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Arnavut Köfte

Istanbul’s Bayrampaşa district is located just to the east of the city’s historic 5th-century walls, and is synonymous with industry, unchecked urban growth, and immigrants from the Balkans. One neighborhood has a replica of Bosnia’s Mostar Bridge, while dozens of restaurants can be found serving the specialties of Sancak, a Bosnian Muslim region that is nowadays split between Serbia and Montenegro, and from which a huge number of Bayrampaşa residents trace their roots. We’ve written about these places in the past, and were delighted to recently stumble upon a Kosovar Albanian restaurant of sorts, the first one we’ve encountered in the city.

Arnavut Köfte

By Arnavut (which means “Albanian” in Turkish) Köfte & Piyaz specializes in the variations of grilled meat that are the flagship dishes of the Balkans. In the kitchen is 45-year-old Murat Sarı, whose father came to Istanbul from Kosovo’s largest city of Pristina in 1957 as a child. Sarı’s mother is from the city of Novi Pazar in Sancak. After spending two decades in the restaurant business working for other people, Sarı and his wife opened By Arnavut on the main street of Bayrampaşa’s Sağmalcılar neighborhood in 2020. This coincided with the Covid-19 pandemic, yet Sarı made it out of the swamp and is thriving in a modest manner, as his six-table restaurant has become a small fixture in the area.

Arnavut Köfte

On the menu there is çevapi (finger-shaped köfte ubiquitous in the former Yugoslavia) as well as pljeskavica (burger-shaped patties stuffed with kaşar cheese), another Balkan staple. Sarı’s main speciality is called Arnavut köfte, though he is quick to point out that this is his creation, not something brought from the ancestral homeland.

Sarı’s prime motivation for naming his restaurant an Albanian place was due to all of the restaurants in the Bayrampaşa with the word Bosnia in their names. It was time for the Albanians to get some representation. After all, there are probably more people of Albanian descent in Turkey today than the entire populations of Albania and Kosovo combined, yet their visual presence in Bayrampaşa is dominated by their Bosnian neighbors. In fact, one classic Istanbul dish we’ve written about many times over the years is Arnavut ciğeri (Albanian liver), cube-shaped morsels of liver (usually beef ) drizzled in flour and spices, pan-fried together with similarly-shaped hand-cut potatoes. This is served in multiple variations, as a cold meze at meyhanes, a hot dish in tradesmen restaurants, and as a street food, in the form of a sandwich with fresh chopped onions and parsley. The dish, however, originated back in the Ottoman period and its name comes from the fact that Albanian immigrants to Istanbul were the ones who prepared and sold it.

Arnavut Köfte

Sarı’s köfte is made daily from a mixture of beef rib and brisket, and he says his secret is that no spices are added to the mix. That would be redundant, as the köfte is served alongside an excellent homemade spicy, acidic red pepper sauce popping with flavor. These square-shaped morsels are tossed on a charcoal-fired grill, where Sarı rapidly flips them over repeatedly until they are ready. This results in a snappy, charred texture while the center is juicy and a perfect medium-rare – just how we like our köfte. The meat is sourced from the nearby province of Balıkesir, known nationwide for the quality of its livestock.

Arnavut Köfte

Sarı’s rendition of piyaz, a bean salad that is the Robin to köfte’s Batman, is excellent in its slight quirks. The requisite white beans dashed with lemon, olive oil, and vinegar are there, but they are topped with sumac-laced red onions, tomatoes, and spicy green peppers, giving this simple and occasionally underwhelming side dish a burst of flavor. We devoured the plate and then dipped a square of köfte in the juices that lingered behind.

“I don’t have the capacity for a very busy customer base but many people know me; they definitely stop by when they are in the area. I’m not smothered by my customers but during religious holidays we can get full doing takeout orders and with reservations,” Sarı explained.

Arnavut Köfte

After our meal, Sarı was kind enough to bring us dessert on the house. It’s a plate of kemalpaşa, small spheres of syrup-laden spongy decadence that here is elevated due to being topped with crushed hazelnuts and drizzled with tahini sauce. This is normally not a sweet treat that we order, but we quickly finish the portion.

Sarı has three children, two of which are currently attending university, and he said that he would like to teach them his craft if they are interested. He embodies the ideal esnaf (small tradesman), ultimately concerned with quality and customer satisfaction rather than a quick payday that would sacrifice his brand, which is linked with his heritage.

“I am satisfied and satiated, not in the financial sense but spiritually. This is very important. Will I expand in the future? I don’t know. If this is going to grow, I want it to grow in tiny steps, with small shops,” Sarı said, adding that one of his dreams would be to grill köfte seaside in one of Turkey’s pastoral beach towns. This conjures up images of indulging in ice-cold mugs of Efes draft beer alongside this succulent Albanian köfte while sunbathing after a swim on a hot summer day. Hopefully our dreams align with Sarı’s one day.

Published on October 24, 2024

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