Dessert @ Tuba Restaurant and Grill

After my dessert-less meal at Udupi Palace, I was left craving something sweet.  (Then again, when do I ever NOT want dessert?)  To keep my poor sore throat happy I wanted something creamy, but I wasn't really in the mood for ice cream, as it was fairly cold out.  I pulled up GoPago to see where else nearby I could use my credits and discovered a place that sounded amazing, albeit with a rather unfortunate name: Tuba Restaurant and Grill, a Turkish restaurant.  On the dessert menu, among other fantastic sounding treats, was rice pudding and crème brûlée, both perfectly fitting for my sore throat AND things that I absolutely love.  I settled on the rice pudding, as it fit more in theme with my meal.

I quickly looked up the restaurant on Yelp before ordering, and was stunned by the reviews, all incredibly positive.  The menu sounds fantastic, from the hot and cold appetizers, to the mains, to the rest of the desserts.  I'll definitely be going back for a full meal sometime soon!

I ordered my pudding to go using GoPago when I was two blocks away, and it was ready and waiting when I got there.  Again, GoPago worked like a charm!  Maybe I'll even keep using it once my free credits expire :)

Sütlaç: oven-baked rice pudding.  $5.

This was my first encounter with Turkish rice pudding.  I didn't quite know what to expect, knowing that every culture takes a slightly different spin on rice puddings.  Some sweeter than others, the rice cooked to different doneness levels, different spicing, different amounts of cream, etc.

This was really good.  I'm not sure that I'd ever had a baked rice pudding before, which was a little strange at first.  The top layer was a bit of a film, a little off putting, but I think a result of being baked?  It also had a little scorched area, but again, I think that was intentional.

The pudding had a lot of liquid in it, fairly runny, but not in a bothersome way.  It was a rather perfect level of sweetness, enough to know you were eating a dessert, but not too much at all.  It also had a nice vanilla flavor, and some other spicing that I couldn't identify.  The rice was al dente, big whole grains, nicely crunchy.  Topped with some crushed pistachio, which added another crunch, but I didn't like as I'm not a big fan of pistachio.

I could easily see someone thinking it was too runny or that the rice wasn't cooked enough, but I thought it was quite tasty, and enjoyed the contrasting textures and consistencies.  I'd order it again, but I do want to try their other desserts too!

$5 seemed a little high when I first received it in my little togo box, but when I think about it, if I'd ordered it in a restaurant, that price would seem low, so this really was a fine price.