No, the “1897” doesn’t stand for the street number, as you might suspect. Instead, it’s the date that the first Konyali opened. That was a sixteen-seat hole-in-the-wall serving Ottoman home cooking; the place soon became so popular that a branch opened on the grounds of the Topkapi Palace. Another branch opened in the city’s business district. Now the family is truly tackling fine dining; a few months ago this elegant restaurant opened on a fashionable street in the newly trendy Besiktas district. The four wonderfully intimate rooms are sleekly decorated in browns and bronzes and hung with original art; outside there is a large garden with thick masonry walls and mature trees. Chef Aydin Demir is dedicated to slightly updated versions of classic Ottoman dishes, which have become increasingly difficult to find in this cosmopolitan city—deliciously sour stinging nettle soup; delicate quail salad with pine nuts and raspberry sauce; dolmas surprisingly stuffed with cherries instead of meat; lemon-marinated chicken with a rich sauce of honey, apricots, and almonds; lamb cooked for four hours with both fresh and dried fruits. If you are at all curious about what the Sultan’s 800 cooks were up to all those years ago in Topkapi’s giant kitchens, this is one place that will offer you a little taste of the past.
1897 Konyali Süleyman Seba Caddesi No. 46, Istanbul (011-90-212-22-74-24-3; konyali.com)
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