Have you heard the one about the former policeman who left the force to open a Turkish-Mexican restaurant? Well it’s no joke; Pazar Food Collective is arguably the best bang for buck feed in the city. In fact, forget value, it’s one of the best feeds, full-stop.

Former police officer Attila Yilmaz started his foray into food with food trucks, but his bricks and mortar eatery in Canterbury embodies everything that sharing food with loved ones is all about. It feels like a party at someone’s house, and out back it’s as if you’re at the neighbours’ barbecue.

Inside, a big wood-fired dominates the open kitchen while a black and white photograph of a young girl on the streets of Tijuana (by Jason Thomas Fritz) overlooks this warehouse, industrial-chic space as punters sit on communal tables and get their hands dirty and their bellies full on the kooky culinary marriage of the smoke and pickle panache of Middle Eastern and the savoury spice twang of Mexican.

Dip your flatbread through maple smoked labne crowned by sweet apricot jam and roasted pistachio. Then roasted romanesco, pickled cauliflower and silverbeet rest in a cauliflower puree; fennel and raisins add spark. Then a bed of peanut and chile de arbol salsa carries gorgeously charred octopus – shaved green papaya gives it an acidic oomph.

Just make sure you have enough people with you to order the smoked lamb forequarter. Its charred skin and gelatinous flesh is a glorious food coma enabler; plus a sharp little tomato and herb ezme will help cut through its richness. Pazar not only sates your hunger, it feeds the soul too.

Must-eat dish: Hummus, fermented chilli, olive oil minted peas
Instagram: @pazarfoodcollective