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At Mürver restaurant in Istanbul, an Ottoman paste of 40 herbs and spices is the secret behind the crispy skin and juicy meat of the flame-roasted lamb shoulder. Pretty much everything is local at the brick-oven and grill hotspot, from the octopus caramelized in pomegranate juice to the cinnamon, black cherry, mint and tahini sauce enveloping shredded duck confit.

You’ll hear a similar refrain of “local, seasonal and flame-kissed” at Griffintown’s Foxy and find similar flavour combinations at Su in Verdun as well as Syrian restaurant Damas in Outremont, but upscale Turkish restaurants in Montreal are rare. And some say anyone hoping to open one would be better off calling it anything but Turkish.

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Chef Fisun Ercan of Su says upscale Turkish cuisine didn’t exist in Montreal until she opened her restaurant 15 years ago. Her goal of promoting the “Turkish Table” meant using Quebec ingredients in Turkish dishes, like her Nordic shrimp with spiced garlic butter. But most Montrealers aren’t familiar with this type of refined Turkish cuisine, instead lumping Turkish restaurants together with Middle Eastern restaurants serving kebabs, flatbreads and shawarma, says Turkish wine importer Can Turkmenoglu.