Matbah Lokantası (restaurant review...)

Matbah Lokantası
Caferiye Sokak, No. 6/1
Sultanahmet, Istanbul

Ottoman Palace Cuisine

www.matbahrestaurant.com
For reservations: reservation@matbahrestaurant.com
Telephone: 090 212 514 6151

I love Turkish food in all forms because everything here is so fresh and I enjoy cooking in the Turkish style. But when we go out, we typically visit restaurants where we can see the food in the windows and can pick and choose – mostly because we’re either going or coming somewhere and are in a hurry. My hubby doesn’t like noisy restaurants AT ALL so most of our ‘dining’ out is during the spring/summer/fall seasons when we can enjoy one of the multitiude of restaurants with outdoor seating and a lovely views.

This winter I had the urge to go to a restaurant that I had heard about from others – Matba Lokantası – because it uses the recipes from the Ottoman Palace. There is only one other restaurant that I’m aware of that follows this path - Asitane Lokantası. I wasn’t surprised to learn that the general manager of Matbah had come from Asitane a few years ago, but there are several distinct differences between the two – location and presentation. While both have excellent food, Matbah beats Asitane hands down.

It was drizzling and cold when we went out that night, so I wasn’t thinking about anything more than having a nice meal with our good friends. I knew that the restaurant was located in the Ottoman Palace Hotel, but didn’t realize that it’s location wasn’t exactly ‘in’ the hotel, but in the back of the hotel in a glassed-in addition overlooking their summer outdoor sitting area and the rooftops of the Cafer Medrese and mosque. From both sides of the room one had slight views of the beautifully lit minarets of Aya Sophia.

The staff were delightful, attentive, and informative. Within minutes of our guests arriving to join us, we were served a lovely sherbet made from the juice of the pomagranade. It wasn’t too sweet and certainly wasn’t sour, but it cleaned the palate as good as any sherbert made from any berry. Please note the difference – sherbet (without the second ‘r’) is a drink; whereas sherbert is an ‘ice’. In Turkey, during the Ottoman days, sherbet was served to prepare one for the meal to follow; whereas in some countries, sherbert is served between courses. It was also a nice way to toast each other’s health before opening the lovely menu.

Bread was quickly brought to the table and if I have anything to suggest to the chef it is to find a bakery that makes really good, traditional sour dough bread in a wood-burning oven! We miss this so much in Turkey that it would have made our meal PERFECT! But they served the average bread that one buys in any bakery here. They did bring us small portions of a walnut, olive, garlic paste and goat cheese to spread on the bread, but because the bread didn’t have much taste or texture, it was hard to enjoy the spread on top – so I ate the spread with a fork instead. This was lovely – I have a similar recipe, but have never added olives! I’ll try this at home.

There were a number of choices in every category and, while we didn’t try everything and never made it to the dessert, we did sample enough that all four of us had the same opinion of our meals – truly wonderful.

Typical of the traditional style of dining in Turkey that I’m used to in the past and unlike the hustle bustle of today, our waiter paid very close attention to us, but waited for us to signal when we were ready with a question, or to order, or when we finished our courses. I enjoy a long meal and this is what you should expect as everything was very freshly prepared. If you are in a hurry and still want to try their menu, speak with the waiter and I’m certain he can tell you what’s possible without compromising their standards.

I was very happy to see that they had Badem Çorbası (almond soup) on the menu as it is one of my favorite and I was very happy with the results, as was my hubby and one of our friends who had their Iskorpit Balığı Çorbası (scorpian fish soup).

Our second course was meze, but not at all like what one normally has. The yaprak dolma (stuffed grapeleaves) was stuffed with sour cherries instead of currants, along with the traditional rice, onions and pine nuts; the hummus incorporated black currants and ground pine nuts – a nice touch; the Hassa Börek (light pastry) was filled with green olives, walnuts, delightful cheese and spices – and the presentation was lovely. The portions are small, but this was fine with us as we had also eaten a fairly large lunch.

We skipped the salads and went straight to the main dishes. Each of us ordered something different and each of us was more than satisfied.

I had the lamb shank. It was perfectly cooked and the entire shank was placed on a bed of nicely smoked beğendi (eggplant puree with old kaşar cheese) sitting in a deep fried shell of yufka. We had a nice discussion with our waiter about whether one should or should not add cheese to their beğengi as I have heard many different opinions. I liked his advice – a little kaşar is needed or it really isn’t beğendi. I liked his answer because I enjoy it with the cheese whereas normally, my hubby would prefer his without. However, we both really liked their version, so I just need to lighten up mine. Pleasantly, the yufka was not oily at all – it must have been done very quickly. On the side was a red pepper-based very nice sauce.

My husband had Ayva dolması – quince stuffed with the traditional stuffing of meat, rice, pine nuts, currants, cinammon, etc., but with an added burst of pekmez – grape molasses. He was worried that it might be too sweet for his palate, but he enjoyed it thoroughly!

One of our friends had the Chicken Kebab resting on a bed of the beğengi and the other had Mutancana, a lamb güveç interestingly served out of an old style earthenware pot shaped like a vase. It was brought to the table flambéd and poured into an empty guveç bowl that had been placed in front of our friend – nice touch. When I saw the apricots pour out I was ready to dive into his dish; then when the waiter separately added sauted figs I knew I had to taste it! A side serving of safron rice was a very nice addition. ‘We’ were not disappointed – it was really delicious.

This, and a bottle of Angora (red – not certain which one it was) was enough for a lovely meal. I highly recommend this restaurant for a special event if you live here or for your last dinner before leaving – or maybe your first in case you want to come back again before you go home! While the restaurant wasn’t busy, we did feel that making reservations provided us with the best table. The general manager was kind enough to spend time showing us the old cookbooks they are working from for a special menu to be presented at the end of May celebrating the time of Fatih Sultan Mehmet. So watch for the event! And make reservations early......