A Michelin Star over the Seven Hills: Nicole Restaurant

I’ve visited numerous restaurants so far. Sometimes I was surprised by its location on a narrow street, making me wonder “How can these flavors can come out of such a restaurant?”; sometimes it was one those refined restaurants with their star-studded banners; sometimes it was one those “so-called fine-dining” restaurants hiding big advertisements behind their embellished façades.

 

As I was relishing a bite from lamb tandoori with a Michelin star, I woke up and opened my eyes. I thought this was a dream. Because the Topkapı Palace, a building served as home to the Ottoman sultans for 400 years, was dazzling my eyes with its lighting. And no, we didn’t have any Michelin-star-awarded restaurant in Turkey. But yes, the dish before me was like cooked in a Michelin restaurant in France…

 

On the terrace of Tomtom Suits on the same street with the Italian consulate, Nicole Restaurant was a delightful place with a view embracing the Seven Hills up to Adalar. It was named after its previous owners, the priests who wandered around the streets of Istanbul offering their healing powers to the people. Although its atmosphere looked a bit less basic than the colorful and delightful entrance of the hotel, the tasteful dishes cooked by the Aylin and Kaan couple were successful enough to shift our focus towards our table.

Kaan Sakarya is one of the chefs who prefer to chase the natural; since he was trained by the great chef Alain Passard who can almost communicate with plants. Moreover, his experience with refined restaurants is not limited to Arpège***. Kaan successfully expanded his vision with the star-awarded restaurants such as Pastorale**, Couvert Couvert*, In de Wulf* in Belgium, following Taillevent** and L’Ami Jean. You can understand from his CV that he is a perfectionist. But he doesn’t have even a bit of arrogance in his manners. To the contrary, he’s got a sincere and humble attitude.

 

His wife, Aylin Yazıcıoğlu is a pastry chef, trained in Ecole Cordon Bleu. She is originally a sociologist. She wended her way towards this area with a radical decision during her PhD. She also worked with Jean Charles Rochoux, the chef of Maison du Chocolate, Mecca for the artisan chocolate in France. Her work experience includes outstanding restaurants like Restaurant Alain Senderens**, Couvert Couvert* and Hispania Restaurant*. She also insists on using fresh and high-quality ingredients in the kitchen. The wheat of the artisan breads were brought from Kars. The desserts were wonderful. We were not sure of which one is more surprising: the taste of the hand-made chocolate or Aylin’s candid and humble attitude for her art.

 

The serving staff is another thing that I should mention. They were neither too formal nor too casual; with perfectly balanced communication with the customers, the staff was outstanding for their knowledge of what they serve to the customers. Among the accomplished staff just as a restaurant at this level would have, especially the Maître d'hôtel Burak pulled off a commendable job with his refined servicing and his proficiency in English communicating to the foreign diner as almost the half of the customers was a foreigner that night.

 

Nicole Restaurant has two tasting menus, a longer one and a shorter menu. In addition to this, the restaurant also offers an “a la carte” menu.

 

In order to make the best of the seasonal vegetables and fruits, they change the menu every six weeks. Although the ingredients were not as high quality as in France, the Chef Kaan fills his kitchen with the goods which he loyally buys from the Ecological Bazaar (tr. Ekolojik Pazar) in Feriköy. The fish are chosen from the catch of the day.

 

We start off the night choosing “The Long Tasting Menu” with a few additions from the other one.

 

The table was first served an amuse bouche dish which included smoked salmon tartare, sirloin steak and pieces of mussels. The source of its beautiful smell was its bedding, made from black and white peppercorns. As I mentioned in one of the previous blog posts, white pepper has been used as a bad alternative to black pepper. But here, the intention of the bedding was just to make the dish appealing both to the eyes and to the nose. Just as it was intended, the smell of the warm peppercorns was all around the table.

 

Following this delightful start, our next tasting dish was smoked wahoo. Wrapped around the rice chips, the fish was served with a sablé, with some mild cream cheese and a slice of radish. Both tasting dishes had first-class taste.

 

Our next dish was almond soup, an incredible mixture of greens all in one bowl. With snow peas, asparagus and some mint, it had a refreshing flavor suitable for consumption in the hot weather. As a combination of such contrasting ingredients, it felt like we were eating a bowl of happy tzatziki.

