This gallery contains 1 photo.
Funny enough my friends around me have been asking me to make kısır for them, like all my life… It started in high school as far as I remember, being alone at home frequently, I had the whole gang at … Continue reading
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.
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.
Walking down the Orhan Adli Apaydın Sokak, if you see a crowd of suits and white collars, people gathered, waiting hungrily or smoking happily then you are in front of Şahin Lokantası.
Serving since 1967, Ismail Şahin, known as Şahin Usta or Baba, holding his business together, cooking, talking to customers and sitting on his small desk to cash the bills. The chef is working with him for 32 years, and doing a great job.
When you enter the restaurant, you go directly to the kitchen counter, where you can see a colorful layover of the dishes like çoban kavurma, rice pilaf, lentil soup, chickpea stew, big tray of Izmir köfte topped with hand cut potatoes, tavuk kapama, fırın makarna, kadınbudu köfte and many more. Most of the dishes are cooked in oven. The chickpeas are melting in your mouth, you do not need to add any salt or pepper, the taste is perfect. İzmir köfte, the köfte is a little spicy, soft, leaving you with a mouthful of flavor. All the ingredients are top notch. He even did not change his butcher for 30 years, nor the grocery.
You feel you are eating at home. Food from the heart.
Save some space for kadayıf, if it is on the menu that day. The kadayıf is like falling from a grandmother’s hand. Thick, crunchy on the top, moist and silky and soft in the middle with a layer of walnuts, then the bottom is a little burnt, the Golden brownish color. The syrup is just right amount and right sweetness. You can have a whole – believe me the smallest portion is even big- piece of it, yet you continue living.
If you want to have a morning soup, you should go there till 10.00am, or you will be left empty belly. Mondays işkembe – tripe soup, Thursdays paça – trotter soup. The trotter soup is to die for, smooth, silky, well cooked, texture wise perfect.
One important reminder, you may not find all the dishes after 1.30pm, so act up.
Prepare to wait, share your table and eat hearty home cooked meal.
Address: Orhan Adli Apaydın Sk. No:11/A, Tepebaşı, Beyoğlu, Istanbul
Phone: (212) 244 2543 
Service Hours: Opens early in the morning for soup service till 5.00-5.30pm. Closed on Sundays.
This family owned restaurant is a big escape for the white collars from their busy work schedules. The menu changes daily and you can enjoy home style cooking, hot, delicious, flavoursome. You chose your remedy from the glass display that separates you from the colorful trays of food. Pot meals, stews, olive oil dishes, pilaf, puddings, meat and chicken dishes are all good. The portions are generous. And believe me you never feel full after all these plates.
They use the best ingredients available. When you bite through their house special köfte wrapped in phyllo dough, you taste the veal meat, lean, spicy, tasty and sticks in your mind for the next visit. Or you order another one right away!
The restaurant is clean, the food is very good, the service is fast. What is there not to like?
Address: Değirmen Sk. Şaşmaz Sitesi C Blok, No:9/A, Kozyatağı, Istanbul
Phone: (216) 463 1872
Service Hours: Food begins to be displayed around 11:00, 11:30am – around 2:30pm daily menu finishes, so you may order from the grill till 6:00pm. They do delivery. Closed on weekends.
