Food Diary｜Philadelphia｜Finally Found Delicious Turkish Food 🇹🇷

📍 Paprica Grill Maybe because my meals in Turkey were so amazing, I hadn’t craved Turkish food much since coming back to the U.S. — the gap in quality is real 😅. After a movie, we were near this Turkish spot I had bookmarked, so we decided to give it a try. Their Google Maps rating is super high, but I hadn’t seen any reviews on Xiaohongshu 📕. Walking in, the vibe felt right — from the staff to the other diners, everything felt authentically Turkish 😂. It’s a family-run spot (seems like I’ve been visiting a lot of these lately!), so nothing overly fancy — just classic, homestyle Turkish dishes. We ordered: 🥙 Beyti Kebab Roll 🍆 Baba Ganoush with Lamb Originally, we wanted a lamb stew main course, but the server kindly pointed out that the baba ganoush with lamb appetizer was quite similar and cheaper, so we switched to that. 🌟 Baba Ganoush – I really liked this one! Tasted like it had more tahini than usual — rich, nutty, and fragrant. The eggplant wasn’t too strong, and the lamb was well-seasoned. 🥙 Beyti Kebab – This dish varies from place to place, and here the wrap was soft and tender. The lamb inside was tasty, though the sauce on top reminded me of jarred basil pizza/pasta sauce — not bad, but a bit of a shortcut 😄. Still a delicious dish overall! Since we swapped the main for an appetizer, we added another starter: 🍅 Tomato-based dip – Tangy and salty, served cold — refreshing and perfect with warm, fluffy pita! Speaking of which — their pita was great! Had a nice doughy aroma and a hint of fermented sourness. Service was friendly too. We initially ordered a large pot of tea, but the server suggested we start with two single cups and refill later — and they didn’t even charge us for refills at the end 😊. The owner also came by to check on us. Final thoughts: Better than some of the less memorable meals I had in Turkey (not a diss — it’s just hard to beat truly great Turkish food in Turkey!). If I’m in the area, I’d definitely come back! #FoodDiary #PhillyEats #TurkishCuisine #GlobalEatsSquad #ExploreWorldFood #PhillyLife #UPenn