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@berkoky

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food writer, dinner host in london
content strategist @natgeotraveluk
my istanbul guide 🧿 @diginistanbul

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HUGE ANNOUNCEMENT

I’m officially launching Istanbul’s ultimate food guide in English: @diginistanbul

For years, whenever friends asked me for recommendations on where to eat in my city I would have to write a long text message with bullet points, explanations in parentheses and copy-pasted links.

Later I prepared a Google Maps with pins, but the questions didn’t stop. You’d still have to explain the little important things about Turkish food culture and about specific restaurants. Tell people which seat is best, how to ask for the off menu dessert, which waiter to say hi to.

Well, I decided to take all my recommendations as a food writer but more importantly as a friend and turn them into a functioning website.
This is all my knowledge in one, searchable, filterable, shareable, surfable.

It will be an ongoing project, with articles about food culture and new restaurants added as it goes on.

Istanbul is one of the great food cities in the world and deserves a good guide. Let @diginistanbul be your guide.

I’m so proud of this. There is still some ways to go with a few missing restaurants and photos, but bear with me.

Let me know what you think and please share with your friends!

#istanbul #istanbulfood #istanbulrestaurants #istanbultrip taken in Istanbul, Turkey by @berkoky

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4 years ago

i’m getting lazy with social media, it’s something i take pride in. but i also take pride in writing about my hometown, the world’s most visited city in 2023, for @natgeo

these are my favourite restaurants in istanbul currently. i know i’ll get some hate for omitting beloved classics, but i did so because these nine restaurants are the heartbeat of the city’s cuisine. full story link in bio 🔗

for a more comprehensive guide to istanbul, my recommendations are compiled on the @diginistanbul website

health to the hands that cook the food 🧿
(published last month, in @natgeotraveluk food magazine this autumn)

let’s see how the poll feature works. have you been to any of these restaurants: taken in Istanbul, Turkey by @berkoky

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2 years ago

So happy for @kid_soho to be finally opening this week. like all good things it was worth the wait.

@sertac.dirik brought a bit of home in tasty and handsome plates to soho. the kalamar dish was a masterclass on how to perfectly cook squid and, more importantly, true to the turkish art of finding more flavour when dipping bread in the sauce.

going again asap for the brilliant mix of bluefin tuna and köz biber tartare bite, üzüm negronis and another scoop of the generous and surprisingly delicious mint and mastic ice cream - before it blows up in the london best new restaurants lists and gets fully booked. taken in Soho, London UK by @berkoky

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a month ago

forgot to post this meal from @theshaston.arms which has a brilliant pub menu with turkish touches from @denizn92

to me, putting parsley in an Adana kebap is one of the greatest sins. but the finger-food adana skewer here makes me look past my convictions. don’t let the dark char fool you, it’s perfectly cooked, crumbles under the slightest nudge revealing a fatty, glossy inside - as it should. one of the best in the city.

tandoori fish, peach salad and sweetbreads also delicious and worth mentioning. can’t wait to go back for the current skewer dish, the piri piri rib cap.

featuring reb visiting from paris, on an important call. taken in Soho, London UK by @berkoky

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2 months ago

went to @kismet.ldn last week, like everyone else on my feed. and with such sudden surge in media interest, i braced myself for hype.

but @keiranmustafa and his team have created a very special restaurant. it has instantly become the turkish restaurant i’ll recommend to my friends in london and where i’ll go on thursdays for some live kanun music and the best yaprak ciğer (shallow fried liver) in town.

i wish them a long residency and myself a short time away from the beautifully nostalgic dining room. taken in The Globe Tavern by @berkoky

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2 months ago

wrote about lokum (turkish delight) for @natgeotraveluk’s july/august issue.

turkish people, who love to promote their cuisine, don’t often boast about lokum. most of us see it as a nostalgic, somewhat antiquated sweet, only to be revisited when offered one at a coffee shop. for foreigners, cheap versions tarnish the potential of what a good lokum could be with a sticky textures, and overly rosey aromas.

but it’s a good time to rediscover an old gem. go to @hacibekir1777 for a clotted cream rolled lokum, or a double pistachio one and you’ll relate to edward who sold out his sibling to the white witch for a box of these.

