As the waiter brought our check, he also handed us a little booklet about Çiya Sofrasi and Musa Dagdeviren, the chef.


Dagdeviren is cooking Turkish regional cuisine, with his own twist; finding old recipes and local specialties, and then building on them. Turkey is a large country, with many distinct regions and influences.

The booklet goes on for about 20 pages (half print, half photos); I could post more of it if desired, but now that I have found the link, below, I think most of the information is on the website.

http://www.ciya.com.tr/index_en.php?

The link includes menus (not always translated), photos of food (not half-eaten), and even a map that comes up under the contact link. I believe the name tabbed to the right after each item on the menu is the city or region it is from. What I most want to know, of course, is the names of all the greens and herbs, but that does not seem to be included, and I'm guessing, would be in Turkish and not necessarily translatable, anyway.

The next night was our last in Istanbul, and the dinner that we most wanted to repeat was Çiya (the cedilla by the way means that it is pronounced "cheeya"). We considered it well worth the walk to the tram, the tram to the ferry, and the ferry to Asia (tram, 1.5 lira, ferry at most 2 lira, thus the roundtrip, about $4.50 - public transit in Istanbul is great). They comped us some little glasses of blackberry juice, with was very tasty; we think they recognized us (or maybe it was just because we heaped our plates so high with mezes). When two of us ordered Turkish coffee after dinner, they brought the other two complementary ginger and cinnamon tea with ground hazelnuts floating on top.

The second night, when we ate on the first floor, I noticed framed copies of articles from Bon Apetit, etc., on the wall. But I would not say that this felt like a fancy place, or like the kind of place that would hand out a little bio book on the chef. It simply felt like a place where really good, adventurous food was prepared and served in a reasonably comfortable setting and a very reasonable price. All four of us ate for about $60, including a plate each of mezes, a main dish, two desserts to share, and two Turkish coffees. Very inexpensive, considering the quality.

Across the street are two other restaurants owned by the same chef, Çiya Kebap and one other. These we saved for next time.

Next door to Çiya Sofrasi, for those who are as obsessed with books as with food, is the best bookstore we found in Istanbul (best meaning, best English selection at the best prices (books can be very pricey in Turkey)) -- a used bookstore, just to the left, as you are facing the restaurant. Be sure to check out the basement.