Blink and you’ll miss it among the many eateries lining the city-to-harbour passageways between Barangaroo’s office towers. But Baharat (literally meaning “spices”) is a bit of a hidden treasure, with its ultra-casual street food menu alongside an ambitious cocktail suite.

A baby brother to the indoor-outdoor harbourside Anason round the corner, Baharat has been designed as a grazing kind of place, Turkish style. Anyone who’s had the great fortune of visiting Istanbul, for example, will understand its appeal. Afternoon to evening in the Turkish capital can be a progression of drinks and snacks across a number of venues, known as meyhane. Or a long, slow, convivial hangout in just one location, simply ordering as you feel the urge.

Whether the concept is truly working Sydney-side is perhaps another question. Our server confesses night-time service can be quiet here while lunch trade is definitely peak hour. A midday kebab or pide, anyone? That said, as midweek diners in a pretty empty space, we have a very pleasant time dipping in and out of the menu – a mix of meze and snacks, those pide (flatbreads baked with various, mostly meaty toppings) and of course, truly Turkish, quality kebabs.

The look is low-key also – a shiny bar backed with bottle-laden shelves, simple timber seating spots, a domed oven and mosaic-y wall just visible from the dining room. Necklaces of dried chilli and other veg hang behind a glass wall scrawled with lunchtime specials – reminiscent of the crowded spice shops in Auburn, Sydney’s premier Turkish neighbourhood. And those of the homeland, of course, like Istanbul’s iconic Grand Bazaar.

With Istanbul on our mind, we order a glass of raki, the aniseed-like grape-based spirit served chilled – in this case, in a stainless steel glass-holder, with ice and iced water on the side. Dropping in a couple of cubes and a slosh of water, we raise a toast to what’s to come. First up, a platter of honeydew melon and sliced feta – a classic raki accompaniment, the menu advises. It’s definitely a wonderful combination, tickling our appetites ahead of what turns out to be a copious spread.

Cosy clay plates deliver a house-baked bread round, flecked with sesame seeds, black and white. Just the thing for scooping up fluffy humus, splashed with chilli-laced oil seeping from cubes of sujuk (cured Turkish sausage) on top. Minced lamb kebabs, Adana style, arrive with long green chillies on a more slender flatbread base. And a classic lahmacun, a mince- topped baked pide, comes with a bowl of parsley, roasted red onion, pickled chillies and squeezy lemon slices on the side. Just the thing for added zing.

A Turkish-inspired cocktail or two – the cutely named Belly Dancer, for example, riffs on mezcal, grapefruit, allspice and more of that racy raki – heightens that Bosphorus-meets-Mediterranean magic. For a moment there, we’re transported to the spices, charcoal smoke and pide toastiness of an Istanbul excursion. All that’s missing is the heaving buzz of a busy Byzantine back alley.

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