Monday
Reviews (Eats)Sabirtasi’s Icli Kofte: Handmade in Beyoglu
(Editor’s Note: We’ve recently been given access into one of Istanbul’s most inner of sanctums: the kitchen of Beyoglu’s Sabirtasi, where we were shown how to make the restaurant’s superlative icli kofte, winner of our “Top 5 Street Foods” contest from a while back. We will be sharing the recipe on Friday, but as a warmup, we’re rerunning our original post about Sabirtasi’s icli kofte.)
For years on Istiklal Caddesi, just beyond Galatasaray High School, in one calm spot stood the beatific Ali Bey, an angel in a white doctor’s coat offering salvation in the form of golden fried icli kofte. Though he passed away recently, Ali Bey left his post and his streetside stand — as much a part of the Istiklal streetscape as the red trolley cars that run up and down the boulevard and the belle époque apartment buildings that line it — to his son, who fills it with the same panache, white jacket and all. And thanks to Ali bey’s wife, Fatma hanim, the icli kofte lives on.
Known as kibbeh in the Arab world, icli kofte is a savory snack consisting of a bulgur wheat shell that holds a filling of ground meat, onions, parsley and spices. These little torpedoes are handmade upstairs by Fatma hanim, who spends most of the day at a large table with her daughter-in-law working the stuffing into the casing before passing them on for final preparation. They chat and laugh as they work, their hands working by what appears to be instinct alone — a scene more reminiscent of a rural family kitchen than a dining room with a view of one of Istanbul’s best-known streets.
(Click here to go to the full review)
Post Tags: Beyoglu, Istanbul Eats, Istanbul restaurants, Southeastern cuisine, Specialty foods, Street food
