Safran 189 Ocean View Road, Ettalong Beach, New South Wales 2257

"It's a great place to go for some fine dining and for something a little different. Safran serves authentic Turkish food that's flavoursome without being over the top. Service is responsive and friendly. The atmosphere is suitably dark and quiet. Disabled access is good with no steps to consider. Parking is a little hectic, but there is a public car park nearby. The serving sizes are small, but you won't be hungry afterwards. They have a couple of special multi-course menu's to choose from. Prices are high for the Central Coast but quite low compared to Sydney. As a fine dining experience, it's well worth the money."

"I have waited days after our dining experience at Safran before I'd write a review. I was so looking forward to raving about this restaurant. Maybe I set my expectations way too high. The service was the absolute standout. The front of house staff did a wonderful job and made service appear absolutely effortless. Being Contemporary Turkish cuisine, I was expecting amazing, strong flavours. Sadly I was very disappointed. We opted for the 3 course course option as we felt the degustation may be a bit too much food. I loved my margarita, and hubby enjoyed his beer. We also chose a glass each of Shiraz to go with our 3rd course. We started with the Kercimek Kofte. Very delicate in flavours. OK.... First couse The Blue swimmer crab pasta. The presentation was impeccable, but I was expecting so much more flavour. The whey & keffir foam had absolutely no flavour, and the dish was drowning in butter. Nil flavours of sumac or mint. The Grilled Halloumi was OK, but again, nothing outstanding shone through. I felt we were having a delicate haloumi taster at my local coffee shop. Second course, The Goat su borek was very tasty and complimented by the cauliflower puree. This dish was what we were expecting. The market fish dish was just wrong in so many ways. By far, the worsed dish of the evening. The fish was beautifully cooked but tasteless against the leek and lentil accompaniment. It did nothing to enhance the delicate flavour of the fish. Third couse, Char Grilled eye fillet was cooked perfectly, and the formed beef cheek was tasty. The standout was the battered mushroom with tahini & currants. I would have loved that as a starter on its own. The beef fillet & beef cheek were supposedly served without any type of accompanying sauce. So I gather the sauce on the plate was the juices from the eye fillet? A lovely robust jus could have taken this dish to another level. We received the Lamb Kulbasti, absolutely cold. No evidence of marination flavours or an accompanying Chili butter. The lamb was lovely and tender but again lacking a wow flavour experience. I must say, we thoroughly enjoyed our side dish of duck fat potatoes. The garlic yoghurt sent it to another level. There were some highlights, but overall, we left feeling flat about the food experience. The service provided was the true standout of our experience. Having received a chef's hat award, I was expecting a little more wow with the food, but maybe the overall experience was taken into consideration."

"Our second visit to Safran ( 1st time was pre-pandemic) and they didn't disappoint. We had the Local Thursdays set menu, which consisted of a Starter and Mains,wine, or beer. Good service. Will go back again to try out the Main menu ."

"We chose the degustation/Safran experience and it was amazing. Definitely worth the cost. All the flavours combined were delicious. I grew up with traditional tarhana soup, çiğ köfte and erişte however never seen these foods made in this way, it was so unique. Our favourites were the çiğ köfte, king prawn and homous. For dessert the künefe and Turkish coffee icecream were next level. The waiter was also very knowledgeable and provided excellent service. Definately recommend this experience. Make sure to wear comfy clothing (I had to undo my jeans) and allocate yourself 2 hours for sitting and eating."

"Atmosphere, service, food, everything was perfect! 10/10. Don't trust me just try. Homemade food with love full of twists and creativity. Food we would like to see more often. Thank you PS: sorry the photos don't do justice to the quality of the dishes."