Latest news with #TurkishCuisine
Telegraph
03-06-2025
- General
- Telegraph
Chicken Adana kebabs with Turkish tomato salad
I love the simplicity of Turkish kebabs cooked over charcoal. Every time I make them – whether with lamb, chicken or offal – I'm taken back to my East End days, hanging out at Mangal Ocakbasi on Arcola Street. The tomato salad was another go-to: fresh, salsa-style and just as uncomplicated as the kebabs themselves. You can also skewer some wedges of red onion and long Turkish peppers to cook alongside the meat. They char up beautifully and make the perfect, smoky sidekick to those juicy kebabs. Requires chilling time. Overview Prep time 25 mins Cook time 10 mins Serves 4 Ingredients For the kebabs 600-700g chicken mince 2 tbsp chopped parsley 2 tsp chilli flakes 2 tsp sumac, plus extra for dusting For the tomato salad 3 medium tomatoes, finely chopped, seeds and all 1 medium red onion, finely chopped 1 tbsp chopped parsley 1 tbsp chopped coriander 1 red chilli, finely chopped 1-2 tbsp olive oil Method Step In a bowl, mix 600-700g chicken mince with 2 tbsp chopped parsley, 2 tsp chilli flakes and 2 tsp sumac and season. Step Divide the mixture into 8 portions and mould around skewers (preferably long, flat Turkish kebab skewers to make long, slightly flattened kebabs). Transfer to a tray, cover and chill for 1-2 hours. Step Transfer to a large chopping board and dice all the ingredients together, using a large sharp knife. You want to ensure the salad is finely diced. Put it back into the bowl, stir in 1-2 tbsp olive oil then season to taste. Step Heat the barbecue or a griddle pan set over a high heat. If you are using long, flat skewers, you can remove the grill bars from the barbecue and rest the ends of the skewers on the edges of the barbecue to cook directly over the coals. Otherwise, place your kebabs on the grill bars or in the pan. Cook for 3-4 minutes on each side, or until the kebabs are nicely charred, firm to the touch and cooked all the way through.
CNA
30-05-2025
- Lifestyle
- CNA
Turkish Delight: 6 fantastic food stops in Istanbul
Türkiye's largest city, once known as Constantinople and famous for straddling both Europe and Asia, also marks a culinary crossroads. The remarkable diversity of influences and people who have called it home ensure that it is one of the world's most thrilling places to dine out. Such a metropolis – more than 15 million people call it home – offers an extraordinary array of eating options, from roadside stalls to elegant dining rooms, local smoky grills to cutting-edge neo-Turkish bistros. Here are six spots for guaranteed deliciousness, authentic hospitality and windows on Turkey's remarkable, multi-layered culinary culture. KARAKOY CAFE Taking up the ground floor of a modest Novotel hotel, Karakoy Cafe is an unassuming spot but a surefire winner for those seeking real-deal Turkish cuisine. Bookings are essential as it fills up quickly with local families and larger groups enjoying impeccable plates, while the interiors and design are elevated and elegant, the service warm and the prices distinctly fair. The eyes are immediately drawn to a long, refrigerated counter, not unlike those in tapas bars, filled with a tempting array of mezze which are also listed on a long menu. Muhammara has long been a personal favourite, a sweet and spicy paste of peppers, walnuts and herbs, but the version at Karakoy is also cut through with fresh parsley for added freshness. A roasted aubergine salad, patlican salatasi, is another notch above the normal thanks to the smoky char on the vegetables, slowly blistered on the restaurant's vast grill. Oven-baked sheep's cheese with spices marked the final mezze, a simple but excellent addition, especially with their addictive breads hot from the oven. An extensive wine and raki list accompany the food, along with plenty of no-alcohol choices. GALLADA AT THE PENINSULA ISTANBUL Fatih Tutak is arguably Türkiye's most famous celebrity chef, a regular sight on TV and someone who proudly flies the flag for his country's cuisine. He boasts a distinguished resume which includes Türkiye's only two Michelin-starred restaurant, Turk Fatih Tutak, as well as the highly acclaimed Gallada at The Peninsula Istanbul. The hotel is an absolute beauty, sweeping along The Bosporus riverfront, featuring three separate buildings, including an Art Deco pearl which was once a ticket office for a ferry company. Another is crowned by Gallada with its vast terrace, incredible views over Hagia Sofia mosque and generous tables decked in pristine white linen. Every seat is taken, and the room buzzes with energy and a United Nations of accents. As the plates begin to arrive, it's clear why. Perfect batons of pickles are