A Meditation on Istanbul: Mikla Restaurant

Istanbul, like a charming lady…

 

She throws a different gaze at you from her every seven hills with a playful arrogance; she knows how beautiful she is.

 

You may resist it; but you won’t notice how she fills your heart. You want to know her, every detail about her. But then everyday a new surprise would be waiting for you in her alleys and this makes you to realize it is impossible to know her completely. You know she has her mood shifts; for a moment, she smiles at your face but then the smile fades in seconds in a way that also makes you sad. Although you had numerous fights with all the frustration it caused you and without choice, broke out in tears before her, soon you would wear your rose-tinted glasses and remember Istanbul through only beautiful memories you shared with her.

 

This is why, every night, Istanbul puts on her make-up with an ultimate care and wears all her dazzling jewelry and sleeps in her bed like an innocent child as you lose yourself watching her like a lover and cleansing from your mind your memories with her.

 

Today, I’d like to introduce you to a restaurant where I found myself watching Istanbul, again, in her radiant sleep: Mikla Restaurant

 

 

A Determined Entrepreneur

 

Mehmet Gürs is one of the successful and internationally renowned Turkish chefs. Son of a Swedish mother and a Turkish father, the chef is 45 years old. We can even list Finland in his international experiences.

 

As he started off his carrier by opening “Downtown” in Nişantaşı in the year of 1996, he was affected by the greatest economic crisis of our history, also known as the “Black Wednesday” and he shut down his first business venture in 2001. To the contrast of many investors at that time who couldn’t thrive after the crisis, almost lending an ear to the words of Nietzsche “what doesn’t kill you, makes you stronger,” he rebuilt his vision and introduced such big names as “Lokanta”, “Nu Teras” and “Num Num” to the sector.  Following these hard times where he proved his capabilities in entrepreneurship and business management, he’s become a famous face in the culinary world with his interviews published in the leading newspapers and magazines of the world, invitations to make a speech at some international activities and his own published books along with T.V. shows.

 

Opened in 2005, Mikla has become the castle of this success story with its unique atmosphere and style.

 

Mikla and a Viking Myth

 

Down the trade routes of the 16th century, the Vikings happened to visit the Bosphorus. They were amazed at how big and amazing the city was with a population of around 100,000 since the most crowded town they had visited until that time had a population of around 1,000. Hence, they called the city “Miklagard” which means “The Wonderful village, big village”. Inspired by this story he heard in his childhood, Gürs named the restaurant “Mikla” which was located in Marmara Pera Hotel.

 

The view from the restaurant is breathtaking! Hagia Sophia, the Sultan Ahmet Mosque, Galata and Boğaziçi… You can see all the landmarks in Istanbul from Mikla.

 

With a panoramic view of the historical Yarımada, the restaurant was built on Gürs’ passion for the history and his idea of creating a modern atmosphere in Istanbul. It is both chic and cozy at the same time. While the seating capacity is 120 people for the indoors, for those who want to listen to the seagulls, the terrace has a capacity of 40 people.

 

With its white and quite basic decoration, the bar doesn’t distract you from enjoying the view while you’re sipping on something before the meal. When the dusk comes over the city, its design turns out pretty attractive with all the lighting on.

 

The service staff was not ignorant of even the slightest detail. They were well- informed about their job and duly attentive to the customers.

 

65-70 percent of the customers were not Turkish. In other words, the foreign - Turkish customer ratio was similar to that of Nicole Restaurant at Tomtom Suits run by the Chef Kaan and the Chef Aylin.

 

Before 2012, Mikla served with a menu inspired by the Nordic cuisine created by the chef who reworked the recipes he learned from his Turkish and Scandinavian experiences. As the chef took interest in researching the Anatolian cuisine, the restaurant changed its style a bit too.

 

With a philosophy based on his words “Without a farmer, there is no food; without food, there is no future,” Gürs has been trying to draw the gastronomy map of Turkey and explore the Turkish culinary culture in collaboration with a team he brought together. The real intention behind his efforts is to find an answer to the questions such as “What comprises Turkish cuisine? Once we precisely explore the past, what can we add up to that and how can we do that? What can do for the Neo-Anatolian Cuisine?”

 

Created out of such curiosity, Mikla offers two menus: three course a la carte (160 YTL) and a tasting menu (240 YTL).

 

Our night started off with bite-sized tastes: a few slices of bread along with olive oil, which unfortunately didn’t leave an impressive aftertaste. In other words, the bread could be better to meet our expectations of crispy, piping hot breads.

 

Vegetables and zeytinyağlı dish was made with different vegetables like onions, garden rocket, peas and radish which were either raw or cooked with methods different from the traditional way of cooking. With its fresh and properly chosen ingredients, it pleased our palates and it was one of the best dishes of the night.

 

The following dish was balık ekmek (a kind of fish sandwich). With its presentation, plate and look, it has become one of the signature dishes of the restaurant. The sheet-like slices of the crispy olive oil bread with sardines are placed into the slits etched on the stones that Mehmet Gürs collected from the creeks which were unfortunately dried out because of the hydroelectric power plants. With a subtle lemon aroma, it was actually not bad; but it would be far better if it had been a little more deep fried.

 

Dried tenderloin was composed of salted and dried beef tenderloin, tomato ezme (paste), pomegranate syrup, radish and isot flakes (a type of pepper). Although it was delicious with a sprinkle of tiny garden rockets on the top, the dish was a bit heavy for the season.

 

I just took a bite from grouper and put down my fork. It was not well-preserved and put off my appetite with its frozen fish smell. Having been located in Istanbul and still not using fresh fish was not something I expected from this restaurant. So I didn’t even take the picture of the grouper.

 

Lamb shack was a combination of Trakya kıvırcık lamb shank, a stew of peas and chards, pureed fresh potato with cumin, and tomato paste with basil. It was another successful dish with all the vegetables cooked with olive oil.

 

Cheese and honey brought to the table was composed of İzmir Bergama Tulum cheese and honey from a village located near the Georgia border. The only problem with this delectable dish was its ridiculously small portion. The amount of the cheese and the honey is too small to even an amuse bouche, it quickly finishes leaving you wanting more.

 

When we moved on to the dessert session, the first one was kazandibi made with roasted chickpeas coated with honey, sour apple sorbet, hardaliye, yoghurt with grape molasses and flax seeds. Heightened to another level of taste with an experimental combination, it was really a good try.

 

The wine cellar of the restaurant was satisfactory. Six glasses of wine paired with the tasting menu (120 YTL) were a good accompaniment for the meal.

 

More Collaboration

 

Mehmet Gür is one of the valuable chefs in the Turkish culinary scene. He’s one of the first to rework the Anatolian cuisine with a foreigner’s touch and make the initial experiments for the fusion cuisine in Turkey. And lately he took on a new much cherished research all for the best.

 

One of the biggest problems of the gastronomy sector in Turkey is that our few valuable chefs don’t visit each other and exchange ideas enough. Indeed, in order to redefine the Turkish cuisine and to be able to call it “neo”, the chefs need to make strong and reasonable moves along with a better collaboration.

 

With a view that could inspire you to say that “I think I’m falling in love with Istanbul,” and a fine service, Mikla is a chic restaurant where you could have a nice night at. Of course the dishes are not bad, but I’d expect more from Mehmet Gürs.

 

Highly recommended for those who want to enjoy a meditation on the spectacular city of Istanbul from a well-prepared dinner table.

 

Bon appétit and enjoy the taste of life…