Pera

Back today for the fourth time can’t fault this little gem will continue to go back and enjoy the great food relaxed atmosphere and friendly staff

what can I say? I cannot fault this place! The food is incredible, staff are really lovely and so helpful, great atmosphere and really pretty reasonable prices! (and BYOB!) I will be back time and time again!
My biggest problem when I eat out is that I generally wanna eat everything! Which is why I love tapas, mezze and sharing platters — you really can sample it all in Pera — we opted for the cold mezze to share and the mixed hot mezze and hoped we’d still have room to share the lamb kofte — but we really didn’t — next time!
Pera is a very relaxed place, it’s interior is simple and understated, small in size so i’d recommend making a booking esp if you are more than 4 people. The kitchen looks tiny, and it’s a little odd when you go to the bathroom — but what it lacks in polished style and grandeur it really does make up for in flavours! Plenty to choose from and loads of vegetarian options — feels like authentic Turkish cuisine — probably the best humous I have ever tasted! And such combinations of so many herbs and spices — sensational! Everything just bursting with flavour and colour — just wish I could’ve eaten more!
It is also open for breakfast and lunch and I noticed they have specials till 5pm (£8.95 for 2 courses)
Will definitely be back — next time with elasticated trousers!

I had high hopes for Pera. Their menu online looks great and the paucity of good kebabs in Edinburgh is something I would hope they would rectify.
Few things I noticed as this is just an initial review. I will be back to try again.
Scented candles on every table??? Right. I know I have a rather heightened sense of smell. My romantic partners are advised to never wear perfume as it gives me a headache. I myself don’t wear anything that smells and have to buy fancy toiletries that contain ZERO smells. If you are eating somewhere, especially somewhere with grilled meat you want to smell the FOOD! Not some weird christmastime fragrance.
It’s a small space and I had initially ordered takeaway to try at home but when we walked in there was a spare seat so they offered us to eat in. We sat at the back right under an old HUGE extraction hood. Seeing as they say they use a charcoal mangal on the website I would have expected this to be underneath the hood but instead it was out of action.
I ordered the mixed cold mezze which was good but composed all my least favourite turkish mezze dishes. Russian salad (why do people go mad for Russian salad??? whole countries are fueled on it to no appreciable understanding of mine.) and other sort of boring things that kind of involved mayo. Was hoping more for aubergine but didn’t get it. This is no fault of there’s though. I should have been more specific.
The mixed grill for two ~£17 was rather lacking in meat but as I mentioned it was the first time I went and I would need to try the individual order to see how it stacks up value wise.
The one thing they did get right was the bread. You can get away with cheap meat in a kebab (although this is not to say they use it, more a general assumption) but you can’t get away with crap bread. Theirs was excellent. My only quibble was that it should have not been cut in as small pieces.
I asked for some chilli to add to the meat and was given a small ramekin with some very high grade turkish chilli in it. I would hazard a guess and say it was either Aleppo or Maras flakes. Bonus points for that. Also they gave me a small bowl of oregano which was of similar high quality.
They are obviously not taking shortcuts but I think as an eating experience it left something to be desired. I wish you could see the mangal and they would get rid of the scented candles.
I’ll be back to follow up this review.