Do you want this insanely delicious Turkish pizza too? Then you need to go here
If you like to stay up to date on where to get the best snacks, and want to know specifically where to find them in the capital, you may already have heard about this: people happily queue for this lahmacun (also known as Turkish pizza)…
Het Parool has sung its praises, as has our own Snackspert, and many others are devoted fans of a small bakery on Amsterdam’s Rozengracht: Effendy.
In the thick of life
Effendy means ‘respectable gentleman’ in Turkish, according to Het Parool. In an extensive interview, owner Levent Akar tells his life story and talks about his particularly kind-hearted philosophy and faith, which makes the name Effendy seem immediately fitting: “My family taught me that you should share your food with others. I was given the opportunity to reach the place where I am now. I have my own business and a car, and sometimes I look at the people who have to live on the streets and think: who would I be to think that I have more right to all these things than they do? […] Above all, I am grateful to all the people who wish me this success.”
Wildly enthusiastic reviews
And ‘all those people’ can order as many as four hundred pizzas a day! There are three people in the production kitchen and three in the shop, making sure that you too can get your hands on the lahmacun that has inspired truly LYRICAL reviews.
Brilliant crust
It’s actually rather strange that people will happily pay ten euros for an Italian pizza (even a bad one), while the idea still exists that a Turkish pizza should be cheap. According to connoisseurs and regulars, Effendy uses high-quality ingredients, and surrounding that delicious filling of meat, crunchy vegetables and parsley is a remarkable crust: baked precisely so crisp that it is beautifully flaky and charred, but not so hard that it breaks completely.
And while many visitors order their lahmacun with garlic sauce and sambal, the classic Turkish version actually comes without those sauces, but with chopped parsley, pepper flakes and perhaps a squeeze of lemon.
See you there
Right. I don’t know about you, but I’m practically bursting with hunger for such a magnificent creation. The lovely thing is that everything has been thought through: the perfect dough, the right proportions, but also the packaging. Levent Akar doesn’t give you a Turkish pizza rolled up in aluminium foil, because that makes it soft and soggy. Especially for his lahmacun, he had a suitably sized cardboard box developed, making it easy to take away or have delivered. Otherwise, take a seat in the cosy bakery, if there’s room, that is, because once again: this place is absolutely packed. But don’t let that put you off. My solution? Just go nice and early. Because there’s nothing wrong with having (Turkish) pizza for breakfast!
Effendy, Rozengracht 148, Amsterdam
Read also:
- The rise of suçuk: do you know this delicious Turkish sausage yet?
- What do you buy at a Turkish supermarket?
- Why you should eat your crisps with Turkish yoghurt from now on
Source: Het Parool
