The story
In Sarıyer, on the European side of Istanbul, Herise İstanbul brings the deep culinary memory of Anatolia to the table. Run by Asude and Bahadır, the restaurant is a personal project of return: to the seasonal products of local producers, to the slow rituals of the hearth, and to the hospitality of the Anatolian home. Their work has earned a Michelin Recommended award, putting a spotlight on the quiet revival of regional Turkish cuisine in the city.
There is no a la carte at Herise İstanbul. Instead, one fixed menu moves through the day’s ingredients with a clarity that feels both old and new. It begins with sourdough mini pide, tulum cheese, honey, and mahleb-spiced ghee—a simple, confident opening. From there, the meal unfolds through dishes like chickpea vardabiti, where Hevsel Bahçesi chickpeas meet fermented sucuk and a crunch of simit crumbs, and roasted eggplant meatballs in a garlicky tomato sauce.
The heart of the menu is keşkek, the ancient Anatolian dish of veal neck and wheat slowly cooked in bone marrow broth—a preparation that has long marked celebrations in Turkish villages. It arrives alongside other traditional sweets: zerde, a saffron and rosewater rice pudding studded with pine nuts and currants, and kırık helva, a flour helva brightened with hibiscus sauce. The drinks list, too, reaches back, with herbal sherbets, spicy ayran, and sirkencübin (pine honey and apple vinegar).
Herise İstanbul’s dining room is calm and unfussy, letting the food speak. The restaurant is closed on Mondays and Tuesdays, and serves lunch and dinner Wednesday through Sunday. For anyone looking to taste the richness of Turkish cuisine beyond the familiar kebab, this is a rare and deliberate experience—one that honors tradition without museum-like rigidity.
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