joined by Sichuan peanuts and a Turkish pinot noir, before the first course of lamb's liver with Kesan pepper and crispy potato, to be wrapped in gossamer-thin bread. Surely Istanbul's most elegant lamb shashlik kebab comes next, with vinegary onion, cumin and paprika, then Black Sea turbot with superior soy and morel mushrooms reflecting chef Fatih's years spent in Asia, in cities including Hong Kong and Bangkok. Frozen chocolate mousse with Madagascar vanilla rounds out a spectacular a la carte dinner. SERICA It's probably unsurprising that Istanbul's Bank Hotel was once a bank, one where sublime original interiors and architecture have been highlighted and restored with true style. One of its restaurants sits up on the sixth floor, with romantic views over the mosques of Sultanahmet and beyond. Serica's cuisine is neo-Turkish, namely rooted in tradition but unafraid to experiment and innovate. It also reflects regions including Anatolia, the Black Sea coast and Cappadocia. Dinner started with bread from a tandoor style oven, served volcanically hot with basil and herb butter. A crunchy rectangle of bread was then topped with anchovies, bottarga and aioli, a trio of powerful ingredients which nonetheless complimented one another well. The tandoor came to the fore again with fall-apart tender lamb shoulder, slow cooked and served with stuffed onion and apricot puree. More excellent Turkish wines paired perfectly. ADANA OCKABASI Open-fire grills called mangal proudly define Turkish cuisine more than any other. Always smoke-filled, invariably involving a wait to get a table, their friendly, communal atmosphere celebrates kebabs beautifully kissed by charcoal-fuelled fire in a tradition known as Ockabsi. There are thousands of them across Istanbul, but one of the best we encountered was Adana Ockabsi in the Osmanbey neighbourhood. Taking inspiration from the culinary traditions of Adana on Türkiye's Mediterranean coast, go with as many people as possible to enjoy as wide a spread of dishes as your table can hold. Wood-fired breads are dangerously addictive, especially swept through rich and creamy meze dips. Fragrant hand-chopped kebabs are moulded around huge sword-like skewers, while some offer kokorec, made from lamb or goat intestines wrapped around seasoned offal such as sweetbreads, hearts or lungs. To drink, the aniseed flavours of the strong national liquor raki are an acquired taste but an important communal toasting tradition. Just be warned that after a few shots you may find yourself wanting to hit another bar to carry on well into the night. KUMPIR Kumpir – a unique Turkish take on baked potatoes – is seen all over Istanbul, but the riverside district of Ortakoy is particularly famed for them, with lanes dotted with dozens of vendors trying to outdo one another with eye-catching displays of dozens of toppings. There's no science or culinary wizardry at work, just huge fluffy spuds, cleaved open and spread with liberal amounts of butter. The only challenge comes in choosing what to fill them with. Red cabbage, chopped olives, sweetcorn, pickled vegetables, chopped eggs, sausage, pepper, tuna, cheeses like kasar or mozzarella – the only limit is your imagination and appetite. The best bit? They're more than enough for a meal, perfect eaten al fresco in the gardens around Ortakoy Bridge – and run no more than US$3 (S$3.85) to US$4. At weekends, you can expect large crowds as the treat is understandably popular with families wandering the pedestrianised streets. Just look for a street known as Kumpir Sokak by the Ortakoy mosque and get stuck in. MARKETS Incredible produce is piled high on low tables across Istanbul's hundreds of neighbourhood food markets. The freshest fish and seafood, incredible fruit and vegetables and fascinating local characters make for a great culinary cocktail. Have a look online to see what's on and don't be afraid to jump on a ferry to head out into the depths of the city, away from the tourist traps. I found artichoke hearts floating in red buckets of water, ruby-red beetroot, massive mountains of aubergines, carefully arranged pyramids of tomatoes and beautifully fragrant herbs as just some of the tempting ingredients. Dried fruit and nuts are another specialty, with tables covered in walnuts that are carefully picked through by discerning local grandmothers. Simply follow your nose for something delicious to chew on as you wander. Simit are the ubiquitous sesame-flecked rings of bread, sold from portable carts. Stalls sell all manner of homemade borek, the addictive layered pastry with salty white cheese, while whorls of pastry are stuffed with nettles, spinach, herbs and more cheese to be washed down with a glass of strong and sweet Turkish tea.
