Food & Drink

9 Dishes of Famous Turkish Chefs That You Should Try

I'm newlywed, me and my partner love living in Istanbul. We love to discover new places and share these discoveries with our friends.

The art of food. We all see natural wonders and touristic places when we plan for a trip. But every trip always has a special part of interesting foods. Even when you’re a domestic traveller. We all have a restaurant that we like to go to, even almost owning it like an addiction and say ‘my place’, around where we live. A favorite place where we order food, a favorite place where we drink coffee or a place we go to almost every time whenever we want to hang out. It’s easy to find these favourite places in your own environment, but when it comes to finding the right place in unknown territory you must seek information.

Who are the Turkish best chefs? For you, we gathered some of the most popular and successful Turkish cooks and best Turkish chefs that you can visit their restaurants and probably love their amazing dishes.

Tip: Istanbul is an incredible city with so much to offer, but it can be overwhelming to navigate without a car. That’s why we recommend renting a vehicle (See prices) during your stay. You’ll have the freedom to explore the city’s many neighborhoods, parks, and landmarks without worrying about transportation logistics. This link opens in a new tab, you can continue reading the article.

 

CZN Burak – Hatay Medeniyetler Sofrası

Hatay Medeniyetler Sofrası is owned by Burak Özdemir, one of the famous chefs in Türkiye, AKA Czn Burak is well known for his videos of oversized kebabs and desserts. Born in 1995 Burak Özdemir is a third-generation chef. His grandfather had a kebab restaurant, although his father did not carry this legacy as the main job. Burak’s father had a textile manufactory named Cinzaro back in the days. His son, Burak Özdemir, used this name’s letters as a nickname. Because his name Burak is hard to pronounce in foreign languages, and the CZN nickname was born. As a humble and popular chef nowadays, he was a troublemaker as he says. When he was a child he had a more rebellious and angry personality as he says. And now this troubled child became a benevolent adult.

Very recently he sent trucks full of food for earthquake victims in Elazığ. This transformation’s first step was taken by him in 2011. In this year he started his chef career at a very young age, right now he has more than one thousand workers in his Hatay Medeniyetler Sofrası restaurant chain. That’s quite the achievement for a person this young. For his restaurant named after the city Hatay, he said that this city contained many civilizations over the ages. And with that, Hatay contained many food cultures, as he tries this in his own restaurants. Plus being gifted in the kitchen with all cultures’ foods, he’s also one of the most successful content producer in Türkiye according to TikTok.

Of course, his restaurants are not the place you just walk in and expect a vacant table; thus, reservations can be made. Here are the three meals you can order without having a second guess;

More Information

Open Hours: 08:00 – 02:00
Location: View on Google Maps
Phone Number: (0212) 325 31 31
Website: hataymedeniyetlersofrasi.com.tr
Foursquare: View

1. Baked Lamb Shank

Made from lamb meat and cooked in traditional ovens, baked lamb shank is the softest meat dish you can eat. Because it is cooked slowly and wrapped with folio, every part is cooked the same inside and out. The spices used and vegetables served along in this meal, you can understand why this young chef is popular.

2. Stuffed Ribs

This meal is hard to cook but deserves all the attention and time it needs. Extra softened meat with special sauce outside and rice on the inside; you can understand why this dish is so popular.

3. Baked Steak with Salt

Prepared with sea salt and black pepper, it is maybe the most ordered meal. Served as sliced and made with salted and spices steak can be made in your own kitchen easily, but at the hands of an expert chef, it transforms into something special and an unbelievable experience.

 

Arda Türkmen – Arda Chef

Having a genuine smile, Arda Türkmen is very well known as Turkish cooks among famous chefs in Türkiye. Also, Arda Türkmen has a TV show he cooks, his recipes are prepared in houses of Türkiye by the people from different age. You should definitely visit his restaurants to discover his recipes as he is a very careful person. Turkish people including celebrities, like to visit Mükellef for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and anytime!

Anyone who knows him can confirm that he only wants his customers to eat the best meals they can. For these must-see restaurants, here are the three meals you can order and give yourselves maybe the best pleasure about food;

More Information

Open Hours: 11:00 – 00:00, 09:00 – 00:00 on weekends
Location: View on Google Maps
Phone Number: (0212) 252 86 36
Website: mukellefkarakoy.com

4. Mezzes

Arda Chef is famous for his mezze options including some of his favorite spices. As he owns Mükellef and Mükellef Ocakbaşı, he likes to include mezzes on the menu. Especially topik, fava and muhammara are the ones you should taste at first!

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5. Samandira Salad

Samandira Salad is Arda Chef’s favorite. At first, you may say why to eat salad in a chef restaurant? From spices used to vegetables served, anyone can see that this meal requires a ton of attention and knowledge to make. Of course, you can think that you can eat salads like this somewhere else too. But from an expert chef that loves his work and works with really care, you can feel the privilege of eating a delicious masterpiece.

6. Meatballs

Arda Chef’s köfte (meatballs) can surprise you about how much you can eat. It is said that this meal is so delicious; you are going to eat more than you normally do. You can also try other meat options on the menu. Plus, the seafood is also delicious here! The locals tell the truth.

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Nusret Gökçe – Nusr-Et

Nusret Gökçe, known as the salt bae, is a worldwide popular chef and he comes first when the best Turkish chefs are asked. Because of economic problems, he had to leave school at an early age and started to work at a butcher shop. Because of the high demand, he worked in, he says he learned to do too many things in so little time. His expertise on meat cutting talents comes from there, according to him. He firstly worked on a place with a butcher-restaurant concept, and he loved this job. With all his money he earned, he always tried to see other concepts of restaurants all over the world. He went to places like Argentina and the USA to see, work and gain knowledge about the cooking cultures.

Because of his tenacity, love for his job and high focus, this little boy who dropped school because of economic problems became the expert chef who has over four hundred employees. His brand of restaurant chain ‘Nusr-Et’ firstly opened with the partnership of his old friend Mithat Erdem. Because he had no budget to start this journey. Now you can come across his restaurants all over the world and big cities. From the bottom of the mountain to the top of it, he walked every step and overcame every obstacle in his path. Even with this difficult journey could not fill him pride and superiority. If he is in the restaurant you are having dinner, he will likely to come and serve the dish while having a conversation with you.

You can now cook the recipe of Nusret, the meat covered with gold, at home with this.

More Information

Open Hours: 12:00 – 00:00
Location: View on Google Maps
Phone Number: (0212) 568 77 38
Website: nusr-et.com.tr
Foursquare: View

7. Lokum Burger

This burger made with marinated steak fillet is almost every customers’ favourite lunch. Especially sliced steak with caramelized onions adds an incredible taste, along with the homemade french fries. Enjoy eating the famous by the hands of Turkish best chefs!

8. Nusr-Et Kobe

This meal made with specially sliced steaks prepared at large proportions, and can only be ordered at least for two persons. It may be the best dream of a meat lover couple can have.

9. Toscana

This delicious meal made with a combination of perfect tastes. Cooked and served with thinly sliced New York steak, cherry tomatoes, rocket, parmesan and special sauce.

Delicious foods are made with quality knives. Here is one example of cooking like chefs at home.

Check out most loved Istanbul attractions by HeyTripster readers:

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