Tasting Notes
Yanyalı Fehmi is at Yağlıkçı İsmail Sokak 1, in the streets behind the Kadıköy waterfront. It was opened in 1919 by Fehmi Efendi, whose family had come from Yanya (Ioannina, now in Greece), and it is run today by the third generation. It is listed in the Michelin Guide.
Lamb dishes and köfte
Close to a hundred dishes go out each day. The meat side includes orman kebap (lamb with peas, carrots and potatoes), kuzu tandır, elbasan tava, kağıt kebabı baked in paper, saray kebap and lamb in clay pots. Köfte come in many styles, among them kadınbudu, İzmir, dalyan and Hasanpaşa, and the grill has şiş köfte, lamb chops and liver.
Vegetables, pulses and puddings
Stewed vegetables with meat, stuffed vegetables, olive-oil dishes such as imam bayıldı and artichokes, and pulses including white beans and chickpeas fill the rest of the counter. The milk puddings are a strength: rice pudding, güllaç, su muhallebisi, tavuk göğsü, kazandibi and elmasiye, with baklava, tulumba and aşure among the other sweets.
“Go at lunchtime, order orman kebap with white beans and an olive-oil dish from the counter, and finish with güllaç or kazandibi.”
LR Kitchen — field note