Monday
Reviews (Eats)Vonali Celal: Some Hope for Sultanahmet Diners?
The Sultanahmet area is a bit like Istanbul’s culinary black hole: it may be home to the city’s historical treasures, but most of its restaurants are monuments to mediocrity. That said, we’re always on the lookout for places that might redeem the area’s dismal dining scene, especially since so many visitors end up staying in Sultanahmet. Recently we were told good things about Vonali Celal, a Sultanahmet restaurant serving the hearty food of Turkey’s Black Sea region. Being big fans of Black Sea cuisine – and hoping to find a ray of light in the Sultanahmet dining scene darkness – we decided to go check the restaurant out.
At first, things didn’t look too promising. Located on the coastal road that hugs Istanbul’s ancient city walls, Vonali Celal is part of a strip of seaside restaurants that rely on conniving concierges and lazy tour guides to steer hapless tourists to them. The restaurant seems to have a split personality, though. Like its neighbors, Vonali Celal’s business is based on large tour groups, with a massive interior filled with tables for 20 or more and a small stand at the entrance selling trinkets. But there’s also a pleasant outdoor space in front with a view of the Marmara Sea (just ignore the cars whizzing by) and brick oven where fresh bread is baked, and a kitchen in back that turns out a wide range of homey and satisfying Black Sea dishes.
For those interested in tasting everything the kitchen has to offer, Vonali Celal offers a prix fixe menu that offers five courses (including one devoted to all things pickled, including green plums and cherries) and some 20 plus dishes. At 40 lira (around $26), it’s a fairly good deal, although we opted to go ala Carte on our visit. Among the highlights of what we tasted were cesni, a dip made of tangy, crumbly white cheese and walnuts, white cabbage leaves stuffed with rice, yumurtali sakarca, a Spanish omelet-like egg dish that was stuffed with herbs and pearl onions, and kaldrik, a wild green stewed in olive oil. We also enjoyed the kuymak (also called muhlama), a kind of Black Sea fondue, made by mixing melted cheese and butter together with corn meal, which gives the dish a surprisingly pleasant grittiness.
Even without ordering the smorgasbord-like prix fixe meal, we still left Vonali Celal feeling stuffed to the gills and satisfied. Though not great, we had a good meal in Sultanahmet, and that in itself felt like an achievement.
Address: Kennedy Caddesi Sahil Yolu No. 40/1, Ahirkapi
Telephone: 212-516-1893
Web: www.vonalicelal.net
Post Tags: Alcohol served, Black Sea cuisine, Places with a view, Sultanahmet, Vegeterian
Jun 10, 2009
Reply
I’ve had many a good meal over at Giritli in Sultanahmet. Haven’t been there in a couple of years but it used to be a good place for a meal in the area.
Jun 18, 2009
Reply
All is not lost! Khorasani, off Divan Yolu (down from the tramstop, sidestreet to the left) has the yummiest Southeast kebab-evi cuisine I’ve had since Mem’s closed up shop over in Tesvikiye; the gavurdagi salad, the cevizli lahmacun app, the icli kofte, the fistikli kebab, etc etc etc. All delicious, and the place itself is beautifully done.
Jun 18, 2009
Reply
Sounds good! We’ll try to check it out. Thanks for the tip — especially since it’s in Sultanahmet.
Oct 7, 2009
Reply
Had some family in town and they were sleepy, so we braved the Sultanahmet dinner scene and gave Khorasani a try. The food was definitely above average and the service was very friendly, but it just wasn’t worth the price — adana kebap for something like 16 or 17 liras! For the same menu at half the price, places like Diyarbakır Kebap Salonu in the Aksaray part of Fatih will do Khorasani one better. The künefe was particularly good, though.
Oct 8, 2009
Reply
strangely enough, the most “authentic” dining experience I have had in Sultanahmet was at a Korean restaurant on that street lined with backpacker bars and hostels leading toward Akbiyik Cami. The food was not cheap but it was the real thing- great spread of pickled starters, bibimbob, bulgokee, etc. the place was packed with koreans who even made use of the little karaoke lounge downstairs.
the big difference between this place and almost all of the other restaurants in Sultanahmet is that it was set up specifically for Korean visitors. so there is no waiter out front trying to drag in the odd pedestrian. in fact, on a weekend night it can be hard to get a table.
it is a pity that the dining scene in Sultanahmet is so corrupted by the out-of-date, cheapo package tourism model which apparently thrives on hustling rather than focus on quality. a good, honest dinner followed by a stroll around the monuments would be a great experience.