Of Turkish sweets & Korean chicken…

My dear old friend Tini had been asking around if anyone is heading for Turkey cos' she seriously missed eating the Turkish delight from there.

And one part, she excitedly informed me that someone we both know will be headed there. 'Cat' (short for Catherine) is more of Tini's acquaintance but I got to know her when I joined Tini for a trip to KL-Sepang, to catch the MotoGP, eons ago. Cat was riding pillion with her then boyfriend (now hubby) all the way from SG-KL!

Anyway, now she's working as a tour guide and she happened to be assigned to Turkey. She wasn't too sure what Tini requested for so she bought 2 types. Sometime in early June, all of us planned to meet very near my home (Downtown East) right after work and settled on BBQ Chicken because Tini has yet to try their food.

She was the one who's seriously hankering for this, yet I got to have a taste when Cat came back from Türkiye. Thanks, babe!

Turkish sweets

Turkish Delight (Turk Lokumu) and Turkish Halva (background). The' halva' is made from 'Tahini' (grounded sesame paste) and studded with pistachios. It was sweet but in a way that I can enjoy. Very 'earthy' taste, actually.

The Turkish Delight, meanwhile are little cubes of gummy sweets, usually flavoured with rosewater and dusted with icing sugar. This one that Tini specially requested for came with bits of pistachio inside.

I eventually brought home the 'halva' while Tini enjoyed her Delights. Can never thank Cat enough for it.

Jerk Chicken

Chicken drumstick marinated with (Jamaican Jerk Spice), grilled over charcoal fire and coated with some delish Korean-style BBQ sauce. Oooh, that sauce!

Sounds good? Taste good too! The chicken meat was nicely marinated and was fall-of-the-bone tender, plus the sweet & spicy sauce was pretty addictive (for me). Kept trying to lick every drip on my cutleries.

Then again, it's all provided that it's cooked right. Our friend's piece was undercooked, despite the meat being 'butterflied'. So much for those gorgeous char marks on the chicken skin!

Hot Hot Drums


This is the reason why my belly felt miserable the day after, yet I can't stop thinking about THAT sauce. Sweet and very crazy spicy sauce coating the crispy chicken drumstick. I don't really like drumsticks but this is a definite exception!

That evening, we took up the promo, where any order of selected 2 mains will grant us a FREE omelette rice or sundae. Tini chose the omelette rice with chicken cutlet for her 2 boys to share.

And oh, they don't serve water on the house. U gotta buy their in-house bottled water. Pfft. And their service is exceptionally s-l-o-w. Seems like it's just this branch, for I don't encounter such service elsewhere. Hmm…

Those hot, hot drums… Maybe I should just call their delivery hotline, eh?

More from Charco's (new location)

Okay… I'm not even goin to pretend like this has been blogged ages ago. Compare the date that I publish this entry with my previous one and you'll see just how much I've been lagging behind in my updates.

Work is one thing. And then there's motherhood. What more, my helper gotta go back to care for her sick daughter so I'm pretty much hands-on with my kiddo when at home (which is a good thing, btw).

And to think that I even got the cheek to start a 'Mummy blog', documenting my kiddo's development; now that he's started schooling.

Don't bother checking it out. There's really not much content. Not surprisingly, there's a backlog of posts over there too. Well, one can always try, right? Pfft.

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ANYWAY. In reference to the date that this pic was taken, seems like this took place more than 2 months back, on a Sunday that my hubby happened to have his off day and joined my family during our routine Sunday outing.

He quietly told my bro of his wanting to eat at Charco's. Well, my bro relate that info to me with much disdain, seeing how Charco's is more known for their grilled specialties. He really dislike grilled stuff.

I was quick to remind him of the Chicken Schnitzel (deep-fried breadcrumbed chicken fillet) that he's had last time. And there's also the Fish & chips of sorts.

He settled for the latter. Seems like he's not too impressed with the Schnitzel.

Fish & Creme Meal

Breadcrumbed fish fillet with creamy baked potato medallions.

He much prefer his fish fillet to be battered but he don't mind this one. Creamy baked potatoes are his favourite but he eventually admit that they end up being too cloying ('muak'). That, plus the tartar sauce… well, I gotta agree with him.

Portugese chicken + 3 salads

My parents chose to share a plate of this while my hubby had one for himself.

I much prefer this spicier version of their specialty grilled chicken (which also cost more) as compared to the regular herbed one which comes off as a tad plain for my taste buds.

Got my parents our regular favourites for the salads: Greek, Caesar & Tuna fusilli (my daddy dislikes tuna but he unknowingly ate this one).

For my hubby, I switched the Greek for egg salad instead.

Rack of lamb ribs + 3 salads

I hemmed & hawed while making my order and eventually settled for the ultimate favourite. I can't seem to order anything else!

I gave my parents & hubby a piece each and was still left with a substantial amount, making me feel like some greedy girl. As always, I chose to wash my hands and pick on the ribs instead of utilizing the cutleries. YUMS!

Towards the end of our meal, my hubby must have decided that he missed nibbling on the lamb ribs anyway so he proposed an exchange. I reluctantly passed him my plate and took over his remaining piece of Portugese chicken.You might have wondered, "If I'm so reluctant, why did I even agree?"

Well, because I can't help feeling a tad guilty for having that amount of lamb ribs to myself. Think, 'cholesterol overload!'

As for my son, he shared some chicken from both my parents' & his daddy's plate. Besides, I also ordered a plate of non-seasoned (they are spiced by default) fries for him.

Once he's done with his dinner, he made sure to get his doting grandpa to accompany him to the nearby playground. Well, after my dad performed his Maghrib prayers, that is. Yes, they do provide space for solat in this new location. Interesting, much?

I can never get tired of Charco's. Rest assured you'll get to see more pics of their food in this blog. :)