B’ready Snacks&bites: The New Player of Izmir

One is a highly educated and highly successful Landscape Architect, and the other one is a versatile Business Analyst who speaks 6 languages…

What brings together these two people in the kitchen and keep them up for almost 15 hours a day is gastronomy passion…

B’ready Snacks&Bites, which opened its doors a few months ago in Izmir, is located in Zuhal Yorgancı Sokak in Alsancak. Behind the story are two brilliant young people who were bored by their above-mentioned institutional lives and have decided to follow the love of kitchen in them: Büke Tosun and Hüseyin Güvenç.

As they left the office life aside, the paths of the duo were crossed in Mutfak Sanatları Akademisi (MSA, Culinary Arts Academy). There, Büke received pastry and bread-making training courses and Hüseyin was trained in cooking. They also became a part of the team of several restaurants like Tom’s Kitchen and Spago. Eventually, they decided to postpone their wedding and open their dream restaurant with all their savings. As far as I can tell, their decision was on point! That is, they somehow managed to create a friendly and delicious getaway spot in the heart of the city far from the crowds and all the bustle.

While the duo tries to offer everything “home-made” as much as possible to reduce the number of packaged goods they use to a minimum level, the restaurant’s menu features breakfast options especially the ones with egg-based flavors, snacks such as open sandwiches, toast and hamburger varieties as well as classical dishes like kashkak with chicken, meatballs with beğendi (an eggplant based taste). Besides, desserts are from the recipes improvised by Büke.

Complimented by some cheddar, caramelized onion jam, B’ready hamburger which comes with a delicious juicy home-made burger, made with veal breast and beef ribs, between two soft and tender brioche buns. Both the hamburger itself and the potato chip that accompanies it are the best ones I’ve had in a while in Izmir. Baked in oven and crowned with a special spice mixture, potato chips were deep fried as they should be and hence got a quite light and crispy form without soaking up too much oil.

As for toast which may seem like an easy dish to make, however I think requires much more skill than thought; toast with smoked beef ribs was another dish to enchant my palate which was enhanced by some cheddar and onion jam as well as the addition of “muhammara” featuring pepper paste and walnut.

The first open sandwich I tried at B’ready featured a slice of sourdough, which was their own make, topped with avocado, Erzincan Tulum cheese, labneh spread, rockets, nuts and a sauce made from pomegranate molasses. For the second recipe which was more appealing to my palate, again a piece of sourdough was topped with some oxtail, which was baked in the oven for 6 hours and then seared, German-style sweet pickles, fresh black-eyed peas and cherry tomatoes. The only thing that I can criticize is that the sauces are juicier than expected. I think if they prepare their recipes with a better consistency, they will hit the bull’s eye taste-wise.

When I was chatting with the couple it made me very happy to hear them saying “Franchising kills sincerity.” It is a good thing that they don’t have the “Earn the easy way and expand!” mentality which I think is one of the biggest problems behind the issue of Turkish cuisine making no progress. Passionate to learn and work, the duo seems to have decided to continue with a boutique style as they rework the staple foods offered by many other restaurants. So it is up to us to support them and wish that this taste chart will have an upwards trend.

Bon appétit and enjoy the taste of life…