CNN
21-05-2025
- Health
- CNN
The greatest hot-weather drink you've probably never heard of
Delicious spicy food and hot summer weather are two of Turkey's greatest assets. But when these two ingredients combine, you're going to need something to keep temperatures from getting out of hand. Thankfully, Turkey has you covered on this front too, with a drink so refreshing, it's a mystery to some why everyone hasn't heard of it. This is ayran, a deceptively simple mix of fresh yogurt, water and salt. After a sweltering or strenuous afternoon in the sun, slurping down a chilled glass of this tasty combination will leave your body gasping with appreciation. It may not match everyone's taste, and will be off-limits to some dietary requirements, but the appeal of ayran — pronounced eye-ran — is undeniable. It's been drunk in the region where Europe meets Asia for centuries and today is sold in various forms across Turkey and several other countries. And its refreshing properties get a big thumbs up from science. 'Consuming ayran is an important means of restoring mineral balance lost through perspiration in the summer, due to its natural mineral content and the presence of added salt,' Professor Barbaros Özer from Ankara University's Faculty of Agriculture, Department of Dairy Technology told CNN. He explained that the beverage contains valuable minerals and protein. That's not all. Another surprising benefit is the drink's effects on digestive and intestinal health. 'Ayran plays a crucial role in maintaining the balance of gastrointestinal health and the intestinal microbiota,' added Özer. Turkic peoples are believed to have been producing ayran for at least a millennium — making it about 900 years older than Coca-Cola. Thanks to Besim Atalay, a Turkish linguist who lived in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, ayran's roots have been traced back to the 11th century, gaining a mention in Mahmud al-Kashgari's Dīwān Lughāt al-Turk, the first-known dictionary of Turkic languages, written at the time. It's safe to say that ayran is a product of necessity. Fermented food and drink like cheese, yogurt and ayran are perfect for long journeys. Turkic nomads prepared fermented dairy products to extend their usability, helping overcome the formidable climate of the steppes, the vast, treeless grasslands they called home. While Turks migrated from Central Asia to Anatolia (the land that makes up most of modern day Turkey), ayran moved with them. Editor and gastronomy researcher Merin Sever told CNN that we know through historical travelogues that people in Anatolia prepared ayran. Their daily meals also included 'bread chopped into yogurt or bread added as a supplement to ayran.' During their migration, Turks probably left traces of the drink, influencing other cultures. Iran's doogh is similar to a type of ayran, called yayık ayran, in Turkey, a byproduct of buttermilk production. Central Asian Turkic people have chal and kumis. However, these two are made of fermented milk — camel milk and mare's milk, respectively. While most ayran is made of yogurt, the commercial mass production of the drink includes a milk fermentation process. 'Industrial ayran is produced in two different ways: either by diluting yogurt to the targeted protein content, or by fermenting milk after it has been diluted to the target protein level,' explains Özer. Today, ayran is not only a part of a thousand-year-old Turkish culinary tradition but also among the most commercialized drinks in modern Turkey. From shelves in large supermarkets to street food vendor barrels, it quenches thirst and accompanies meals across the country. Even global fast-food brands like McDonald's and Burger King include ayran as an option in their meals in Turkey At a kebab restaurant or a büfe — small food vendors that serve Turkish fast food such as döner sandwiches — when you order ayran, you may be asked: 'Do you want open ayran (açık ayran) or closed ayran (kapalı ayran)?' To make sense of this, you need to be familiar with ayran culture. Closed ayran is packaged and mass-manufactured, while open ayran is freshly mixed to order in restaurants and vendors. Most Turkish people prefer open ayran because… Well, it's somehow more delicious. Anyone looking for a genuine traditional experience should look for places where ayran is served in copper cups, such as kebab shops called 'ocakbaşı,' where you can sit in front of the grills and watch your meal order prepared on metal skewers. To watch meat cook slowly over sizzling embers — liquid fat dripping down, spreading an appetizing smell — and sipping ice-cold ayran from its copper cup is a true Turkish experience. Or, following a night out in Istanbul's buzzing Taksim district, stopping at a food carts selling pilaf (rice dish) with several toppings — mostly chicken or chickpeas — in Taksim Square or on İstiklal Street and checking to see if they have a plastic barrel with a tap. Inside are liters of delicious homemade ayran. In fact, pilaf and ayran are among the methods Turks use to combat