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Nov 07
Monday
Reviews (Eats)
Tunçlar Lokantası: Ottoman for the People

(Editor’s Note: Sadly, Tunçlar has closed down due to a redevelopment project in Taksim Square. Our news story about the venue’s closing is here.)

From the top of Elmadağ Caddesi in Harbiye, an unbroken line of tiny Ottoman-era row houses spills down the steep slope of the street. It is one of our favorite Istanbul streetscapes, evoking a rarely heralded image of 19th-century working-class Beyoğlu. Though “Ottoman” is a qualifier that usually refers to splendor in the extreme – vast domes, silk carpets, golden thrones – there was just one Sultan and so many humble subjects. Likewise, Ottoman palace cuisine, like the Baccarat crystal banisters at Dolmabahçe, is an interesting anecdote, but we find the search for Ottoman proletarian fare much more intriguing.

The medieval Ottoman travel writer Evliya Çelebi wrote of Beyoğlu streets filled with humble little stew and dolma restaurants, bustling at lunchtime with merchants getting a fill. He counted more than five hundred of them. Surveying today’s culinary landscape for its Ottoman roots, the eyes fall directly on the esnaf lokantası, or tradesmen’s restaurants, that now serve the working man much as they have for centuries. If Evliya Çelebi were walking the streets of Istanbul today, hungry, we are sure he’d feel perfectly at home at Tunçlar Lokantası on Elmadağ Caddesi.  

Like most esnaf lokantası in the area, Tunçlar is packed with regulars during the lunch rush. The single waiter hustles food out from the open kitchen at the back and the boss mans the register and a bank of telephones at the front. Specials change daily, from stuffed zucchini under a blanket of thick yogurt (kabak dolması) to an excellent moussaka, as well as white beans over rice and stuffed cabbage leaves – this is unfiltered home food. At Tunçlar the bread is also notable – whole-wheat loaves studded with sunflower seeds. From the grill we had chicken thighs with fresh-cut french fries and chased the whole meal down with a house specialty, kabak tatlısı, or stewed pumpkin sprinkled with crushed walnuts.

The post-meal discussion turned to the five hundred or so proto-esnaf lokantası that Çelebi visited back in the 16th century. How many had we been to in Beyoğlu alone and how many had we missed? Then we caught a glimpse of the exhausted waiter in a daze of his own. The rear windows by the kitchen are covered in a trompe l’oeil sticker of a Hawaiian beach scene – a silhouette of a sunbathing hardbody backlit by the afternoon sun, palm trees leaning down to kiss a crystal blue sea. There’s something that surely hasn’t changed since Ottoman times: a waiter’s dream of vacation.

Address: Elmadağ Caddesi 9, Elmadağ
Telephone: 212-241-0295

(photo by Ansel Mullins)

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4 Responses to “ Tunçlar Lokantası: Ottoman for the People ”
  1. Just returned from an Istanbul-Efes-Bodrum adventure. Your article today, siren-like, beckons me to return. Ate at many of your recommendations in Istanbul. And searched out the wonderful quince dessert that you featured recently. Mmmmm. Thanks again.

  2. rl reeves jr

    Feb 16, 2012
    Reply

    Great little lokanta just a few minutes north of Taksim Square. I opted for a zucchini stuffed with minced lamb then braised til spoon tender, a platter of house cut fries [unfortunatley stone cold] and a split grilled chicken thigh served with memorably good rice. A side of stewed squash, green beans and tiny okra rounded out the affair.
    The joint was jumping at noon with a one hundred percent male crush of regulars. One of the workers knew a little English so he helped me with my order.
    Very friendly group of men working here and the table bread was unusual in that it was very fresh and studded with sunflower seeds.
    Time to go on a 5 mile hike so I can eat some more. Portions are enormous, forgot to say the magic word “az”.

  3. Hello
    Thanks for the blog, very informative
    Please tell me do you think the esnaf lokanta restaurants you talk about will be closed in Ramazan time?
    Thanks


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