7 Mehmet Restaurant
Elenio Guardado
Mehmet Grs (born 13 December 1969) is a Finnish celebrity chef,[3] television personality, restaurateur and consultant.[4][5][6][7] He is considered to be Istanbul's most recognizable chef.[8][9]
Grs was born in Finland to a Turkish father and a Finnish-Swedish mother and grew up in Stockholm and Istanbul.[8] He spent eight years training and working as a chef in the United States; from 1990 to 1993 he studied Hotel, Restaurant and Institutional Management at Johnson & Wales University.[10][11] In the mid 1990s, he returned to Turkey to start his first restaurant called Downtown; six years later he opened Lokanta and then Mikla in 2005.[3]
All scored reviews are unannounced, impartial, paid for by Confidentials and completely independent of any commercial relationship. They are a first-person account of one visit by one, knowledgable restaurant reviewer and don't represent the company as a whole.
Really nice place to have a coffee! It is a beautiful garden with a coffee cafe and restaurant. Excellent coffees and herbal teas. They are open every day from 10 am till midnight. Restaurant is open from 19:00 (we did not try the food, because we were here in afternoon). Great spot for a break on your way between Isfahan and Shiraz.
I asked the owner. They were indeed closed for renovations, but now they are open again. Open from from 9am till 11pm and serve also breakfast now. They changed the name to Mehmet cafe. The restaurant is gone, it is only a cafe now.
Do not forget to look up when you enter the Al Sanabel Bakery/Koftegi, which has been outfitted with a vaulted roof to simulate the stone arches found in the Grand Bazaar of Istanbul. That market has been around well over five centuries, while the makeover here on Brookhurst Street is just a few years old. The long-standing Lebanese bakery recently changed hands in 2016, and added Turkish favorites from Istanbul-born and raised chef and culinary tour guide Mehmet Kaplan.
Thankfully fans of Lebanese flatbreads and other baked goods have been happy with the high standards of quality remaining the same. The bakery has not taken any of its attention to detail off of these items, just added quite a few more Turkish offerings.
Perhaps in response to the popularity of Adjaruli khachapuri being called cheese boats and experiencing a wider audience outside of the Caucasus and Russia, Chef Mehmet has added a "Turkish Boats" section to his menu to give traditional Turkish pide a makeover. His options include all the classics and his own creations like "Juju's Boat," which is a combination of muhammara and kashkaval and can be enjoyed with either chicken or beef.
For this order, a classic white cheese and soujuk pide (below) was obtained and just a little mangled after transport. Such are the ways of 2020, but the "boat" was as tasty as ever once reheated briefly in the oven. The thin crust is not just a crust, but adds to each bite and is very durable to hold up its weighty ingredients.
Since the bakery's name is still attached to the restaurant, you expect that most everything in the form of dough will be done just right. It makes sense to order an item or two more to get good use of these talents. Still under the "Turkish Boats" section of the menu, try a walnut lahmajun (below), which combines ground beef with ground up walnuts.
When you get to the "Main Courses" section of the menu, the mood shifts dramatically to that of a carnivore. The options are broad, and for those only able to make one order, the best bet might be the chef's platter (below). Besides getting two sides, you also get two mini lahmajun just in case you do not have room in the order for larger-format baked goods.
In addition to those, the meats involved here are one adana kebob, a serving of doner, one beef kebob, one chicken kebob, and two kofte patties. "Koftegi" is the English writing of the Turkish word Kfteci, meaning "maker of kofte," and a large hint of the item you probably should not ignore in your order.
The largest difference that Chef Mehmet declares about his kofte is that the high grade beef is chopped by hand rather than ground. According to him, this creates a far better experience and allows you to enjoy the marinades and spices more. Indeed the marinades are spot on for every piece, if the cooking seemed to vary between meats. Unfortunately the beef kebob was tough and dry, possibly just a byproduct of takeout.
A couple desserts can be seen in a small refrigerated case at the checkout counter and are both hard to resist. Stla (seen in top photo), or rice pudding, is a must order of course, a hefty, heavy portion of this sweet favorite. Despite its weight, the product underneath the the burnt top is less dense and more liquefied than normal. It is marvelous and addictive.
Aşure (above, listed as ashoura on bill) is another dessert you may have seen less but is also done really well here. A tri-color band made from pomegranate, pistachios, and walnuts creates a beautiful diagonal pattern on top. As the rest of the ingredients underneath warmed up with the takeout order on the way home, the liquid started to come through. There are more nuts down there, as well as sweet fruits, white beans, and grains.
Perhaps in response to the popularity of Adjaruli khachapuri being called cheese boats and experiencing a wider audience outside of the Caucasus and Russia, Chef Mehmet has added a \\\"Turkish Boats\\\" section to his menu to give traditional Turkish pide a makeover. His options include all the classics and his own creations like \\\"Juju's Boat,\\\" which is a combination of muhammara and kashkaval and can be enjoyed with either chicken or beef.
For this order, a classic white cheese and soujuk pide (below) was obtained and just a little mangled after transport. Such are the ways of 2020, but the \\\"boat\\\" was as tasty as ever once reheated briefly in the oven. The thin crust is not just a crust, but adds to each bite and is very durable to hold up its weighty ingredients.
Since the bakery's name is still attached to the restaurant, you expect that most everything in the form of dough will be done just right. It makes sense to order an item or two more to get good use of these talents. Still under the \\\"Turkish Boats\\\" section of the menu, try a walnut lahmajun (below), which combines ground beef with ground up walnuts.
When you get to the \\\"Main Courses\\\" section of the menu, the mood shifts dramatically to that of a carnivore. The options are broad, and for those only able to make one order, the best bet might be the chef's platter (below). Besides getting two sides, you also get two mini lahmajun just in case you do not have room in the order for larger-format baked goods.
In addition to those, the meats involved here are one adana kebob, a serving of doner, one beef kebob, one chicken kebob, and two kofte patties. \\\"Koftegi\\\" is the English writing of the Turkish word K\u00F6fteci, meaning \\\"maker of kofte,\\\" and a large hint of the item you probably should not ignore in your order.
A couple desserts can be seen in a small refrigerated case at the checkout counter and are both hard to resist. S\u00FCtla\u00E7 (seen in top photo), or rice pudding, is a must order of course, a hefty, heavy portion of this sweet favorite. Despite its weight, the product underneath the the burnt top is less dense and more liquefied than normal. It is marvelous and addictive.
A\u015Fure (above, listed as ashoura on bill) is another dessert you may have seen less but is also done really well here. A tri-color band made from pomegranate, pistachios, and walnuts creates a beautiful diagonal pattern on top. As the rest of the ingredients underneath warmed up with the takeout order on the way home, the liquid started to come through. There are more nuts down there, as well as sweet fruits, white beans, and grains.
Excellent service and menu choice. I enjoyed the bread olives and dips that was complimentary, and had Mousaka as a main meal- delicious, would highly recommend restaurant, as everyone around the table enjoyed their meal, and I considered it very good value for money.
Sultanahmet Kftecisi is the story of four generations whose destiny designed in İstanbul when Mehmet Seracettin Tezakın - who was living in Turkmenistan then - came to İstanbul by coincidence and decided to seek his fortune there.
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