There are times when you find a restaurant so nice that you just want to take it home with you. ADA is such a place.

We were staying in Bexhill, and just wanted something light to eat one evening so we ventured in to ADA. My mum lives in Turkish Cyprus, and I will admit that I was feeling ‘home’ sick for hot weather and Turkish food, so this fit the bill perfectly. Okay apart from the hot weather but you can’t have it all can you?

ADA was quiet, but then we were there off season, and late on a Sunday. It is quite a large restaurant, but it feels warm and inviting, especially when the breeze off the sea gets a bit much! The music isn’t too loud, and the service is very friendly and attentive but not overly cloying. They also have no problem at all with people taking photographs of their dinner.

Our lovely waitress, Emel, has since gone back to Istanbul to get married, and we will miss her terribly, but the rest of the staff are just as nice. We ate there on her last day, and managed to get a hug in before she went.

Please remember that bit where I said we wanted something light to eat.

We utterly failed, completely and unreservedly.

Chargrilled chicken wings – crispy and delicious, fragrant and delicately spiced.

Feta ‘cigars’, with perfectly crunchy pastry and a smooth filling.

Griddled halloumi/hellim, which no meal should be without as far as I am concerned.

Kibbeh (meat stuffed bulghur wheat balls) with garlicky spinach in yoghurt.

The inside of the kibbeh.

Now, you see that kalamari on the hot starters menu? Usually you will get rings deep fried in batter, which is not a bad thing at all. I love it, and will order it as often as I can, so that was what I expected to turn up.

Not so. It was something far better.

We were both stunned by how good this was. Expertly cooked, tender, yielding squid bathed in superb olive oil flecked with toasted garlic and herbs. I was extremely grateful that we had bread – given free of charge and topped up regularly – to soak up all the delicious oil. 

Fair stuffed we were, but I had spotted something on the dessert menu that beckoned me in. Call me crazy, call me greedy, call me all of that but I shall not care. I went for it.

An almond cake base, dense and slightly grainy, lightly soaked in syrup, served with plain vanilla ice cream. It was absolutely perfect and not heavy at all. It was either the Revani or the Sekerpare, but either way it was utterly delicious.

At this point, we rolled ourselves home, and fell over.

If you visit Bexhill on Sea, go to this place. If possible arrange to stay in Bexhill longer and go twice!

http://ada-restaurant.co.uk

ADA
Turkish Barbeque & Meze Bar
60 Devonshire Road
Bexhill-on-Sea
East Sussex
TN40 1AX

Tel: 01424 212189
Email: info@ada-restaurant.co.uk