Kid’s Review: Tabure Berkhamsted
I always forget about Tabure, as we live the other end of Berkhamsted and rarely venture up as far as this anymore. Also we tend to go here on date night or with other adult friends, so I’ve never even thought to bring the kids here. However, Mr Scrumkiddlyumptious booked a table for dinner last weekend — and who were we to say no to that?!
And so at 4.30pm on a cold, dark Saturday evening, we wandered in and were greeted with the gorgeous copper tones of Tabure…
The restaurant itself was pretty quiet at that time of day. In fact I think there were two other tables in there (both couples) when we arrived. We were sat away from them both, at the back of the restaurant, which would ordinarily be a bad thing, but not at Tabure, as I will explain a little later.
There is so much to look at in Tabure. The kids were fascinated with all the shiny copper light fittings, the sparkling glasses, the wooden wine crates and old wine bottles on the wall. They’ve never been anywhere like it and were in awe from the moment we arrived. In fact, there was so much to look at that we didn’t even need any table distractions (colouring, etc) to keep them quiet, as they were quite happy just looking around.
Once we were seated comfortably in our booth, we were given a menu. Tabure is a Turkish restaurant, and serves tapas-style sharing dishes. That means you’re encouraged to order lots of little plates of food so that you can try a variety of food in one sitting. This suits us down to the ground, not least because our gannets LOVE trying everything… and tonight was no exception.
And so, along with the obligatory bread, dips (hummus, tarator and babaganus) and olives, we went for the rainbow beetroot and roasted goats cheese, pan-fried organic lamb’s liver, chargrilled spicy beef sausage, tamarind and tumeric marinated mackerel with izmir fava and dill dressing, and homemade, twice-cooked chips.
Now, one thing you need to know about my kids is that they are both absolute olive fiends… They have loved them since they were tiny (as in, pretty much since they were big enough to swipe them from our plates!) and love nothing better than a dish of the green and black varieties at the start of a meal. They are both really good at picking them up with toothpicks now, and both Alfie and his little brother Rocco can safely eat them whole, remembering to spit out the pips carefully. They have also had SO many olives in their short lives, that they are both quite the connoisseurs. But Tabure has nothing to worry about, as both kids wolfed the olives down before my husband and I could get much of a look in (although I did manage to steal the only garlic bulb).
Of the main dishes, the mackerel was a standout. And although I am hugely biased, as mackerel is my all-time favourite fish, this was honestly absolutely delicious. The pickled vegetables underneath the fish really set off the whole dish brilliantly, and even the kids loved it. (Plus they managed to get bits with zero bones in, which is always a plus where kids are concerned).
The other favourite for the kids was the spicy sausage, which I did mean to photograph, but it was literally devoured as soon as it hit the table. Which goes to show how delicious it was.
And so I think you probably get the idea as far as the food was concerned. The kids absolutely loved trying lots of different dishes, and ate an absolute tonne of food, so they clearly approved hugely. They also got to learn a little bit about another culture, which is a bonus (although Alfie is still fairly confused about there being a country named after a bird, which doesn’t actually live there…) However, there was something which made our meal even more special. And that was the chef…
Now, when you are at Tabure without kids, you have the option of booking seats at the chef’s table, which is a brilliant experience. However, the stools are very high and it just wouldn’t be suitable for kids. But we did still want to show the kids the kitchens, since they are open and, sitting at the back of the restaurant, were very close to our table. So my husband took the kids over and was pointing out the various elements of the kitchen, the bottled oils, the hot stove tops and the various meats being seared. And then one of the chefs came over, introduced himself and offered to show the kids all the herbs and spices they use in the kitchen. And he did this whilst in the middle of searing off a couple of dishes… He told the kids the names of the spices and even let them sniff the most potent ones. And he went on to explain how in Turkey they dry out chillis and then chop them up really finely to make almost black chilli flakes.
The kids were a little shy, but they absolutely loved it. To be spoken to by a real chef was such a treat and it couldn’t have been more magical for them.
And so, on to the results of our latest kid’s review…
Well it was SO good that even Rocco wanted a say! And so Tabure has broken the current record and has a fantastic FOUR thumbs up from the junior critics at Scrumkiddlyumptious.
Thanks so much for having us, Tabure. We will definitely be back again soon! #ihertkidsfood
