Tasty Delights at an Istanbul Hotel

ISTANBUL, May 27, 2009 -- The Ottoman Empire lasted 623 years and spanned three continents at its height. Its heart was Constantinople, modern day Istanbul, a beautiful Turkish city that bridges Europe with Asia, where the influences of East and West meet in art and architecture.

But on a recent visit to Istanbul, I discovered that the Ottoman's also created a distinct tradition of food -- not the Turkish kebab that most people associate with the region, but an exquisite menu of eclectic ingredients.

Many restaurants along the Istikal pedestrian mall or in the touristy neighborhood of Sultanahmet offer a sampling of Ottoman cuisine. But if you want to try some of the very best on offer, you should head to the Four Seasons Hotel in the shadow of the Blue Mosque and Aya Sofia, which is now a museum. Executive Chef Mehmet Gok and his team won first prize in a recent competition in Amasya, where strict rules for ingredients were enforced. The Seasons Restaurant, situated in the hotel's interior courtyard, offers a tasting menu.

"Keeping loyal to the information we found through our research, we combined the special tastes of the past with the modern techniques and decoration items of today," writes in his presentation to diners.

The appetizers were a selection of garden vegetables filled with rice, something many might associate with vine leaves in a Turkish or Greek restaurant. But here the vegetables were green cherry tomatoes, shallots, leeks and green bean leaves with sour cherries. The dish can be dated back to the 15th century when quince, chestnuts or fresh items were stuffed with rice. The flavors of the vegetables are not overpowered by strong sauces or heavily seasoned rice. The presentation is symmetrical, with the tiny tops replaced on the cheery tomatoes and shallots, the green bean leaves propped up by stuffed leeks.

In Italy, you would refer to the next course as the "primo piato," or the pasta course. Gok offers a "manti plate two ways," another beautifully presented dish of the Ottoman version of raviolis. The bottom manti is long and thin and filled with delicious porcini mushrooms and dried aged yogurt. The mushrooms are incredibly flavorful. On top, three ravioli-like manti filled with minced meat. The red and green sauce that stretches across the plate resembles a music staff; the manti are the notes. In Ottoman times, the dried yogurt was packed in salt to make it available throughout the year.