The Airman Kitchen — Restaurant in England

LivingLife Magazine reviews the Airman Kitchen.

Our food connoisseurs on this occasion would be John (editor), and his wife, Kate. Opting for an ‘early doors’ visit, arriving at around 3.30pm on Saturday afternoon. The restaurant was already quite busy, so it is advisable to phone up and book a table in advance to avoid disappointment.

We were greeted by our waiter, Tolga, a delightful man, and he escorted us to our table. We soon had stylish black menus in our hands - a traditional Turkish menu, with hot and cold starters, traditional meat grills, grilled seafood, a selection of special Turkish dishes, homemade specials, and vegetarian dishes.

Kate is a big fan of falafel and chose ‘Falafel with Humus’ for starters. John opted for the ‘King Prawns’ starter, which comes with garlic, mushroom, parsley and butter sauce.

Before our starters arrived, Tolga delivered a tray of Turkish flatbread, accompanied with chilli sauce, olives and garlic yoghurt. This was yummy, and we both remarked upon how good the chilli sauce was, very refreshing, with subtle, unfamiliar flavours. Our starters were equally appetizing and very well presented.

Whilst we waited for our main course, we checked out the décor. The Airman Kitchen is a traditional inn, with a rustic feel, with exposed ceiling beams and open fire. All very cosy and relaxing.

For mains, Kate ordered the ‘Chicken Shish’ – lean chunks of chicken breast skewered and grilled over charcoal, served with rice, couscous, and salad. The chicken was out of this world. This method of cooking, over charcoal, gives the chicken an amazing taste and texture. You really do have to try this.

John ordered the ‘Lamb Shish Yoghurt’ – marinated lamb grilled over charcoal, with yoghurt and tomato sauce then drizzled in butter. This was served with rice, couscous, and salad. Once again, the meat was cooked to perfection, so succulent, and very tasty.

We decided to try one of the non-alcoholic ‘Mocktails’ - the ‘Airman Love’ and these went down a treat, containing cranberry, apple, strawberry puree and soda water. Highly recommended. After eating so much delicious food we opted to share a desert, and profiteroles were the perfect way to finish our meal.

After our meal we chatted with Ali, and he talked about and his plans to extend the restaurant. We won’t go into details here, but to keep up to date on what’s happening at the Airman Kitchen be sure to follow their page on Facebook.

Ali explained how much time and effort his team put into the food preparation in the kitchen, for example, the chilli sauce has a total of 11 vegetables in it, creating an amazing sauce with subtle tastes that get the juices flowing.

Finally, Ali gave us a guided tour of the kitchen, and we were fascinated with the three-metre-long charcoal grill used to cook the meat. It was really interesting to see how the food is prepared and cooked.

A very enjoyable meal and lovely experience, we simply can’t wait to visit the Airman...

Review I ordered from The Airman Kitchen last night and am sad to say received extremely poor customer service. I ordered online and the food arrived on time, except there was a dish missing. They delivered the missing dish super quick, even before we realised it wasn’t there. It was supposed to be an ‘Izgara Kofte served in a rich tomato sauce’ which are the exact words on the online menu. However, it was nothing like expected as there were no tomatoes in sight! When I called to say we had received the wrong dish i was told that it is in fact an Izgara Kofte despite there being no tomato sauce. When I questioned why it said that on the menu, he tried to tell me that it doesn’t say that on the paper menu to which I replied was irrelevant because I’d ordered online. He asked what I wanted to do about it, so I asked them to refund the £8 at which point he kept coming up with excuses about the fact it would never be served in a tomato sauce, the chef says… etc etc. so I asked to speak to the manager. Whilst on the phone, the manager looked up the online menu and realised their mistake… but still wouldn’t give a refund!! Not only that, he continued to argue with me and give excuses about why it would traditionally never be served in a tomato sauce. Not being Turkish myself, I have no idea about how it should traditionally be served. Nor do I care. I read a menu and made my choice based on that. The food that arrived was NOT as described, therefore a refund should’ve been authorised instantly. Instead, I had a 10 minute argument which ended with me hanging up because I just couldn’t believe they were arguing so profusely about £8 from a £65 order! Shocking...

Me and my friend went there on Sunday when it was extremely hot, the staff kindly moved an outside table to the shade for us so we were comfortable. We weren’t sure if we were going to have food, but after seeing the menu it was hard not to. The food was absolutely incredible, the portions were great, flavours on point and the staff were lovely. We ordered the garlic mushroom for starters, which was extremely flavoursome and creamy, the calamari were big and beautifully crispy, the bread with olives and dips complimented everything nicely and we also ordered extra olives. I had the falafel which was by far the best I’d ever tasted, texture was soft and moist inside, the crispy outsides kept its shape, wasn’t oily and the seasoning and flavour was just incredible. My friend had the ribs, which were plenty some, juicy and perfectly cooked. Both mains came with rice and salad. Deserts we went with the Baklava accompanied with ice cream which complimented it perfectly, which was a great recommendation by our waiter. The expressos were also perfectly taken with a bit of cream on top and the coffee brand you would find in the Mediterranean, lovely and smooth, served with a Biscoff biscuit. Some Turkish delight was also given which was a perfect ending to the meal and so Every meal was presented beautifully, the staff were extremely friendly and attentive, I cannot recommend this place enough. Will definitely be returning next time I visit Shefford. Thank you so much to all the staff for making it such a...