Since opening early last year, Sultan has been drawing a steady crowd for its Turkish halal fare, catering to a community that’s rather underrepresented in Shanghai’s hip, trend-driven dining scene.
Sultan Shanghai
It’s located at PAC in Jing’an, and you really can’t miss it. Sultan commands a prime spot — it’s literally the first venue you see when you walk into the main piazza. It’s a huge restaurant, complete with a spacious terrace, and inside, it’s big, grand, and designed to impress. There are even two private rooms.
There are also display counters stacked with desserts and a dedicated ice cream section in partnership with MADO, Turkey’s most famous ice cream and pastry brand.
Sultan’s first location opened in Guangzhou in 2005, followed by Yiwu in 2021. There’s even a location in Beijing. MADO, meanwhile, only recently entered China via Guangzhou, where they’ve set up a factory to produce their icy treats and baked goods.
The Food
There are not one but two menus at Sultan. These thick tomes border on encyclopedias, covering Turkish cuisine and dishes from along the Silk Road. From national treasures to breakfasts to kebabs and grill platters, the list goes on and on, capped off with endless desserts.
Crowd-favorite mezze includes hummus, labneh, and cacik, while the grilled selection highlights platters of lamb, chicken, and beef in the form of kebabs and chops. Carb lovers aren’t forgotten either, with pide, lahmacun, bread rolls, and grilled meats over rice. They even have brunchy plates, burgers, wraps, and pizzas.
Navigating the menu is frankly quite daunting. Thankfully, there are photos for all the dishes. That said, I do have quite a gripe with one thing: there simply isn’t enough information provided. Some dishes are listed by name only. While that might work for diners already well-versed in Turkish cuisine, it doesn’t quite cut it for everyone else, unless you’re prepared to Google mid-meal. Even the grill platters don’t list the types of meat included.
The only thing I knew for sure was that there’s no pork, which was confirmed by the staff, as Sultan is a halal-friendly restaurant.
I tried a lot of dishes. Overall, most of them were under-seasoned or muted in flavor, at least to my palate. It’s a real pity, because visually, everything looked fantastic.
The Hummus (¥38) was decent, though not as garlicky as others out there, and the Tabouleh (¥52) served as a refreshing bite between plates.
The Sultan Mix Kebab Platter (¥128) proved to be good value, coming with two chicken wings, a chicken shish, chicken kebab, and beef kebab, plus a small scoop of seasoned rice.
The same goes for the Mixed Doner (¥102), a plate of chicken and beef, though I felt it was a bit stingy on the fries.
Also on the grilled meats front is the Meat Wrap (¥78). The beef within was juicy and delicious, served with fries, enough a tad petit.
The Su Börek (¥36), however, was memorable, and honestly, hard to fault. Made layers of filo pastry filled with feta cheese, it’s comforting and well-executed.
If I had to choose between the Lavash (¥12) and the “Large Puff” (¥34), I’d stick with the latter. The lavash was a bit too dry for my liking, while the puffed bread delivered far more satisfaction.
Where Sultan really scores higher is dessert. The Mixed Dessert Platter (¥66) is the way to go if you want a sampler of their greatest hits or simply an introduction to Turkish sweets. It comes with pistachio dolama, pistachio baklava, walnut baklava, walnut sarma burma, and kesme ice cream topped with powdered walnut and pistachio.
In Summary
In summary, Sultan wasn’t a standout for me flavor-wise, but I guess its appeal goes beyond my own preferences. For an underserved community in Shanghai’s dining scene, it offers familiarity, scale, and a sense of representation.
Sultan Turkish Restaurant
Click here for the listing.
