Menemen – The Grind Café, Sheffield

A while ago, I remember reading J. Kenji López-Alt’s Serious Eats article on the Turkish scrambled egg dish Menemen, with a big smile on my face. Not solely because of his humour (comparing the it’s name to the famous Mahna Mahna song from The Muppet Show), but also because I knew I had to try this dish, and that I’d enjoy it when I did.

It’s safe to say that’s true; The Grind Café’s menemen (£9.50) was lovely, and proved to be a nice change from the countless Shakshuka’s now popping up on menu’s in similar trendy brunch spots (Tesco Café’s shakshuka was still a shock, mind you).

In fact, this dish shares almost exactly the same ingredients as shakshuka – eggs, tomatoes and peppers – the main difference being the fact that the eggs are scrambled in menemen’s tomato sauce, rather than poached. This gives the dish an entirely different texture to its Maghrebi cousin, and one that I personally find superior.

Now for a meal that has a relatively simple makeup – and is a common staple in households all over Türkiye accordingly – it may surprise to you learn that there is often much debate over the inclusion of one particular ingredient in the recipe: onion. If used, it would be one of the first ingredients to hit the pan; sautéed in a generous drizzle of olive oil until soft.

Some cooks insist on using onions in the dish, while others see it positively outrageous to do so. The disagreement is so evenly split that in 2018, when Turkish food critic Vedat Milor ran a Twitter poll on whether onions should be included, the results came out 51% in favour and 49% not. No real conclusion can be made from that.

In case you were wondering, the Grind Café’s menemen did feature onions, although I wouldn’t have been fussed either way. What was more noteworthy though, was the fact that a different, more essential ingredient – green pepper – was missing.

Sweet bell pepper was used in its place, but a more bitter variety such as Sivri Beber would have been a more traditional choice. According to Kenji, Anaheim, Padrón, or Shishito peppers would have worked too, as they share similar properties to Sivri. Each bring a medium level of heat to the dish, one that was noticeably missing from my menemen.

The main thing that stood out about it though, was its level of sweetness. It was intense to say the least, to the point of being almost cloying. I suspect a number of factors were probably behind this: the decision to add onions to the menemen meant there was an underlying sweetness throughout, as did the choice of bell pepper. Tomatoes have a natural sweetness too, but I couldn’t help but feel something extra had been added here. Simple sugar is the most likely culprit, and an unnecessary addition in my opinion.

Aside from this, I found the menemen really quite tasty; I see scrambled eggs as the ultimate comfort food, and pairing them with tomatoes in this deliciously sloppy way only acts to reinforce this status. I was pleased to find a chunky slice of toasted sourdough accompanying my menemen; the perfect vessel with which to soak up every last drop of sauce.

The presentation of the dish had also clearly been thought about. Serving menemen in the pan it was cooked in is both authentic and a necessity – any attempt to plate up this dish usually results in it falling apart. The meal is traditionally served in a Sahan (a shallow copper pan), but as a more obscure item of Turkish cookware, I can understand why this wasn’t used.

Overall, The Grind Café’s menemen boasted both noteworthy strengths and unfortunate flaws. The excessive sweetness was disappointing, and I can’t help but feel this could have been easily avoided. Nevertheless, both the texture of the dish and the presentation – though a little different to what you might find in a traditional setting – were lovely. Tribudishional score: 6/10.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this review, and that you might have learnt something new along the way. Even better, I hope the next time you see it on the menu, you go ahead and order a menemen… do-doo be-do-do.

©The Tribudishional Food Blog / 2023