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Ankara, my hometown makes me wonder around the tastes I am familiar with. One being döner, I can easily say that I had the best döner sandwiches topped with onions and parsley through my school years. Have to mention the … Continue reading
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5.00am, first buzz, snooze. 5.15am again then jumped out of bed around 5.30am remembering why! I was on my way to Ali Haydar for morning liver kebab! How could I forget! I took a taxi and at 6.00am and one … Continue reading
When I open my fridge for breakfast, I found myself in the typical stuff, shining at me, cheese of all kinds, olives, sucuk, you name it… But all I wanted to have was beyran like I was in Gaziantep. Beyran to sooth me down, to heal me, to make me feel whole again.
I stopped two mornings at Metanet Beyran Salonu, to devour the meaty, silky, fatty, delicious dish, getting amazed by the Mustafa Usta and his great staff.
Taking the shortcut to reach Metanet, crossing the tiny passage to the mosque’s garden, then out to the small street, I found myself in front of the old fashioned big local restaurant. The moment I sat in foot, welcomed by smiling faces, me saying good mornings and kolay gelsin.
I choose a table, where you share with whomever, I was asked immediately, I said an original beyran, meaning with garlic, loads of chilies, how Mustafa Usta prepares it. Served with the silky green Antep pepper, wedges of lemon and hot tırnaklı ekmek, you now it as pide, just out from the oven.Yes, hey have an oven to serve tırnaklı ekmek hot, crusty.
Beyran is a dish made from mutton broth, mutton meat, rice and suet. Sounds easy yet the preparation time is slightly above 12 hours. The mutton is simmered like a typical broth, first water to throw away, second the scum cleared et all, the bones setting loose their fragrance in the water, for a good 12 hours. The meat turns out melt-in-your-mouth with any unwanted parts trimmed off.
The rice cooked to perfection, so does the suet. The fat surrounding the kidney, simmered for hours, turns into a margarine form, yum.
Each dish is prepared by Mustafa Usta himself, finished by his staff. First he spreads some suet on the bottom of the bowl, topped with cooked rice and cooked mutton meat. Then it is topped with garlic, chili flakes, put on top of the furiously burning special stove, and poured some of that 12 hour simmered mutton broth. The moment it warms up, which is instantly, poured another ladle full broth, the oil in the broth causing a flambeé effect. It is taken out of the fire with pincers, served bubbling hot, literally. The result, you guess!
It is either beyran, ciğer or katmer (wait for the upcoming posts) for breakfast in Gaziantep. Yours to pick. Oh, by the way, breakfast in Gaziantep starts at 5.00am till 9.00 am or 11.00am depending on the establishment.
I had them all, all with the locals, sharing their tables, sharing their jokes, they shared their lives with me and I am glad I was in Gaziantep, not for the first nor for the last time.
Mustafa Usta, ellerinin tadı hiç eksilmesin… *
*(something like, May the taste of your hands never go away, Mustafa Usta.)
Address: Kozluca Mah, Kozluca Cad No.11, Gaziantep
Phone: (0342)231 46 66
All the walls are covered with black and white photographs, news from international and local press, trophies, all memories with smiling faces… This place is the city’s history, its taste, its smell and its texture.
The dishes are prepared with the finest ingredients. The lamb stew is like any other thing, or any other place, the broth is so tasty and so meaty, you spoon it eagerly, the lamb is so soft and delicious, and falling off the bone, you spoon more and when you finish the meat, the potatoes and carrot, then comes the bone marrow, suck it slurping, making funny noises. At least that’s what I do! And nobody gazing at you whilst this happens.
The rice pilaf with carrots, pine nuts, topped with roasted chicken pieces, celery root with leeks cooked in olive oil, karnıyarık, deep fried whole aubergine, spilt into two and tucked with mince meat then roasted in oven, so yummy!
Kadınbudu köfte, a kind of meatball with rice and battered with egg and fried, a traditional dish as well, which is very delicious and perfectly cooked. Big pots simmering on the hob, all you have to do is ask the daily soup. They have meat, chicken, vegetable dishes, fresh salad, soup, homemade puddings and sweets.
Either you sample as many as you can, or pick one and enjoy with a delicious crunchy green salad. But please finish it with şekerpare, a king of pastry made with semolina, baked in the oven and then sugar syrup poured on top. Just a perfect way to end your feast.
Menu changes daily, but taste stays the same. So does the hospitality, cleanliness, cosy atmosphere. If you are near Kapalı Çarşı – Grand Bazaar- or not, just stop there for a treat.
Address: Nuruosmaniye Cad No: 48, Çarşıkapı
Phone: (212) 522 4762
Service Hours: 10:30am – 4:30pm, closed on Sundays.
