Manti (baked minced beef dumplings served w/ light yogurt sauce)

by Celia Cheng
July 28th, 2008

ANTIQUE GARAGE
41 Mercer St
(Broome & Grand Sts)
212-219-1019
$$

Manti is one of my favorite Turkish foods. Small dumplings with minced beef stuffing, drizzled with a yogurt sauce and paprika mixed with melted butter, the manti at Antique Garage come closest to what I’ve had in Turkey (though I prefer lamb or a mixture of lamb and beef stuffing). While there are several other Turkish restaurants I enjoy in the City, none of them seem to make manti just right. It takes craft to make them as small as they should be, but it’s important in order to get the dough to filling ratio correct. And Antique Garage has gotten it right! But this craft doesn’t come at a low price: $20 is by far the highest price I’ve seen. But hey, I’m willing to splurge once in a while for good manti.

Also in Dumplings, Lamb, SoHo, Turkish