hangovers. While it's simple and straightforward to prepare ayran, there are many variations. Susurluk ayran, local to the Susurluk district of Balıkesir, a city in northwestern Turkey, is usually prepared from a yogurt with a higher content of fat, which creates a foam on the drink's surface. Yayık ayran is another widespread type that is a byproduct of butter making. Buttermilk replaces yogurt, which creates a highly frothy texture and a less tangy taste. Turkey's eastern Malatya region is known for its spicy ayran, prepared with green or red hot chili peppers. It has a distinct taste that appeals to fans of sweet and sour, or sweet and salty foods. There are likely hundreds of other recipes. For example, you can add a pinch of mint for extra refreshment, or even skip adding salt. Sometimes, sparkling mineral water is used instead of still for a crisper taste. Many factors affect the taste of ayran besides extra ingredients like pepper, salt, or mint. Mostly, however, it comes down to the yogurt. 'Which milk was used to make the yogurt, how fatty was the yogurt, the yeast that was used to make it, and how it was used — industrial or traditional methods were used — all impact the taste of ayran,' Sever, the gastronomy researcher, explained. Associate Professor Özge Samancı, head of the Gastronomy and Culinary Arts Department at Turkey's Özyeğin University, agrees: 'A good, fatty yogurt gives ayran its flavor.' So, despite its widespread consumption in and around Turkey, why is ayran not popular worldwide? Samancı says it's largely down to unfamiliarity. 'Turkish cuisine is generally not well-known abroad, and related products are unavailable in the market,' she told CNN. 'Turkish restaurants are few in number and limited. Secondly, the taste of classic ayran, without additions like mint etc., is strange to foreigners, who often do not like this sour taste.' But which version of ayran should visitors to Turkey try to get the best experience? It's all a matter of personal taste — for instance Özer, the gastronomy professor, prefers industrial ayran because of its hygienic properties, while Samancı and Sever choose open ayran. 'If I pass through a region famous for its dairy products, I definitely try to taste the local, freshly made open ayran,' Sever said. Samancı specifically enjoys Susurluk ayran, which she says pairs perfectly with a traditional Susurluk melted cheese sandwich. Whichever you choose, once you've enjoyed that refreshing ayran taste, you'll almost certainly be back for more.
CNN
21-05-2025
- Health
- CNN
The greatest hot-weather drink you've probably never heard of
Delicious spicy food and hot summer weather are two of Turkey's greatest assets. But when these two ingredients combine, you're going to need something to keep temperatures from getting out of hand. Thankfully, Turkey has you covered on this front too, with a drink so refreshing, it's a mystery to some why everyone hasn't heard of it. This is ayran, a deceptively simple mix of fresh yogurt, water and salt. After a sweltering or strenuous afternoon in the sun, slurping down a chilled glass of this tasty combination will leave your body gasping with appreciation. It may not match everyone's taste, and will be off-limits to some dietary requirements, but the appeal of ayran — pronounced eye-ran — is undeniable. It's been drunk in the region where Europe meets Asia for centuries and today is sold in various forms across Turkey and several other countries. And its refreshing properties get a big thumbs up from science. 'Consuming ayran is an important means of restoring mineral balance lost through perspiration in the summer, due to its natural mineral content and the presence of added salt,' Professor Barbaros Özer from Ankara University's Faculty of Agriculture, Department of Dairy Technology told CNN. He explained that the beverage contains valuable minerals and protein. That's not all. Another surprising benefit is the drink's effects on digestive and intestinal health. 'Ayran plays a crucial role in maintaining the balance of gastrointestinal health and the intestinal microbiota,' added Özer. Turkic peoples are believed to have been producing ayran for at least a millennium — making it about 900 years older than Coca-Cola. Thanks to Besim Atalay, a Turkish linguist who lived in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, ayran's roots have been traced back to the 11th century, gaining a mention in Mahmud al-Kashgari's Dīwān Lughāt al-Turk, the first-known dictionary of Turkic languages, written at the time. It's safe to say that ayran is a product of necessity. Fermented food and drink like cheese, yogurt and ayran are perfect for long journeys. Turkic nomads prepared fermented dairy products to extend their usability, helping overcome the formidable climate of the steppes, the vast, treeless grasslands they called home. While Turks migrated from Central Asia to Anatolia (the land that makes up most of modern day Turkey), ayran moved with them. Editor and gastronomy researcher Merin Sever told CNN that we know through historical travelogues that people in Anatolia prepared ayran. Their daily meals also included 'bread chopped into yogurt or bread added as a supplement to ayran.' During their migration, Turks probably left traces of the drink, influencing other cultures. Iran's doogh is similar to a type of ayran, called yayık ayran, in Turkey, a byproduct of buttermilk production. Central Asian Turkic people have chal and kumis. However, these two are made of fermented milk — camel milk and mare's milk, respectively. While most ayran is made of yogurt, the commercial mass production of the drink includes a milk fermentation process. 