I held myself so long for this entry. It makes me sad as I write because, Kanaat Lokantası is one of the oldest esnaf lokantası, tradesman restaurants in Istanbul. But the other day, again and again the same thing happened. Within the last years the quality of the ingredients, the service and the taste of the food, quality dropped insanely.
The rice dishes are undercooked and greasy at the same time, no taste, the meat dishes has a little meat inside and sorry but no taste again, with the chewy meat, the stews are oily and full of tomato paste. You feel like you are full with oil at the end of the meal. Plus, the price per quality ratio is high. No need to return again…
If you want to eat local food of Antakya, cooked delicately,deliciously and properly, a must stop is Sultan Sofrası. Metin Tansal is a very demanding boss checking if everything is in order, you may see him in the kitchen or anywhere showing working like his staff. Osman Bey is working like a family member, keeps the restaurant intact and helps the family to run the business. Nowadays the beautiful young lady Meltem Tansal is growing into the business and I saw that sparkle in her eyes, made me remember the time I started working, just out of school.
We began our feast with yoğurt aşı, a soup made of a special yoğurt, oruk and chickpeas. Then followed oruk, which is içli köfte. Then came hummus, cevizli biber. Then kaytaz böreği, ıspanaklı börek. Never stopped, almost…
Firik was out of this world, firik is a kind of cracked wheat, bulgur, wheat is harvested and burnt just before it is completely mature so it leaves a smoky flavor in your mouth a true delicacy. Aşur is boiled wheat, chickpeas and meat all combined together and beaten down with wooden spoon, to a mastic kind paste, finished with butter, cumin, walnuts. Aşur is a very laborious dish, should be prepared by the true usta, like this one.
Mumbar, lamb intestines, stuffed with rice, meat and spices so tasty. Kağıt kebap was presented in a lavaş, preparation is again not easy for this unique meat dish, the meat is minced by zırk, a special knife, with herbs and spices then pressed on a piece of parchment paper, cooked in stone oven, you eat it with hand, tearing little pieces and wrapping in the lavaş. The taste is garlicky, peppery, meaty, yet you taste them all one by one.
After all these dishes we were so full, but you are in Antakya, you dine like the royal family all put together, and always offered with more delicious things. So there comes the mini dessert plate full of regional tastes like, zeytin tatlısı, kireçte kabak and ceviz tatlısı.
Can not tell enough, how we devoured every bite, how pleasant our lunch was, how kind Sultan Sofrası Family is… It is a safe place far from home, definitely!
Address: Istiklal Caddesi, No: 20/A, Antakya
Phone: (326) 213 8759
Service hours: Monday-Saturday around 11:00 – 21.30, closed on Sunday.
If you go to Kars, there is unfortunately one place left making piti. Piti is a dish made from a chunk piece of lamb,chickpeas, saffron, a piece of tail fat, and a lot of beef stock.
This simple but tasty dish, has a way of eating it. Piti is served in an enamel cup, lavaş bread and an empty deep plate.
First you tear the lavaş in to small pieces and put it in the empty deep plate, then pour the juice of the dish on top of it, wait for lavaş to suck up the juices and scoop it. Meat stock, cooked with saffron and the other ingredients is smooth, rich, meaty and succulent. Stop, don’t lick the plate…
Then you eat that small-big piece of tail fat, looking so guilty and yummy, wrapping it in to the lavaş. When you are done, then you can proceed to the rest of the dish, the meat and the chickpeas.
You turn the enamel cup upside down on your emptied plate and there you have the big piece of lamb, chickpeas. Both the meat and the chickpeas are melting in your mouth, leaving you with the joy of eating a real food.
Kristal, has a lot of homemade dishes as well as döner, which is also tasty but piti is the thing you want to eat if you get there.
Address: Halitpaşa Cad. Vakıfbank Yanı No.127, Kars
Phone: (474) 212 5100
It is calm inside, free from the enormous Beyoğlu clatter. Walk through the dining saloon, on your right you get to blink to the desserts, and before you reach to the kitchen cold olive oil dishes are ready to steal your tummy, all plated looking very appealing.
On the hot plate, stews, vegetable dishes, soups, pilav and meat dishes of the day waiting to be picked and to be devoured by the hungry ones. Pick yours and do not forget the tandır, lamb meat cooked in its own jus hours, getting crispier outside, while maintaining to be moist inside.
Their milk desserts like kazandibi is worth a try, it has the right amount of sugar and starch, burnt top leaving you with a caramelized-milky aftertaste.
No music just the spoons and forks scraping the food and a lovely murmur hanging in the air. A typical esnaf lokantası – tradesman restaurant – where everyone knows the specialty of the day like ciğer on Tuesdays or döner on Mondays and Thursdays.
It is a fool proof, safe food away from home, you may become a regular like the rest of their customers.
Address: Sadri Alışık Sk. No:14, Beyoğlu, Istanbul
Phone: (212) 251 3203
Service Hours: Closed Sundays, the other days open through the day.
