I am half Greek-Cypriot and the food of my childhood is almost exactly the same as Turkish food. I had high hopes for Istanbul Express before I walked in, but after eating there, I felt somewhat disappointed.
We ordered hummus, haydari, sigara boregi, icli kofta, pide bread and lahmacun.
The hummus and haydari came out with some lavas bread. The lavas was more like a flour tortilla than a real lavas. The hummus was made in house, but could have done with more tahini in it to make it more exciting. The haydari, an eggplant, yoghurt and garlic dip was pretty good.
Next came the boregi. These are cheese filled, fried pastries. They were OK, but quite greasy and lacking in flavour. In Cyprus bourekia are made with halloumi or anari cheese, so they have a stronger taste.
The icli kofta came out. These, I was very excited about. The Cypriots call them koupes and they are actually pretty tough to make. This is the only place, to my knowledge, in Hong Kong that serves them. Well, they were hit and miss. The lamb filling was nice and had a good flavour, but the bulgar shell was a little too thick, making them heavier than they should be.
The pide bread was uninspiring. It was basically a medium dense white bread with no distinguishing features.
The lahmacun was fairly pleasant. This dish is originally an Armenian invention and is common throughout the region. I like the Lebanese version a lot as well as the Cypriot one. This one was pretty good. The flat bread topped with tomatoey mince satisfied my craving, but could have been heightened with parsley and raw onion. The lemon juice always helps this dish out though, so it was fine.
Our meal was not cheap considering that it was mostly bread and it didn't quite deliver on what it promised.