Kiremit Kofte @ Konak Meze, featuring Markenfield Hall

It didn't take long for us to come back to Konak Meze, our favorite restaurant in the town. As I expected, J ordered Kiremit Kofte (homemade meatballs baked in the oven with rich tomato sauce, herbs topped with melted cheese served with rice and crispy salad). It was the dish that our friend's five year old daughter enjoyed and J thought looked delicious a couple of weeks ago. That was how I remembered. However, when the dish came to the table, it actually looked different. It seemed that her dish had been Izgara Kofte (chargrilled meatball patties seasoned with parsley and herbs)! Anyway, J enjoyed his wrong Kofte.

My starter was Kisir (cracked bulgur wheat mixed with tomato, peppers, onions and mint, topped with pomegranate juice and walnut), and my main dish was Imam Bayildi (classic oven baked Ottoman dish of roasted eggplant stuffed with vegetables cooked with olive oil served with rice and salad). Both were excellent. I felt I was doing well with meat-free dishes. Interestingly the combination of the starter and main dish was exactly what I ordered on our second dining at the restaurant, which I didn't remember.

After the wonderful lunch, we drove about 20 minutes to North. Our destination was Mankenfield Hall, an early 14th-century moated manor house. In 2019, the house opens its doors to public only 3 hours in the afternoon of total 30 days in May and June. Gladly we had a chance to visit the house during the limited period. Since it's still an inhabited house, all of its doors weren't opens. We were allowed to see some parts of the ground floor, including Undercroft as well as the Great Hall, the Chapel and a bedroom on the first floor.

While the house was charming, my favorite parts were bright yellow rapeseed fields over the pasture around the house, ducks swimming in the moat, and chicken freely walking around the car parking area.