go beyond the traditional and you’ll find marsel delights where @selimcenkel is coming up with new flavours, like sumac and pomegranate, or even wasabi. or you’ll find the mixologists at @lelabbomoda making foamy cocktails based on lokum, hidden in one of the best cocktail menus in istanbul.

i’ll be telling people turkish delight is back (in the hopes that @sujukbrooklyn will sponsor me with their hats as a turkish delight ambassador)

read the full story on the link in bio.

big thanks to @_deryaturgut for the beautiful pictures taken in Istanbul, Turkey by @berkoky

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2 months ago

treatmaxxing for my birthday week

lamb sweetbreads, pommes frites and pastis
@camille_se1
burnt milk tart @camille_se1
cheese toastie @goodbyehorsesldn
hashbrown and tuna @goodbyehorsesldn
guinness cake @ellaroge
regular-sized choc mousse
apricot pistachio danish @jolene_newingtongreen
anchovies, bread and butter @elliotslondon
campari soda pairing with pistachio fig tart @ellaroge
ricotta, calabrian chili honey @tiella_trattoria taken in London, United Kingdom by @berkoky

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4 months ago

my latest istanbul visit produced the best of new gems @hona.istanbul
this small cihangir restaurant clad in wooden panels and a short japanese style counter at the centre is one of istanbul’s most welcome surprises.

the young chef @ansarkemaloglu’s ahıska roots in uzbekistan bring about a unique mix of flavours with turkic, central and east asian vibes - as if the silk road was a metro line.

all the dishes we had were extremely well executed but the lamb ramen made of hand pulled thick noodles and a tahini infused thick broth and the brilliant salmon hand roll have stayed with me more than others.
can’t wait to visit again and try the omakase menu.

thanks to @ellaroge for the find and convincing me to skip my usual favourites in the city for a night.
more details coming to @diginistanbul soon. taken in Cihangir by @berkoky

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5 months ago

a sweet little easter in istanbul taken in Istanbul, Turkey by @berkoky

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5 months ago

❌❌❤️ SOLD OUT ❤️❌❌ thank you! DM if you’d want to be on waitlist!

breaking traditions is back with a night of italian-turkish flavours, playing around with beloved dishes, upsetting many mediterraneans for the good cause of getting together around a table.

bookings are now open. £50 per person will get you shared appetisers, main and sides and more than one dessert (a single dessert would be a shame). as usual all dishes will be never-before-eaten recipes served on a family-style long table.

i have limited space so it’ll be on a first-come, first-served basis. to book, please DM me with your full name, how many places you’d like to reserve and your dietary requirements. this time we can accommodate vegetarians but unfortunately not vegans.

poster by @gungorcenk
🧿 taken in London, United Kingdom by @berkoky

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5 months ago

a throwback to my supper club last year: a proper turkish roast.

i think a sunday roast is my favourite british food concept, only second to overdoing salt and vinegar at a late night chippy.
it feels like a bit of home to me, maybe because it’s not so far from turkish sofras for iftar meals, or big sunday breakfast spreads.
but most importantly, it’s a great excuse to make a lamb shoulder wellington with pastırma duxelle, with a side of pomm syrup gravy. and ofc some halloumi yorkshire puddings inspired from a @melizcooks recipe.

haters will say three desserts is too many but it’s actually the perfect amount when one of them is a scoop of lor cheese and cherry jam ice cream with simit bits in it, a recipe that took me a great amount of effort and time but reminded me that all good things do.

big thanks to kerem.sivri and @anlamarama, and of course the ultimate creative director/tray holder @ellaroge

next london event coming soon, stay tuned - and DM me if you’d like to be on the mailing list for the announcement 📣 taken in London, United Kingdom by @berkoky

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6 months ago

wrote about some of my favourite london supper clubs for @natgeotraveluk’s culinary collection magazine.
as someone who does events i have so much appreciation and respect for the amount of effort that goes into feeding and entertaining people, especially when it’s a full-time endeavour in some shape or form.
this is but a small selection of london’s countless, diverse and cosy-maxxed events. from kitchen table dinners to mega supper gigs these bring people together and that’s really valuable today, no matter how normal we think it is.

can’t wait to eat more this year, around strangers and friends, in homes, restaurants and warehouse conversions.

see all the ones i wrote about and the full story in the link in bio. taken in London, United Kingdom by @berkoky

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8 months ago