Haz – a good value find in St Paul’s

Haz is a small group of Turkish restaurants in and around the City of London – that’s the business district, but also interesting to visitors with St Paul’s Cathedral, the Monument, Millennium Bridge, Tate Modern and Museum of London all within walking distance.

The Turkish word “haz” means something like “gratification” in English. Would the St Paul’s Haz gratify this writer?

I went on a really crowded day before Christmas so, even arriving at 14.00, the staff were still running around like crazy – it only calmed down around 16.00.

But despite the hustle and bustle – it’s a big place – it worked well even if one of my fellow eaters had trouble with the menu options.

I started as most do with mixed meze. This can either be from the main menu where you choose various dishes – they are meant to share – or a selection from one of the fixed price deals which start at £13.95 and range up to £29.95.

You’ve possibly eaten them all before – Haz does tried and tested rather than explore new. Nevertheless, they were good (and mostly vegetarian). You could have an entire meal of meze – many do. You can ask for as much bread as you like.

Main courses are much more meat based with just moussaka and a vegetable penne dish for those avoiding meat. I had Kuzu Shish – lamb cubes with vegetables including aubergine puree. They were better than any other similar dish I had tried as the meat was unbelievably tender and tasty.

Oddly, it’s not served with rice – as it should be. Whether this was by mistake or on purpose, I don’t know.

There’s a selection of Turkish and other wines – they won’t break the bank starting at £19.95. And there is also Efes Turkish beer.

Dessert is a disappointment – as it so often is. So we’ll not comment further.

Haz is not high gastronomy. But it doesn’t claim to be. It’s comfortable, good value for the area and a chance to rub shoulders with City types paying for themselves!

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