I hope nobody is expecting a story featuring an obese fellow from Istanbul, because they are going to be disappointed.
Greensted Church
Last weekend took us out to Chipping Onger, a town in Essex that really isn’t very far from where we live. Now despite having lived in the county for about 30 years I had never been to the town before (well except as the terminal point on the Epping and Onger Steam Railway)
In Chipping Onger we could smell the coal fires from the railway locomotives
Our main point of interest was Greensted Church, which is a bit outside of the town itself. It’s the only surviving wooden Saxon building in the UK. The nave walls
The stave walls of the nave and Crusader grave
were erected around 1060, just six years before the Norman invasion, although archeologists found the remains of a much older building dating back to the sixth or seventh century below the chancel floor and the dedication to St Andrew may even suggest a Celtic foundation .
The Leper Squint
Much altered through the years and restored in the 19th century by local carpenter James Barlow the church has some interesting features including the Leper Squint by the old doorway, although this is now reckoned to be a tiny window for looking out rather than one for sufferers of the disease to look in!
We hadn’t actually planned to go into Chipping Onger itself, but having taken the wrong turn out of the church car park we found ourselves there
High Street Chipping Onger
and decided to see if there was anywhere good to have lunch. We eventually settled on The Fat Turk.
The Fat Turk
Where we received a pleasant welcome from the young waiter who showed us to a rustic table
Next time I want one of these booths
and handed us the menu. Mab chose Kavurma,
delocious Kavurma
a dish of pan-fried lamb and peppers while I had The Fat Turk Toastie, a sandwhich packed full of sucuk (Turkish sausage), Halim (a cheese not unlike Halloumi), gherkins and salad. Both dishes were absolutely delicious. With drinks our bill only came to £25 which wasn’t bad at all.
The Fat Turk himself
I liked the Fat Turk and I’m sure we will visit him again.
shipscooksstuff 
I want to sit in that booth, too, and have a Fat Turk Toastie!
I love the term Leper Squint. It conjures up such imagery to me. I’ll have to share that with my mom. She’s fascinated by leper stories.
Next time we go we are taking some friends, so hopefully we will get a booth. The other dishes al looked pretty yummy too.
Thank you for the nice escape!
My pleasure, we are so lucky to have so much history on our doorstep here.
Love the town. It’s so clean and the architecture is interesting. Lunch sounds scrumptious. Now I’m salivating. Wait. I missed lunch. It’s 12:26. Time to eat. 😀
There are quite a few interesting little towns around here and some great places to eat! The Fat Turk is now on our favourite restaurants in Essex list.
Most attractive to wander around and try new restaurants. 😀
I want an obese Turk next time, please. But for real, those toasties sound YUM!
The toastie was delicious and having rubbernecked what the people on the table next door were having there is plenty more worth sampling.