Mezze or a Grill? How to Order a Shared Meal on Bussorah Street
It is very easy to order a whole dinner’s worth of dips before the grill arrives. Start with one question: are the small plates the meal, or just the opening act? That decision makes a shared Turkish or Lebanese order much easier.
Photo: T.Tseng
At Alaturka, compare one dip with the meze selection
Alaturka’s October 2026 restaurant menu lists hummus at S$14 and house-baked lavaş at S$7.50. Together that is S$21.50 in listed menu prices. The small Meze Tabagi is S$29 and includes hot lavaş; the large is S$39.
The small selection therefore costs S$7.50 more than that single-dip-and-bread combination before any applicable charges. Choose it for variety, not because it is automatically cheaper. Do not add another bread order without noticing the bread already included. The reproduced menu page did not state the service-charge or GST treatment, so these are not quoted final bills.
Choose contrasting dips, not three similar bowls
The same menu lists hummus with chickpeas and tahini, babaganoush with eggplant and yoghurt, and muhammara with peppers and walnuts. Muhammara is S$15; babaganoush is S$14. Those ingredients help you choose a genuinely different second dip rather than just another colour.
For two diners who also want a main, our starting point is one dip with bread, or the small meze selection, then the main. Ask for portion advice before turning that into a full spread of starters plus a large grill. This is an ordering suggestion, not a restaurant set.
Bread and dietary requests need to be specific
Alaturka marks vegan lavaş as available on request. Ask for that version rather than assuming the default is the same. Yoghurt in babaganoush and walnuts in muhammara also show why a vegetable-led dish is not automatically suitable for every diner.
For allergies, tell staff the actual ingredient to avoid and ask about preparation and cross-contact. A menu abbreviation is not enough to establish that a dish is safe for someone with an allergy.
Turkish-rooted Alaturka or Lebanese Beirut Grill?
Alaturka describes its food as East Mediterranean with Turkish roots and lists 15 Bussorah Street as its address. Beirut Grill, also on Bussorah Street, describes its cooking as Lebanese and Middle Eastern. Compare the actual dishes you want rather than treating the two menus as identical.
Beirut Grill also describes two floors, a second-floor lounge and outdoor seating. If you need a ground-floor table or want to avoid alfresco seating, get the arrangement confirmed rather than leaving it as an assumption.
Our useful rule: decide the starter format first, then choose the main and check its included rice or bread. You will get more variety from a deliberate order than from automatically adding every side.
Photo credits
T.Tseng (CC BY 2.0) · Bazel / Basel15 (Public domain). Archive photographs shown without content edits; not endorsements or current menu photographs.
