Melia Doha to get Turkish outlet Nisantasi Baskose

Melia Doha will be opening a new Turkish restaurant - Nişantaşı Başköşe - before the end of the year.

The hotel’s general manager Sherief Abouelmagd told Hotelier exclusively: “We will introduce the first upscale Turkish restaurant in Doha – Nişantaşı Başköşe. This restaurant exists in Turkey’s Istanbul area and has been in operation for the last 15-20 years. We have contracted with them, and they will be opening doors in November.”

Abouelmagd also said that the hotel’s Spanish restaurant might undergo a transformation: “We need to revisit this concept and kick-start it by focusing on maybe the whole of Latin American cuisine.”

He also added that the new Turkish outlet will not be outsourced: “We are doing a combined effort because we have the expertise, so the owners of Nişantaşı Başköşe are managing it themselves in a combined deal with us. So it’s not like an outsourced restaurant with profit sharing etc. because they will also be serving the breakfast for our corporate guests.”

Abouelmagd also told Hotelier that there is “very little Turkish offerings in Doha”, but it continued to remain a well-known cuisine “especially amongst the European guests”.

“The Qataris also love Turkish cuisine. The meat will be flown in every 10 days from private farms in Turkey,” he concluded.