 

That night, brown crab salad was the example of how the appearance of one dish could be inversely proportional to its taste. Although the slices of apples created a mess in the dish, it left a fine aftertaste on our palates. I can say it was the salad form of the famous Spanish cold soup “gazpacho” which is generally made from raw vegetables, especially tomatoes.

 

The next dish was boiled shrimps with a perfect balance of appearance and taste. With some carp roe, salad rocket and fresh garlic, it was my favorite dish from the tasting menu.

 

Served with a free-range egg and wild greens, asparagus tasted a notch above average.

 

The catch of the day was umbrine. This tasteful offshore fish was served with spring vegetables and lemon balm sauce, and had a light and refreshing aftertaste.

 

The following dish was the most innovative meal of the night: grilled octopus wrapped in vine leaves. The idea of putting grilled tentacles on tripe stew just proves how creative its recipe is. The only problem with that was the overly contrasting flavors of the dish. As I expressed it to the Chef Kaan as well, the intense flavor of the tripe stew overshadowed the taste of the grilled octopus. If its formula can be fine-tuned a bit, it becomes a great and balanced meal.

 

The start of the night was lamb dish, served with fresh common purslane. The baked fore shank melted in the mouth just like butter. As I don’t like animal fat, I cut off this part before I ate it. But then again, it didn’t lose anything from its delightful taste.

 

 

Hidden in the dish was another wonderful flavor: lamb in tandoori. This amuse-bouche certainly deserved all the praise it got. This tiny piece of lamb seasoned with cinnamon tasted like a flavor bomb releasing its juicy aromas against our palates. It was also accompanied by a little ball made from anchovy which was another successful flavor to complement the dish.

                                                                    

For the next dish, we had hanger steak which was made from the beef right behind the chest cage of the animal. It doesn’t melt in the mouth like sirloin steak does; it feels a bit chewy. But again, it felt like I was eating a chewy wagyu beef because of the fat veins penetrated into the steak. Having been paired with Kalecik Karası, it created a great combination in our palates. It was one of the impressive dishes that you should definitely try when you have the opportunity.

 

You could say that the wine paring was harmonious not just for the hanger steak but for every dish. One of the impressive wines that night was late night harvest Savignon Blanc. It was perfectly paired with the brown crab salad, with a distinct sugary flavor caused by the noble rot “botrytis cinera” making the grapes lose their water content.

 

The night ended with a “happy ending” as it was named in the menu. We tasted two desserts prepared by the Pastry Chef Aylin.

 

The first one was ice cream accompanied by strawberries. The ice cream made from goat milk was like dancing out of joy, being covered by strawberries in every possible form. Especially the strawberry sprinkles over the ice cream were kept in 50° for two days. The dessert left an impressive aftertaste in our palates.

 

The following dessert was chocolate bar which was put on a piece of delectable flourless almond cake. However the mastic ice cream over the chocolate bar could have more intense flavor. But I can say it was already a nice dessert the way it was.

 

Especially the quality of the dark chocolate manifested itself again in the form of petit fours. Served with a cup of Turkish coffee following the meal, the petit fours was outstanding with home-made bitter chocolate with almond and citrus. The chocolate with truffles also deserved the praise it got from the table.

 

The only downside of the restaurant is that there is not a special place for my cigar ritual. Since the restaurant has already a retractable roof, if they create a cigar bar with a few tables and offering digestives, this move would make the restaurant equal to the top tier of internationally known restaurants.

 

Turkey of today has many educated, experienced and brilliant young people just like the young couple Kaan and Aylin. Besides being skilled and intelligent, they are also open to criticism as well as to knowledge. There is an impressive background of knowledge and experience behind their respectable and humble character. When we look at the big picture that the couple created with the support of a qualified team, just as it should be, it really deserves all the admiration.

 

From now on, I won’t bother asking “Why don’t we have even one Michelin-star-awarded restaurant in Turkey?” Because I know that the more restaurants like Nicole are opened in Turkey, the sooner one of them will be awarded with a Michelin star.

 

Bon appétit and enjoy the taste of life…

 

Nicole Restaurant

www.nicole.com.tr

Boğazkesen Cad. Tomtom Kaptan Sok.

No: 18 Beyoğlu / İstanbul

+90 212 292 44 67