Luxury dining isn't about dressing up – it's about feeding your family with love
Aylin Yazicioglu is the chef-founder of Nicole, a restaurant in Istanbul which was recently awarded Best Restaurant in Turkey by La Liste 2019, which bases its selections on compilations of hundreds of guidebooks and millions of online reviews.
Non a bad accolade for a trained sociologist who quit her third year doctorate studies in social history at Cambridge Academy at the age of 36 to pursue her passion for nutrient.
To bring her dreams to life, Yazicioglu enrolled at the famed Le Cordon Bleu Paris, and later worked in Michelin-starred restaurants in Paris, Kingdom of belgium and Barcelona for 10 years earlier opening Nicole.
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The eating place is housed inside Tom Tom Suites, a chic, 20-suite luxury bazaar hotel converted from a 19th century Franciscan convent. It overlooks the onetime town and the Bosphorus, and its location in the Beyoglu district, places it within Istanbul's nigh agile art, amusement and nightlife middle. Its moniker is derived from a nun called Agnes Marthe Nicole, who healed numerous patients in this very edifice.
"People recall this is a luxurious, high-end place where yous need to apparel up. No, it's not. It's for people to feel good. It's considering of those sentimental times I spent effectually family unit dinner. Yearning for the same feeling was why I started cooking."
A new five- or eight-course menu is created every six weeks based on seasonal produce, which Yazicioglu personally sources from local markets.
"I use French techniques in my cuisine simply ever combine it with Turkish flavours and ever using local food. For me, all the seafood is really what describes Istanbul cuisine. When you await exterior, you see the sea going through the islands. The autumn flavor is unremarkably going to be full of fish," she said.
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Past dishes take included the likes of Octopus with eggplant, tomato plant and peppers; Monkfish with bearnaise sauce and effluvious herbs; Lamb with Kunefe (a sweet cheese pastry); Apricot with labne (a salted strained yogurt dip) and granola. The restaurant's wine list features an extensive selection from the Aegean, Thrace and Anatolia regions, as well every bit imported varieties.
"Sometimes people ask 'How do you combine those flavours?' And I respond: 'It'southward not me, but Mother Nature. Information technology serves y'all what y'all demand to take. That comes together with this, so obviously they go together," said Yazicioglu.
"People recall this is a luxurious, high-end identify where you need to dress up. No, it'south not. Information technology's for people to feel skilful. It's considering of those sentimental times I spent effectually family dinner. Yearning for the aforementioned feeling was why I started cooking," said Yazicioglu.
She added: "My grandmothers were amazing cooks. It wasn't just near the cooking, information technology was about feeding your family and feeding them with love. It'south not necessarily the food you serve, but you should attend them."
Yazicioglu also sees the eating place equally a ways for raising people's consciousness.
"My training as a sociologist definitely helped me with my perspective in the kitchen," she shared. "It's not just about cooking. I want to enhance sensation [of nutrient issues]. When I call back about planning my menu with the all-time produce, I found myself facing issues. Industrialisation in agriculture has changed then many things. I can no longer use craven on my carte because of the fashion they've been raised."
"I try to make sure that the young generation is ready to take the side by side stride. And I want them to be better than myself."
In her early years, restaurant kitchens were typically male-dominated. Seeking to correct this imbalance, Yazicioglu championed gender equality and equal opportunity at Nicole.
"I guess the biggest achievement [for me is having] immature people writing their application letters request to learn. They know this is the place to improve themselves. I try to make certain that the young generation is ready to take the next step. And I desire them to be amend than myself."
Adjusted from the series Remarkable Living. Watch total episodes on CNA, every Dominicus at viii.30pm, starting December i.
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Source: https://cnalifestyle.channelnewsasia.com/remarkableliving/nicole-best-restaurant-istanbul-turkey-176806
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