Esnaf Lokantasi: An Authentic Turkish Restaurant

I always say that Turkish cuisine can be brought onto the global scene by only a modern yet not excessive touch on the traditional Turkish food, however, I encourage small restaurants as well (tr. esnaf lokantası which means restaurants meant for the small-store owners) to preserve their authenticity. For this reason, I sometimes take a stroll around the back streets and try to pay a visit to these small culinary temples which are the building blocks of Turkish cuisine.

Recently, upon a recommendation by my dear friend Bülent Akgerman, the Izmirian members of Chaîne des Rôtisseurs met up at one of these invaluable restaurants, Esnaf Lokantası where we had a great dinner thanks to the menu created by the contributions of dear Nedim Atilla.

Chef Mahmut Usta had his first encounter with kitchen in the early 1990s and thanks to the skills he inherited from his father, he has been since then running another valuable Kemeraltı restaurant Bizim Lokanta with his partner Mehmet Usta. Later on, he and Mr. Murat decided to open Esnaf Lokantası where they have been serving to mainly the small store keepers the traditional food with big portions in a hygienic atmosphere. Mahmut Usta has a great ability where he can intuitively balance the ingredients without needing another tool, which adds up to his “usta” title meaning “master” in English. Hence, you won’t be needing to add anything extra to the food such as salt, black pepper, hot spices, lemon or vinegar.

With a capacity for up to 50 people, the restaurant’s biggest percentage of customers are female. The most popular dish is ayak-paça çorbası (beef leg & trotter soup) which is only served on Mondays and Wednesdays. I wouldn’t hesitate to say it is the best beef & trotter soup I’ve ever had in my life! The chef, first, cleans the trotter and boils them for 12 hours straight, which ends up in the meat coming off of the bones. Since it is found to be similar to the gel-like fluid that exists under the knee caps, the gel-like stratum over the soup is said to have beneficial effects for those who have problems with their bone-joints and knees. Even, Mr. Murat banters with us saying they don’t serve the soup to those without any prescription.

My other favorite dish is işkembeli nohut, which is chickpeas with tripe. Originating in Cretan cuisine, the dish is cooked for 12 hours with the addition of Trabzon butter. It is a stable dish on the menu. When it comes to the dishes made from the myriad Aegean herbs and plants, kuzu etli, terbiyeli şevketibostan is a quite successful one, which literally means cnicus with lamb meat cured with egg yolk and lemon. The lamb meat is from the suckling lambs weighing around 10 kilograms which are sourced from Ödemiş, Tire and Bayındır. Served only on Fridays, atom kokoreç too is made with lamb meat.

Zeytinyağlı fasulye pilaki (bean salad with olive oil) is made with a special sort of bean sourced from Samsun. With some dill, mint and red pepper on top, it looks quite picturesque. Served only these days, çağla badem (unripe almond) is another novelty on the menu. As it is prepared with olive oil, its cooking process is quite like artichoke’s. I totally recommend to those who is yet to give it a go.

The dessert kestane kabağı is made with the squash (see: cucurbita maxima) brought from Adapazarı. Crowned with a special clotted cream which is made from a mixture of cow and lamb milk, it is a pleasant end to the series of dishes from the traditional Turkish cuisine.

The dishes start to show up on the counter at 8:00 o’clock and disappear at about 17:00 o’clock. I recommend the restaurant not only to the Izmirians who happen to visit Kemeraltı but also to those people from around the world who enjoy the traditional Turkish cuisine.

Bon appétit and enjoy the taste of life...

876 Sokak No:45 Hisarönü
+90232 484 54 83