'Industrial ayran is produced in two different ways: either by diluting yogurt to the targeted protein content, or by fermenting milk after it has been diluted to the target protein level,' explains Özer. Today, ayran is not only a part of a thousand-year-old Turkish culinary tradition but also among the most commercialized drinks in modern Turkey. From shelves in large supermarkets to street food vendor barrels, it quenches thirst and accompanies meals across the country. Even global fast-food brands like McDonald's and Burger King include ayran as an option in their meals in Turkey At a kebab restaurant or a büfe — small food vendors that serve Turkish fast food such as döner sandwiches — when you order ayran, you may be asked: 'Do you want open ayran (açık ayran) or closed ayran (kapalı ayran)?' To make sense of this, you need to be familiar with ayran culture. Closed ayran is packaged and mass-manufactured, while open ayran is freshly mixed to order in restaurants and vendors. Most Turkish people prefer open ayran because… Well, it's somehow more delicious. Anyone looking for a genuine traditional experience should look for places where ayran is served in copper cups, such as kebab shops called 'ocakbaşı,' where you can sit in front of the grills and watch your meal order prepared on metal skewers. To watch meat cook slowly over sizzling embers — liquid fat dripping down, spreading an appetizing smell — and sipping ice-cold ayran from its copper cup is a true Turkish experience. Or, following a night out in Istanbul's buzzing Taksim district, stopping at a food carts selling pilaf (rice dish) with several toppings — mostly chicken or chickpeas — in Taksim Square or on İstiklal Street and checking to see if they have a plastic barrel with a tap. Inside are liters of delicious homemade ayran. In fact, pilaf and ayran are among the methods Turks use to combat hangovers. While it's simple and straightforward to prepare ayran, there are many variations. Susurluk ayran, local to the Susurluk district of Balıkesir, a city in northwestern Turkey, is usually prepared from a yogurt with a higher content of fat, which creates a foam on the drink's surface. Yayık ayran is another widespread type that is a byproduct of butter making. Buttermilk replaces yogurt, which creates a highly frothy texture and a less tangy taste. Turkey's eastern Malatya region is known for its spicy ayran, prepared with green or red hot chili peppers. It has a distinct taste that appeals to fans of sweet and sour, or sweet and salty foods. There are likely hundreds of other recipes. For example, you can add a pinch of mint for extra refreshment, or even skip adding salt. Sometimes, sparkling mineral water is used instead of still for a crisper taste. Many factors affect the taste of ayran besides extra ingredients like pepper, salt, or mint. Mostly, however, it comes down to the yogurt. 'Which milk was used to make the yogurt, how fatty was the yogurt, the yeast that was used to make it, and how it was used — industrial or traditional methods were used — all impact the taste of ayran,' Sever, the gastronomy researcher, explained. Associate Professor Özge Samancı, head of the Gastronomy and Culinary Arts Department at Turkey's Özyeğin University, agrees: 'A good, fatty yogurt gives ayran its flavor.' So, despite its widespread consumption in and around Turkey, why is ayran not popular worldwide? Samancı says it's largely down to unfamiliarity. 'Turkish cuisine is generally not well-known abroad, and related products are unavailable in the market,' she told CNN. 'Turkish restaurants are few in number and limited. Secondly, the taste of classic ayran, without additions like mint etc., is strange to foreigners, who often do not like this sour taste.' But which version of ayran should visitors to Turkey try to get the best experience? It's all a matter of personal taste — for instance Özer, the gastronomy professor, prefers industrial ayran because of its hygienic properties, while Samancı and Sever choose open ayran. 'If I pass through a region famous for its dairy products, I definitely try to taste the local, freshly made open ayran,' Sever said. Samancı specifically enjoys Susurluk ayran, which she says pairs perfectly with a traditional Susurluk melted cheese sandwich. Whichever you choose, once you've enjoyed that refreshing ayran taste, you'll almost certainly be back for more.
