Asitane Restaurant Imperial Ottoman Cuisine

Since 1991, Asitane has been compiling authentic recipes from a number of sources; the kitchen registers from Topkapı, Dolmabahçe and Edirne Palaces, books and memoirs written by visiting overseas state officials, documents in Beyazıt and Millet Libraries, and a book entitled “Bir Ziyafet Defteri” detailing the circumcision ceremony in November 1539 of Beyazıd and Cihangir, the two sons of Sultan Süleyman the Magnificent.

With the aid of old Ottoman dictionaries, Asitane has archived more than 200 original recipes, and serves them in its summer and winter menus. Each year Asitane offers special menus such as the “Ramadan Menu”, “Dishes from Mehmet the Conqueror’s Reign” during the week celebrating Istanbul’s conquest, “Fish and Sea Food Week” in the autumn, “Food from Istanbul Kitchens”, “Aphrodisiacs from the Palace Menu”, and a “1950’s New Years Menu”. The Ottoman style brunch on Sundays is always popular also.

Asitane is very particular about the ingredients used in preparing these special dishes. In keeping with the original recipes, the restaurant obtains its bulgur and other cereals from Urfa, pistachios, dövme nişasta and oil from Gaziantep, lamb from Tekirdağ, smoked Çerkez cheese from Adapazarı, hünnap from Finike, Kanlıca and oyster mushrooms from Bolu and Kastamonu, geese from Eskişehir Alpu, pomegranate and grape extract from Antakya, and specially produced olive oil from Ayvalık region.

Each dish on the menu comes with its original Ottoman name.