‘An astonishing bargain’: Kismet’s Turkish mezze joins our hummus golden age

We are living in a golden age of hummus. The cruel irony, of course, is that the cultures that gave us this most miraculous gift are facing one of the bleakest periods of war (and worse) in a very long history of adversity.

But here in Melbourne, our hummus riches have never been more abundant. Take the version at Kismet, a side project in the back room of Tulum, the Turkish restaurant in Balaclava that turns 10 this year. The tahini-rich hummus comes topped with warm chickpeas that have been cooked with Turkish bastourma, a dried and spice-rubbed beef that gives the whole dish a deep umami foundation. Vibrant green chilli and cumin sauce blankets the top, zapping the plate with freshness and verve.

Since opening Tulum, chef and owner Coskun Uysal has made his name taking traditional Turkish flavours and presenting them in a fine-dining context, to great effect. Kismet is in many ways a much more traditional project, the food and cosy candlelit room mimicking the casual taverns of Turkey.

Everyone dines on a $69 three-course mezze sharing menu, an astonishing bargain for the quantity and quality of food. If you finish your dips and want more, they’ll bring more. It’s a tempting offer, but you should save space for what’s to come.

Uysal has an almost magical ability to coax the best out of seemingly ordinary ingredients, showing them in their best light. Borani, part of the first course, looks like steamed spinach topped with yoghurt, yet the flavour is deeply savoury and garlic-rich, the dish silky and comforting. Stewed baby goat, underpinned by a whiff of cinnamon, lays over a cheese and eggplant puree that cools and bolsters the tender meat.

The menu changes weekly if not more regularly, but you’ll likely have a choice of main course, generally a meat or chicken dish. I was lucky to be there for a tray-baked lamb kebab, presented not in the usual cylindrical form but as a large flat round of spiced ground meat, on this visit covered in drifts of parsley, dill and mint, with pistachios and pickled radish and turnip. On the side, double-baked potatoes with aioli were an unexpected star, the sun-dried Turkish chilli isot making them dynamic and addictive.

If you finish your dips and want more, they’ll bring more. It’s a tempting offer, but you should save space for what’s to come.

Dessert is not included, but you can add it for $16, and I highly recommend you do, especially if they’re serving baklava, which arrives warm atop a pistachio sauce, with cooling pomegranate sorbet as sweet-sour foil.

Kismet shares its drinks list and staff with Tulum, which means there’s a decent selection of Turkish wines, creative cocktails that fit the food, and staff who are quirky and friendly and sometimes a bit flustered. I do wish the wine program delved into the ancient Turkish amphora style that’s all the rage these days (and would go exceptionally well with this food). But then again, I’m not sure there’s anywhere else in Melbourne I could find classic brut sparkling from Turkey.

I get the feeling that Kismet is a toe-dipping for Uysal, a 20-seat experiment to see if a high-value, more casual set menu might work as well – if not better – than Tulum, which people tend to think of as destination dining. If all goes well, perhaps Kismet will become its own business in its own building, or perhaps it will take up more space in this building.

For now, Kismet is a delightful secret – a fantastic bargain that nonetheless has a sheen of luxury – delivering warm hospitality, quality ingredients and deeply thoughtful cooking. It feels like fate.

Good Food reviews are booked anonymously and paid independently. A restaurant can’t pay for a review or inclusion in the Good Food Guide.