Food ✪✪ Ambience ✪✪
13-15 Gallowgate
Newcastle upon Tyne
NE1 4SG
0191 447 6226
[Three weeks after the publication of this review, Red Flame announced (March 27th 2015) that it has changed its name and management and is now called Lalezar]
Legend has it that there was once an imam, whose wife served him a dish of aubergines stuffed with onions, garlic and tomatoes, simmered in a vat of olive oil. When he tasted it, he was so overwhelmed by its wondrous flavour, he fainted. Or maybe it was the cost of the ingredients that made him swoon, the folklore’s not totally clear.
Imam bayildi means “the imam fainted”, and it’s a classic staple of Turkish cuisine. I have to admit that this restaurant, conveniently close to St James’ Park (I was on my way with a friend to watch our team being beaten by Manchester United) did actually bowl me over. But not in a good way.
