The Irish standard., 1891-06-27
ORIENTAL DINING.
A Turkish Meal Served by Genu-
Inc Egyptians.
Some Of tho Toothsome Delicacies Which
Constitute the Regulation Fare
of the Mohammedan
Gourmand.

On Washington street, that great
street full of foreign markets, there is q
Turkish restaurant, says the New York
Recorder. The entrance is not inviting
and the arrangements inside are tride
the worse for wear. The divans of red
velvet are not very clean but the carpets
are genuine Turkish and the walters
are not American colored men but gen.
uine Egyptian blacks. They speak
Arabic and Turkish and very little Eng
lish, though they trihe with French.
You ask for dinner. A quaiut oriental
bottle with designs in gold, red and
blue, together with a tiny liquor glass
similarly ornamented, was brought
upon a bronze tray and placed upon an
octagon ball table beside the low divan
upon which you have curled yourself.
The magic word ''raki' is all that is
uttered and you help yourself to a glass
of the Mohammedan's favorite aniseed
smelling bitters to give you an appetite
and to help you digest what is coming.
A pure white cloth is laid on the carpet
in front of you and a bowl of tepid
water scented with roses and a towel
from the next dinner appliances.
Then comes plate after plate Of sweet
meats arranged in front of you, to-
gether with all sorts of dried fruit
Everything is candied. The names Of
some are interesting, though somewhat
bewildering. Rahat lakhoum, hadji
bekir lokoom, loz helva tahin helva,
keafte (grapes), abdil-leziz "a very nu-
tritious African fruit), tout (mulber-
ries), kishnish, fousdonk. green pis-
tache, almonds, figs, walnuts in sort
OF paste, apricots in pastilles, and Sui
tana raisins. But you don't begin yet.
There is the piece de resistance, the
p;lau, a sort of stew made Of mutton,
onions and rice. Koushkousch, or
caushcousch, as it is pronounced by diff
ferent dialects, is brought over to this
country ready prepared to make this
really delicious dish. None but an ORR
entail can make it properly. The rich
gravy in which are found the tender
morsels Of meat favored with invisible
onions sends up most savory smell,
and the white, mealy rice which sur
rounds the whole counteracts the ex-
IRENE richness. Then there are beans
and peas and lantis Ia species of lenti).
Now comes the glut OF sweetmeats,
and after or with them the black tea, or
coffee in tiny cups and very strong,
and the few delicious whiffs from a
narghile or hubble-bubble pipe, or from
the long chibouk, taken while you lie
back sleepily on the soft pillows Of the
divan. Now, too, you may indulge in
hottie of Cyprus or Salonican wine,
for Wine must be taken after and not
during meals.
The atmosphere of the restaurant is
not refreshing, but you get accustomed
to it, and before you are half way
through the rich and almost voluptuous
meal you quite understand why Turks
are so fat and so easy going, why they
love to sit and dream and smoke and
say nothing; why opinion is not neces-
sary to them; why they are Emphatic
and lazy, and why they can never be
reused to push and struggle and COM
pete with occidentals. Their very mode
of living and feeding is conducive to a
happy-go-lucky laziness which only
wakes up to drive q bargain or to fight
for that heaven which their religion
teaches them is sure to be the final lot
of every man who falls in battle with
his face to the foe.