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Posts Tagged ‘ künefe ’

Jun 05
Friday

Akdeniz Hatay Sofrası

Filed under Reviews (Eats)

Akdeniz Hatay Sofrası, photo by Yigal Schleifer

The only positive thing about the torturous annual visit we make to Istanbul’s main police station in order to renew our residence permit is the chance to drive through the low-rent Aksaray neighborhood.It’s home to dozens of intriguing off-the-beaten-path restaurants, most of them opened by migrants from other parts of Turkey. On our last trip through the area, we noticed a large, newish-looking sign belonging to a restaurant called Akdeniz Hatay Sofrası.

Hatay is the name of Turkey’s southernmost province, an area bounded by the Mediterranean and the border with Syria. Until the 1930s, the Hatay region was actually part of Syria, and the food from there is closer in spirit and flavor to what is found on menus in Aleppo or Damascus. Hatay, the restaurant, is run by a family that hails from the area and does brisk business serving up authentic and very good food from the region. On the several occasions that we’ve been there, the two-floor restaurant was packed with large groups, mostly families who also originally came to Istanbul from Hatay, sitting at long tables covered with countless plates of food.

Read the rest of the updated review at Culinary Backstreets.

Culinary Backstreets
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All entries filed under this archive


Hatay Has Kral Sofrası: Kebab’s Krib
no responses - Posted 07.02.13
In our imaginary primetime lineup, a reality show called “Pimp My Kebab Salon” transforms a drab kebab shop into a grill palace suited to the tastes of the latter-day sultans. Surfaces are suddenly gilded in gold, fountains appear and everything is reupholstered under the watchful eye of the boisterous host ...continue
The Grand Bazaar: Come for the Shopping, Stay for the Food
7 responses - Posted 05.16.11
We like to think of Istanbul’s Grand Bazaar – open since 1461 – as the world’s oldest shopping mall. If that’s the case, shouldn’t the Grand Bazaar be home to the world’s oldest food court? That may be taking the analogy too far, but for us, the Grand Bazaar can ...continue
Hatay Has Kral Sofrası: Kebab’s Krib
no responses - Posted 05.09.11
In our imaginary primetime lineup, a reality show called “Pimp My Kebab Salon” transforms a drab kebab shop into a grill palace suited to the tastes of the latter-day sultans. Surfaces are suddenly gilded in gold, fountains appear and everything is reupholstered under the watchful eye of the boisterous host ...continue
Meşhur Kanatçı Haydar’ın Yeri: Wing Nuts
no responses - Posted 11.08.10
Editor’s note: This guest post was written by Salih Seçkin Sevinç, creator of the fantastic Turkish-language food blog Harbi Yiyorum (loosely translated as “Eating, For Real”) and the man behind our recent mouthwatering series of reports from Gaziantep. Kanatçı Haydar started providing services in the chicken wings sector beginning in 1996, ...continue
Musa Ustam: Sinfully Good Kebab
3 responses - Posted 09.13.10
“What would you say if I offered you a very tender lamb filet marinated in garlic?” a voice boomed from behind the grill, its source obscured by an ornate copper hood decorated with a scene of kebab heaven – sheep, shepherd and steppe. Was this Saint Peter in kebapci disguise ...continue
Urfali Haci Usta: In the Bosom of Abraham
2 responses - Posted 08.09.10
Like Turkish foreign policy, we could easily be accused of “tilting east” these days. Just after making our way to Fatih’s Öz Kilis, we soon found ourselves trawling the streets of the nearby Aksaray neighborhood in search of food from another southeastern Turkish city near the Syrian border, in this ...continue
Öz Kilis: Kebab That Deserves to Be Panned
4 responses - Posted 08.02.10
In Turkish popular lore, the denizens of Kilis, a town in southeastern Turkey right near the Syrian border, are known for two things: kebab-making and smuggling. We haven’t been to Kilis, so we can’t vouch for the smuggling bit. But we did recently have lunch at Öz Kilis, a wonderful ...continue
Istanbul Eats on the Road: Antakya’s Sultan Sofrasi
1 response - Posted 04.06.10
(Editor's Note: This guest post came to us courtesy of Katie Parla, a Rome-based food writer whose blog, Parla Food, is a great resource regarding eating in both Italy and Turkey. Katie's is the first post in a new feature called "Istanbul Eats on the Road," in which we plan ...continue
The Grand Bazaar: Come for the Shopping, Stay for the Food
12 responses - Posted 07.15.09
We like to think of Istanbul’s Grand Bazaar – open since 1461 – as the world’s oldest shopping mall. If that’s the case, shouldn’t the Grand Bazaar be home to the world’s oldest food court? That may be taking the analogy too far, but for us, the Grand Bazaar can ...continue
Akdeniz Hatay Sofrası: The Syrian Connection
12 responses - Posted 04.20.09
The only positive thing about the torturous annual visit we make to Istanbul’s main police station in order to renew our residence permit is the chance to drive through the low-rent Aksaray neighborhood, home to dozens of intriguing off-the-beaten path restaurants, most of them opened by migrants from other parts ...continue

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