January 18, 2024
Murat Kelle Paça: The Soup Kitchen
IstanbulEditor's note: It's Soup Week at Culinary Backstreets, and to kick things off, our Istanbul correspondent takes us to an eatery in Beyoğlu whose hearty broths refuel late-night revelers and daytime workers alike. Most of Murat Kelle Paça’s clientele stumble in between 1 and 5 o’clock in the morning, after a boisterous night of drinking, concert-going…
November 22, 2022
Behind Bars: A Beer-Soaked Bastion of Resistance in Beyoğlu
IstanbulThe area around Mis (meaning “Pleasant-Smelling”), Kurabiye (“Cookie”) and Süslü Saksı (“Fancy Flowerpot”) Streets is as eclectic and appealing as these monikers would suggest, at least as far as we're concerned. This corner in the backstreets of Istanbul's Beyoğlu district is home to a trifecta of our favorite local haunts: Müşterek, its sister meyhane, Meclis,…
August 4, 2021
Kadıköy Kelle Söğüş Muammer: Head Start
IstanbulBefore we cross the Bosphorus Strait to Asia, this story starts on Istanbul’s European side, at a small stand that has been operating in Beyoğlu since the mid-1970s. There, Muammer usta serves up expertly-cooked and sliced cuts of kelle söğüş (chilled lamb's head meat), perched in a strategic location across from the local fish market…
