Alaz Turkish Cuisine in the former Olde Bull Hotel in Sudbury's Church Street is worth a return visit

On my frequent visits to cover AFC Sudbury one building has continually caught my eye over the last three years driving down Cross Street (A131) on the approach to Ballingdon Bridge.

For what I remember as a fairly plain roadside façade to the historic Old Bull Hotel and its residents' car park has since been transformed into a stylish, enticing al fresco dining space – for a taste of Turkey.

I chose Mother's Day to finally indulge my curiosity of Alaz Turkish Cuisine (ranked as no4 out of 68 restaurants in Sudbury on TripAdvisor), situated on the junction with Church Street.

Now, confession time, I left it fairly late to book our table for six – with my parents joining my household – for a nostalgic return to the town where my wife and I first lived together.

Despite their restaurant being fully booked they offered to house us on a table in their bar area, if that would suit, which given my lack of options on the Friday before, I was happy to agree to.

There is a sharp left into the car park which isn't the biggest and is admittedly a bit hairy to get out of, but it had enough room for us on one of their busiest days of the year.

The amount of detail which has gone into the roadside garden, with its well pruned potted trees and plants, amid the striking dark blue sun shades, is impressive.

The outside of the building, meanwhile, has also been given a facelift with the historic wooden beams standing out in black to contrast with the fresh, white paintwork.

Walking inside you are hit by the character of the 16th Century Grade I listed building that originally belonged to a wealthy merchant in Sudbury. But at the same time it is interspersed with the opulence of the Ottoman Empire.

Having the colourful bar area to ourselves, along with the comfy lounge window seating, felt like we had been treated to a private dining experience and made it very comfortable with our young girls.

The service couldn't have been better either with one of two waiters that regularly attended to us giving his descriptions and recommendations on the food to help guide my mum, who was unfamiliar with the cuisine.

Turkey is known for its flavoursome grilled meats pides (Turkish pizza bread) but there was also three meat-free dishes and the ability to mix and match hot and cold meze dishes to create a tapas.

We jumped straight to the mains and as I was finding it hard to decide which of the 'fire grill' (which Alaz, incidentally, translates to) options to go with, I decided to go for the Karisik Izgara (£19.95). Essentially a mixed grill platter, it comprises of three kebab meats: chicken shish, lamb shish and Adana kofte as well as a lamb chop. It was served with traditional bulgar rice, chargrilled sweet tomatoes, peppers, red onion, sumac (dried berry flavour enhancing spice) and parsley with the meats served upon a pide bread.

I had the envious eyes of my dad on it as it arrived - he went with the Kuxu Pirzola aka lamb chops (£16.95) - and it certainly didn't disappoint. The perfectly-cooked meats were bursting with the flavour that you can only ordain from a charcoal grill. The lamb shish probably got my top vote for its sumptuous tenderness, though the spicy kofte was also up there.

I'm a big fan of bulgar rice and this one was every bit as good as I remembered it from a trip to Turkey while the chargrilled vegetables complemented the meat well. My only criticism was that although the rice looked tidy on the plate, there could have been more of it. My other adult diners also agreed with this on their dishes.

My mum and wife both went with the waiter's recommendation from the Ottoman dishes; the Sehzade Tavuk (£14.95) – a creamy chicken and almond dish with cashews and currants served with white 'pilav' rice.

Both found the sweet flavours delicious but the amount of chicken was very generous and they struggled to finish the plate, though this allowed some of us to also enjoy it (which I saw as a good thing!).

There was a choice of three children's meal options (all £6.50) with the skewer of chicken shish, Kofte (Turkish meatballs) and Sucuk (Turkish garlic sausage) all served with cucumber, carrot sticks and thick cut chips.

Again, the portions were generous but our six year old, who can be fussy, surprised us by practically clearing her plate.

The children led the calls for getting the dessert menu (of course they did!) from which they were given an assortment of fruity ice cream flavours to choose from.

Despite not having much room, us adults couldn't resist trying a shared traditional baklava (£5.70) – layers of syrup-soaked filo pastry with chopped nuts. It was very well presented with sour berry ice cream and the taste certainly matched the appearance.

In terms of drinks, my wife went with a glass of Yakut, billed as the favourite red wine of turkey (£5.90 for 175ml). It provided a good rich flavour with fruity undertones that works well with grilled meats.

My mum went for a gin and was given an assortment of options before going for the mandarin & cranberry Suffolk Dry Gin by Suffolk Distillery (£4 a shot with £2 tonic).

I would have usually gone for the Turkish Efes Draft 500ml bottle (£4.95) but with driving on Mother's Day I settled for a refreshing lemonade and lime (£2.25).

We had a great experience summed up by my mum saying she could see herself coming back to Alaz with friends, having been impressed by their Turkish cuisine.

The only downside was the room temperature in the room we were in (bar), which seemed to be suffering from being in close proximity to a drafty timber front door, though the waiters did turn up a portable heater to help.

One feature we loved was by the restaurant entrance, on our way to use the toilets, you could watch the food being cooked on an open charcoal fire. The smells this created was wonderful.

The bill came in a delightful mini treasure chest that was filled with an assortment of wrapped Turkish delight which went down well with our girls.

I later learned that it is run by a local husband-and-wife team, Cengiz Tezel and Susan Miller-Tezel, who took it over in spring 2018, and you could tell they have poured their hearts and souls into it.

It made for a special and memorable Mother's Day and we would love to go back at the earliest opportunity.

Ratings out of five

Food: Well presented but also decent portions packed with great flavours ****

Drink: Traditional Turkish alcoholic drinks but also a good selection of everything else, including local gins *****

Decor: Colourful and warming Ottoman theme yet sympathetic to 16th Century roots *****

Staff: Service was faultless. Always a smile and very attentive *****

Price: It's not the cheapest but is justifiable and I'd go back ****