A restaurant served 800 customers on its opening weekend as it brought a slice of authentic Turkish cuisine to Bolton.
Mevlana opened on Horsfield Street in Deane only a matter of weeks ago - and is already welcoming people as far a field as Winchester - building on Bolton's growing reputation as a food and drink destination.
The Turkish restaurant and coffee house is run by business partners Halil Orhanli and Hamid Jiva who have been friends for over a decade.
Mr Jiva said: “Me and Halil met over a decade ago through work, Halil has over 20 years restaurant experience, so we pooled together our skills to start something new as I’ve always wanted to work in the restaurant industry.
"I’ve had a keen interest in food, I knew what I could bring to Bolton.
“We wanted to bring something authentic to Bolton and offer a space for families and guests to sit down, relax and enjoy authentic cuisine without having to travel to Manchester."
The interior took nine months to remodel with the design being inspired by traditional Turkish coffee houses.
Mr Jiva said: “We wanted to create a space that was unique and sets us apart from other restaurants and cafes to provide a pleasant ambience for guests.
The restaurant is decorated with quotes from the thirteenth-century poet, Rumi Mevlana, which inspired its name.
Mr Jiva said:“We also have a prayer room upstairs to cater to guests needs.
“As someone born and raised in Bolton, I wanted to bring something special to our high street and help generate business for the local area.
"We’ve been lucky to welcome visitors from all over the UK, including GB Para badminton player Isaak Dalglish, who gave us incredible feedback.
"Within just our first month of opening it’s been amazing to see people travel from various towns and cities to sample our fresh, authentic Turkish cuisine.
"The fact we have seen customers come back repeatedly in this short space of time is fantastic as it shows they appreciate what we are delivering.
"On our opening weekend, the response was overwhelming—we served around 800 people in just two days. It was a fantastic way to start.
“Halil is from Turkey, he’s well experienced with the culture and cuisine – I’m a big foodie so I’ve got to know what works.
"It took us weeks to develop the menu and decide on the dishes that we want to serve – we wanted to deliver an authentic Turkish menu with traditional flavours as we felt this would appeal to all demographics of Bolton’s community.”
The restaurant and coffee house has four separate menus for lunch, dinner, desserts and the coffee house.
All food and desserts are made in-house from scratch every day by the expert Turkish chefs.
The venue seats 100 including the downstairs venue and the upstairs veranda.
The upstairs the two say can be used for private events and group booking packages, something which they are currently in the process of developing.
Proving the most popular is Mevlana’s ‘Charcoal Grill’ section, featuring meat marinated with herbs and spices that can be cooked to order on a charcoal grill along with rice and salad.
The ‘Turkish Pide’ is a twist on a classic dish.
The Turkish Pizzas are made fresh to order and topped with mozzarella cheese. The toppings include minced lamb, onion, chicken, spicy sausage and red peppers among many more.
Mr Jiva said: “We didn’t want to cut corners when it comes to the quality of our food.
"The tasty meat feasts are made from prime cuts of meat and chicken, replicating the authentic flavours found in Turkey.
"We use premium cuts of meat prepared through Turkish methods which includes bringing the meat for 24 hours before it is prepared and cooked.
“All dishes are made in-house to order as we want to focus on offering a quality experience."
The produce is bought from local vendors.
Mr Jiva's daughter helped design the children's menu.
He said: “The children’s dishes are also special – we wanted to offer something more than just chicken nuggets and chips – we wanted to focus on clean and nutritious meals. I asked my daughter to choose what she would want at a restaurant, and we went with that to help curate the kids menu.”
The restaurant runs a ‘dry bar’ which serves customers delicious mocktails and sweet Turkish sodas.
The specialty drink, the ‘Mevlana sunrise’ features Grenadine syrup, mango juice and crushed ice topped with blueberry soda.
What I thought of the food
I was lucky enough to sample the Soğuk Meze Tabağı upon Mr Jiva's recommendation, a mezze platter including in-house made hummus, cacik (yogurt and cucumber dip), saksuka , patlican tarator (tangy smoked aubergine dip), an ezme, spicy chilli dip and zeytin (olives) served with fresh Turkish bread.
The dish tasted as good as it looked and provided an amazing mix of flavours, each complimenting each other – I left the plate clean.
Next on the agenda was a delicious meat platter featuring prime minced lamb with Turkish herbs and spices, cubed seasoned chicken, tender lamb ribs, lightly spiced chicken wings and a selection of doner meats.
There was also minced lamb and chicken kebabs, cubed lamb and chicken, chicken wings, chicken doner and lamb ribs served on a bed of rice and bulgur.
The tastes were delectable and the quality of the meat, which was expertly seasoned really shone through.
Whilst I was eating a customer next to me, who’d ordered the same thing, remarked: “I’d seen this place on TikTok and wanted to give it a try, the portion sizes are much better in person and the food is delightful.
“The pictures don’t do this place justice.”
The final dish I sampled was ‘kunefe’ – a traditional sweet Arabic dessert made from shredded Kadaif pastry layered with soft cheese and topped with sugared syrup served with vanilla ice cream.
Although I was initially sceptical about the cheese, I was proven wrong. The consistency was the perfect amount of gooey sweetness, topped off perfectly by the smooth vanilla ice cream.
Before visiting Mevlana, I believed that I’d already sampled the best Turkish cuisine had to offer but I was blissfully proven wrong.
The opening hours for Mevlana are as follows:
Monday – Thursday 11am – 10pm
Friday – Sunday 11am – 11:30pm
The restaurant is currently only accepting walk ins, although details about Mevlana’s menu can be found on their social media pages.
On-site parking and additional overflow parking is available and free of charge.
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