Tasting Notes
Hacı Abdullah is at Atıf Yılmaz Caddesi 9/A in Beyoğlu, close to İstiklal Avenue. By the restaurant's own account it opened in 1888 on the Karaköy quay under the name Abdullah Efendi, moved to Rumeli Han in 1915 and to its present address in 1958, and took the name Hacı Abdullah in 1983; it says its first licence was granted by Sultan Abdülhamid II.
Olive-oil dishes, stews and lamb
The menu is a long list of classic Ottoman-Turkish dishes. Olive-oil vegetables include celeriac, leeks, borlotti beans, imam bayıldı, and vine and cabbage leaves stuffed with rice. Hot vegetable dishes run from white beans and türlü to hünkar beğendi and keşkek. Among the meat dishes are kuzu tandır, beğendili kebap (lamb on smoky aubergine purée), lamb shank with aubergine or vermicelli, tas kebabı and elbasan tava, and the grill has köfte, lamb skewers, liver and lamb chops.
Puddings and compotes
Desserts are a large part of the menu: baked rice pudding made with water-buffalo milk, aşure, keşkül, quince and pumpkin in syrup, and the house poppy-seed dessert. There are also ten kinds of compote, from apricot to cornelian cherry, and fresh fruit plates.
“Order the kuzu tandır or beğendili kebap with imam bayıldı and vermicelli pilaf, and finish with the buffalo-milk rice pudding or a compote.”
LR Kitchen — field note