanded next door and now has a larger dining room, not to mention a larger working area. During these tough times, when a restaurant can do such things, I would assume they are taking their chances and/or business is good. Reality is that I am not sure if I want to know why but, regardless, based on my previous experience, it is a good thing.

New, larger dining room.

In this case, I was in a hurry to get home (for other reasons) so, just like my previous visit, I chose to order take-out. While making my order, I was warned it would take a couple of minutes to get my order and, again, to a certain extent, I was expecting that. See, if you have been to Lebanese/Middle Eastern restaurants in Vancouver, more often than not, it is shawarma and these are usually a matter of assembling the dish. But, here, it is not only assembling the dish, it is also baking it. In my case, I noticed one of the cooks was rolling some dough which would then be baked in the oven. So, if you are in a hurry, do NOT come here! Anyway, here is my order.

This is kofte guvech, which, similar to my previous order, is a baked dish but, instead of slices of beef, it is something similar to meatballs. And, just like my previous time, it was comes with some “bread” (which was more on the lines of a bagel), this time more on the lines of a flatbread. The vegetables were tender and hearty; the “meatball” was quite dense, yet wasn’t dry. Some non-salt seasoning (herbs, anybody?) would have done a lot in this dish. The cheese… Well, it is melted cheese and, as a result of it, it ended up making the dish something on the lines of a casserole.

I will admit I was quite hungry and, without realizing it, I managed to finish the whole plate. I think this would normally feed two… However, similar to what I mentioned about the meatball, the vegetable could have done a lot more had it had some additional seasoning agents. Not a complain here but some suggestions on how to “improve it”.

Overall, they managed to do something very important in the restaurant business: being consistent. Similar to my first visit, the end result of this second visit was about the same: a very good meal. Sure, there are a couple of things that can be improved but, even if it is not fixed, I haven’t ran into a mission critical “issue” and, as a result, I see no reason not to come back…

Tagged under: Burnaby • Meat • Middle Eastern