Haverhill restaurateurs to realise their long-held dream as new enterprise Anatolia opens next to Cineworld
When new Turkish restaurant Anatolia Mediterranean Grill & Cocktail Bar opens in Haverhill tomorrow, it will see a long-held ambition realised by its owners.
The premises the restaurant occupies sits next to Cineworld, in Ehringshausen Way, and was taken over in May by Ali and Wendy Yagir.
They had actually put in an offer on the building's lease in November, 2020, but another bidder was successful and so the restaurant Crunchy's opened in August 2021, only to close about six months later.
Ali and Wendy are well established on the restaurant and takeaway scene in Haverhill, having had Dial-a-Pizza for ten years before opening Starburger in Queen Street in 2013.
Just before Christmas, 2020, they opened Star Grill, offering Turkish food and drink in the evenings from the same Queen Street restaurant.
It has developed such a strong customer base that the couple, who live in Haverhill, needed to move the Turkish restaurant to a bigger premises, which they have now done (although Starburger remains where it has always been).
Ali said: "When I saw the building I just really loved it and I wanted to put my signature on it, me and my wife's. It's going to be our place."
Wendy said: "We've had a lot of support in Starburger as well. I mean the staff, because those guys were running it in that tiny kitchen and working long hours and they've had to continue doing that while we set this up.
"They have been amazing."
Ali, who grew up in the Anatolia region of Turkey, which sits on the Asian side of the Bosphorus Strait, and Wendy have been busy for four months getting everything ready, with a few hitches delaying the full opening.
Pretty much everything was replaced or renovated in the restaurant, even the floors and walls, with furniture, crockery and cutlery being sourced straight from Turkey.
A mixologist will also be on hand to prepare the cocktails and other drinks, with the new menu offers not just traditional Turkish dishes, but also pasta, pizza, steaks, burgers and on Sundays, roast lunches.
