While out and about in Workington on Saturday evening we decided to pop in to a new restaurant in Workington – Lara.
The former Trespass shop in the centre of town has been transformed into an oasis of Turkish calm.
On entering, we were greeted warmly and warned that there would be a delay in food being served as they were busy – and it would be about 40 minutes.
As we’d popped in on the off chance and had nothing else to do, we decided to wait. They were so busy, they could have turned tables really quickly, but they said they wanted their customers to enjoy their time in the restaurant. We appreciated their honesty – we’ve been to places where we’ve waited for longer but not been alerted.
We were shown to a table and the staff were lovely and chatty.
The biggest problem was deciding what to have as everything sounded nice. We eventually decided to order a bottle of Turkish red wine, Yakut, with dolmades – stuffed vine leaves – and calamari as starters with a mixed shish kebab and an imam bayildi – a baked aubergine dish (suitable for vegetarians).
While sampling the wine we were tormented by dishes being served to other tables going past as everything looked and smelled delicious. It wasn’t helped by seeing chefs working hard in the open kitchen.
When our starters arrived, it certainly didn’t feel like 40 minutes. Fresh out of the kitchen, they were piping hot and delicious.
I love calamari but it can be hit and miss when dining out – but the Lara team nailed it. This was perfect, light crispy coating, soft tasty squid inside, nice dip and fresh bread.
The dolmades, which can sometimes be stodgy, were the right size as a starter and extremely light. Judging by the speed they vanished, they were equally delicious.
We had some lovely fresh baked bread with the starters, which was lovely – our only complaint was that they took it away too soon!
The mains were equally good, the chicken kebab nicely crispy on the outside but still very tender in the middle, lamb chop perfect and the shish kebab very tasty.
All well seasoned and tasty, the rice too was spot on and not bland.
The aubergine dish smelled lovely and my partner thoroughly enjoyed it.
We had a lovely meal, the atmosphere was welcoming, it was a nice place to spend some time, the food was excellent and staff a pleasure.
Without a doubt we will be back.
