Eating here is a live history class.
"Under the Ottoman Empire the guilds of cooks were fiercely secretive about their culinary tricks. Consequently few recipes survive from the four and a half centuries of Ottoman rule (1453 to 1918).

In a district of old houses just off a little3 square lined with plane trees, next door to one of the Byzantine churches, St. Savior in Chora, Asitane has devoted itself to the re-creation of this lost cuisine."

New York Times - October 2006

Imperial Authenticity
"The large and airy Asitane Restaurant serves imperial Ottoman cuisine, incorportating Centeral Asitan, Anatolian, Middle Eastern and Balkan flavours, resulting from the intensive research undertaken at theree palace kitchens (Dolmabahce, Topkapi and Edirne) to test and recreate long-forgotten imperisl dishes, whose recipes were traditionally kept secret. Some of the rediscovered dishes on the menu, such as veal in apple sauce, were serverd at the circumcision feast held for two of Suleyman's sons in 1539. The location might be off the beaten track, but Asitane is the one and only restaurant in the city where intrepid diners can experience such unlikely-sounding treats as almond soup. This is a restaurant for the serious culinary adventurer."

From Style City Istanbul

Bosphorus Bites
"... Heady stuff, but Turkey has a history of fusion food. The imperial Ottoman kitchen prided itself on blending recipes and ingredients from across its vast territories: Circassian chicken and Arabic hummus, to name two. For Ottoman flavor, head for Asitane, www.asitanerestaurant.com, in the Old City, which re-creates dishes served at a feast given by Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent in 1539, based on archival research. The sumptuous menu reflects Greek, Persian, Arab and even North African influences. The Sultan, it turns out, was an early fan of fusion."

Time, May. 17, 2007