Alla Turca - Turkish cuisine created from the finest of Scottish produce

Scottish Salmon, Scotch Beef Club fillet steaks, Stirling Lamb and Ayrshire Pork may sound like the culinary line-up from some proud-to-be-Caledonian fine dining restaurant ... but they're also the staple ingredients of the fish and meat dishes at Alla Turca.

Tour the spotless, busy kitchen run by head chef Kajin Sor and you are immediately struck by the reverence given to produce and its preparation - and fairly easily convinced by the assurance that everything, even the hand-cut chips, is prepared from scratch. The heat blast from that fiery tandoor oven, meanwhile, is a sharp reminder that the art of barbecue is at the heart of great Turkish meat dishes.

There is a fascinating Turkish cookery book waiting to be written about how the best of Scottish ingredients are transformed into the star turns of the best of Modern Turkish cuisine, and in such a book there would also have to be special chapters on how to make world-beating Filo pastry (as in the Borek meze dish, of Filo stuffed with feta and parsley); and on how a cuisine with such a profusion of tastes and textures is nevertheless anything but "spicy" in the sense of, most obviously, Indian cuisine. In fact the stingingly spicy but nevertheless delectable Turkish sausage which appears on the menu is so unusual that it's specially highlighted as an oddity - in general Turkish flavours are easy on the palate but full of delicious and often multi-layered subtleties. Turkish food is not "like" anybody else's cuisine, except in as much as it has heavily influenced the cuisines of every region where it has ever held sway, and is at least as unique as Italian or Spanish cuisine; and possibly even more diverse than either of these great European traditions, which in their turn retain Almoravid or Ottoman influences.

Given the current Glasgow fad for Spanish tapas, it's impressive, too, to find that Alla Turca's Mezes selection - really it's the Turkish equivalent of tapas - is enough to justify a full restaurant offer on its own. In fact for relative newcomers the great danger is that you might never get around to giving the entrees the consideration they deserve purely because of the variety of meze dishes on offer. Many are suitable for vegetarians, for example the Babaganous dish of roast aubergine, yoghurt, garlic and tahini; or Sarma, which are vine leaves stuffed with rice and pine nuts.

The selection is divided into "traditional" and "modern", and the contemporary choices are particularly recommended - for example roast pumpkin with Jerusalem artichoke and red onion salad; or baked figs stuffed with Turkish Lor cheese served with rocket and basil salad.

The restaurant also offers mixed mezes for two to share, hot and cold choices, served with crispy freshly baked Turkish bread. The bread, just a little bit reminiscent of some Indian roti, is one of what we're told are around 50 regional styles of bread throughout Turkey - and of course there are many more in Iran and other countries across the region. If you're a bread-head you can enjoy comparing the relative merits of crisp Turkish Izmiri bread and, say, Iranian flat bread - it's an essential part of a proper Turkish meal and is worth savouring in its own right.

A look at the restaurant's menus online is recommended because of the variety of choice on offer - for example lunch, 12 till 3pm, two courses £7.50, three courses £9.50; then there are pre-theatre and also post-theatre options (for the nearby King's Theatre patrons): the post-theatre hour, 10pm till 11pm, gives late diners a bargain three courses for £15.50. There are many choices in each "set", with the lunch choices obviously intended as a generally lighter option to the a la carte options typically enjoyed in the evening.

These, while not numerous, are really a bit special.

The traditional barbecue selection includes a house special mixed grill of lamb, chicken, Kofte (minced lamb) and lamb cutlet with Turkish rice and the house signature salad; then there's "Pacific Sword Shish", marinated lamb shish, chicken shish or Kofte shish - the latter served with Turkish Cacik Yoghurt, Turkish rice and salad.

The biggest meat dish seller so far has been Roast Crisp Belly of Ayrshire Pork - this is not a halal restaurant, and pork dishes are very popular - but the Modern Turkish entrees selection also includes pan-fried spiced duck breast, and a house casserole - Mediterranean vegetables, Kajin's Secret Sauce, rice and salad. Honey-glazed Scottish Salmon, by contrast, also features Mediterranean King Prawns, asparagus, beetroot, rocket and sesame salad. The vegetarian selection, meanwhile, includes Makarna Alla Turca, which is Turkish-style pasta with garlic-scented yoghurt and spiced red pepper sauce.

Optional accompaniments include (highly recommended) freshly baked Turkish bread, humus and olives; seasoned new potatoes, and Turkish rice, yoghurt, etc.

And often forgotten among all the other food and drink options is yet another world-famous Turkish staple - the Turkish coffee. What a perfect way to start any day.

To finish a great Turkish meal, of course, there is a strong selection of suitably exotic desserts, led by Ottoman Palace Rose Petal Sorbet; there's also the time-honoured Baklava pastries; as well as traditional Turkish baked rice pudding with cinnamon, and a deluxe Turkish chocolate mousse with ice cream - or try a selection of Turkish and Mediterranean cheeses, rounded off, perhaps, with a fine Spanish dessert wine.

There are a great many ways to enjoy this feast of flavours, from brunch options to full meals, post-theatre set choices to private dining banquets; and depending on the time of day and the occasion you may also be entertained by traditional - authentic - Turkish dancers, who we're assured are a world away from the frivolous sort found in some tourist resorts. More usually, an evening meal will regularly include the evocative melodies performed by house musician Armagan Alakus. The menu helpfully points out that there is no charge for this artist's performance - although there probably should be. A few dreamy chords from Mr Alakus transports the listener from Clydeside to the Bosporus, and a world of magical minarets under the Turkish crescent. His music is a special ingredient which, like Kajin's Secret Sauce, makes this restaurant really different - and, as promised, truly "live".

Alla Turca Restaurant