Tava Turkish Cuisine: The Cuisine of Gaziantep in Kanata

At Tava Turkish Cuisine in Kanata, lamb skewers sizzle over a charcoal grill in full view of the dining room. Chef-owner Fatih Anderoğlu cooks the Turkish dishes he grew up with, many of them from Gaziantep, the southeastern city named a UNESCO Creative City of Gastronomy, and few of them easy to find on Canadian menus. “I realized we don’t represent our cuisine well,” he says. He made it his mission to change that.

A Short Menu Cooked Over Coals

The menu draws on his childhood: one salad, five mezes, fewer kebabs and freshly baked flatbread, served hot, right out of the oven. “Less is better than more,” he says. Mezes open the meal, and the meat is either slow-cooked or grilled on a mangal, the traditional charcoal grill. The house celebration dish, Ali Nazik kebab, sets charcoal-roasted eggplant folded into yogurt and garlic under lamb shish, minced lamb skewers. The cooking reflects the region’s layered heritage, where Turkish, Kurdish, Arabic and Armenian traditions meet.

Each morning the chef tastes the prep, and anything that falls short stays off the menu for the day. Regulars say the flavours haven’t wavered in five years, and he will gladly swap a dish that doesn’t suit someone’s taste.

Dessert and Drinks the Turkish Way

For dessert, the Antep pistachio dolama is the house signature: thin baklava-style pastry rolled around milk cream and pistachios, baked to order and served hot under a scoop of ice cream.

Tava has no liquor licence, so the drinks stay Turkish. There is ayran, the traditional yogurt drink, and gazoz sodas in orange and mixed fruit. Şalgam, a fermented carrot juice with the bite of a strong pickle brine, traditionally served with kebabs, helps with digestion. Turkish coffee and tea close the meal.

Montréal Roots and Backyard Flatbread

The idea took root in Montréal, where the chef went to culinary school and cooked at Damas, a renowned Syrian restaurant that left a lasting mark on his cuisine. During the pandemic, he began making flatbread in his Ottawa backyard, then moved to a rented school kitchen, a takeout counter and finally the unit next door.

The room on a residential street in Kanata stays spare: two mirrors, bare walls, low light. “People focus on their food,” he explains. “If you visit my place, it’s like my home.” The menu still shifts a little with the seasons, though he says he could happily eat every dish on it every day, and he makes a point of welcoming each guest and saying goodbye at the end of the meal, as he would with friends at home.

Written by Marie-Ève Godin
Photography by Tava Turkish Cuisine

Updated on October 13, 2026

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