The rejuvenating tastes of Istanbul

"Tucked away in the courtyard garden of Ahırkapı’s iconic stone fortress and wooden gates under a canopy of big old trees, this hidden surprise lets you dine outside when it’s warm and huddle inside the newly restored Sultanahmet House in winter. You sit among robinia, blackberry, and judas trees at wooden tables with blue/white or red chequered tablecloths as row upon row of mezes arrives. Chef-owner Ayşe Şensılay, of Cretan roots, preserves her forefathers’ culinary traditions with the purest seasonal ingredients she handpicks from markets, the outdoors, and her travels. She steams mustard greens, turnip greens, fennel leaves, stinging nettle, mallow, ivy, wild asparagus, and more, then drenches them in extra virgin olive oil and lemon for vivid salads; she also sautés the same greens in olive oil and turns them into stuffed pastries whose roughly chopped leaves sing thanks to the oil. On special occasions, mutton stewed in wild fennel greens delivers an out-of-this-world duet of licorice and slight bitterness that compliments the meat. The signature Girit mezesi blends bitter olives, dried herbs, walnuts, garlic, and goat’s cheese, while other to-die-for dishes include fava beans, marinated raw sea bass, köpoğlu mancası, Ege turşusu, çağla semizotu cacığı, and tarama—each leaning on superb olive oil. With taverna music lingering, laughter, and clinking glasses toasting to friendships, summer, and good food, it feels like eating in your mother’s or grandmother’s dining room; they don’t call Şensılay “Ayşe Anne” for nothing, and the care with which she sets every table wraps around you like a giant hug." - MICHELIN Guide