Condé Nast Traveler
17-05-2025
- General
- Condé Nast Traveler
In London, the Many Lives of Turkish Food
In a new series, Place at the Table, we look at diasporic enclaves around the world through their cuisines—and the people who, in trying to recreate a taste of home, have forged exciting food scenes that invite others in. Take a walk along Green Lanes, a seemingly nondescript stretch of main road that slices through northeast London, and the scent of smoky charcoal soon becomes intoxicating. It unfurls from within the many ocakbaşıs (grill houses) and kebab shops that occupy the street's small, brightly lit store fronts, where hulks of meat spin majestically on skewers and freshly-made pide is methodically slid in and out of ovens. This strip may look like a disorderly milieu of takeout spots best intended to serve late night drinkers. But any Londoner well versed in their city's cultural fabric knows that the burning of the mangal grills here is a piece of living, edible, history—and one linked to decades of Turkish and Kurdish migration to the capital. I first experienced this side of London at age 13, on New Year's Eve—an evening marked by the rich flavors of a lamb kebab my parents ordered and a rambunctious waiter who drank so much that he attempted to lift a table up with his teeth. We still talk about that waiter to this day, but otherwise nothing felt remarkable about being another Turkish-British family in London, bidding farewell to one year and optimistically raising our glasses to the next. My father is originally from Adana in the south, and like many children of a diaspora, it's taken me a long time to develop a curiosity about the side of myself I didn't feel rooted in. On recent visits to Istanbul, I've begun connecting the city's modern identity with that of my own, but time and distance from London have allowed me to see that cultural touchstones were never far from home. The Turkish community in London extends far beyond Green Lanes, too, down into Dalston—and now, a breadth of new flavors have emerged, thanks to a proliferation of contemporary Turkish restaurants in recent years. Cull yaw köfte with grilled apple sauce, sourdough pide, and grilled chickpea hummus at Mangal II. Edvinas Bruzas Chef Ferhat Dirik has been running family-owned Mangal II in Dalston since 2021. Edvinas Bruzas Ferhat Dirik, who runs Mangal II in Dalston, is another second-generation immigrant who has only recently begun forging a path to understand his own heritage—although his journey has been more pre-determined than mine. The son of Ali Dirik, a chef who moved from Anatolia in the 1980s and opened Mangal Ocakbaşı (named after the traditional charcoal cooking method) followed by Mangal II in 1994, Ferhat took over the operations of the latter in 2021 and began to enmesh himself with Turkish cuisine in a deeper way. 'For years I had traveled everywhere but Turkey,' he says. 'Maybe it was an age thing, maybe it was an identity thing. Then, of course, I learned that Istanbul is the best city in the world, and there are many Turks there who share the same values and ideals as Londoners. The more I realized that, the more connected I felt.' In a storyline that could have been ripped straight from The Bear, he and his chef brother, Sertaç, took on the challenge of reinventing a family-run restaurant cherished by locals for its consistency (artists Gilbert & George famously had dinner there every night, only switching to the original, now named Mangal 1, after the brothers 'installed a music system') and set out to create a more refined menu that reflected the new era of Turkish cuisine they were witnessing on their travels to Istanbul and other parts of the country. The menu still retains plenty of familiarity (pickles and smoked hummus in a pool of olive oil; red pepper dolma and yogurt) but tradition is now served with a pinch of innovation: cured mackerel, caught in British waters, is doused with peppery Anatolian flavors; mutton koftë sits atop grilled apple; cornish chicken is stuffed with garlic and Aleppo-spiced sausage. Mangal 1 introduced Turkish charcoal grilling techniques to much of London in the 1980s. Edvinas Bruzas Meat sizzles on the grill at Mangal 1 Edvinas Bruzas 'I think the Turkish population is increasingly open to displaying aspects of our cuisine that go beyond [kebabs]—which is a great thing when done right—because there is a lot more to Turkish culture,' says Ferhat. After decades of Turkish restaurants not being granted the same weight as other more Euro-centric counterparts—often considered more of a cheap eat than an elevated dining experience—Ferhat says, there is less of a need to prove their worth. Perhaps, in part, because the British palate has become more open-minded. 'It's an exciting moment for Turkish cuisine because the perception is changing,' he says. 'We no longer have to sell ourselves short by charging less to be hospitable and accommodating, which is part of our culture and our dignity, but also expected of us. You don't see Spanish restaurants offering free bread or free wine. We have to remain confident in our cuisine.'
