Dinner on the Bosphorus at the Çırağan Palace Kempinski's Bosphorus Grill

I love experiences that heighten the senses. It was with great anticipation that I accepted an invitation to dine at the Çırağan Palace Kempinski's Bosphorus Grill. It's not everyday that one is invited to dine where sultans did, in an Ottoman palace setting, no less.

Earlier this year, I had had my first hammam in Istanbul at the Çırağan Palace Kempinski. Knowing the excellence that the Kempinski Hotel group brought to the operation of their properties, I knew that dinner at the Çırağan Palace Kempinski would be just as divine.

Outside the actual palace,

the gates for arriving water craft

gave a hint of the Bosphorus beauty to come.

Spectacular flowers

greet guests on entry to the hotel:

roses, orchids, lilies, and my favorite:

hydrangeas

I glanced up above the reception desk

to appreciate for a moment

the way one would arrive

at the Çırağan Palace

back in Ottoman times.

 The stately Laledan restaurant

where the weekly Sunday brunch is held.

I would pass through Laledan on my way to the

outdoor Bosphorus grill.

Every inch of the grounds

contribute to relaxing guests.

 

Palm trees and salvia create a

destination entrance

to the Bosphorus Grill.

My hostesses:

Lara and Ciler,

two dynamic young professional

Turkish women who are

superb stewards of the hotel's legacy.

 Lara and Ciler

recommended we try

a Turkish wine from

Bozcadda Island.

 

Corvus Corvus

came from

a high-tech boutique winery

started by an Istanbul architect

and his wife.

They had left everything

to move to the island

and had begun to make wine.

 How romantic.

Children would love the Bosphorus Grill

because the boats come extra close

to see the Palace and the property.

Sezai Erdoğan

is the first Turkish

Executive Chef

at Çırağan Palace Kempinski

in Istanbul,

a pioneering achievement.

Aferin!

 

He is in charge of all the restaurant

and banquet kitchens

within the hotel.

 

Soon after Chef Erdoğan

came by to wish us a good meal,

 Mother Nature added to the evening's enjoyment

by rolling in a mighty thunderstorm

 from the Black Sea:

The storm was so much fun to experience!

The storm came quickly

from the Black Sea,

changed the skies over the Bosphorus

and poured down rain,

and just as quickly,

moved on to the Marmara Sea

at the other end of the Bosphorus.

When the rain stopped,

we went to the banquet area to peek

at what was on offer.

Turkey has extraordinary fruits

during the summer season,

especially Adana watermelon,

fresh melons, apricots, and pears.

 

Notice too, the large Medjool dates

which are

traditionally used to break

a Ramazan fast

due to the amount of sweet, filling, flesh

found in a single date.

That's important for those who have been fasting

since before sunrise.

Eating one date immediately

upon the end of a day's fast

removes the edge of hunger.

 There was a beautiful salad bar.

I resisted.

When in Turkey,

why have salad,

when Turkish chefs

prepare sumptuous mezes

to offer a bit of this and a bit of that?

Oh, and here they are.

Choices upon choices.

Green chicken curry with bamboo shoot

and cashew nut

Sautéed oyster mushrooms with fresh herbs

Grilled baby fennel with carrots

Ratatouille with basil

My final selection of mezes.

Believe me, it was hard to choose.

Looking at the bottom left,

have you even seen smoked salmon and strawberries

paired like that?

That was an idea new to me -

and what a delicious combination.

It was Smoked salmon and avocado salad

with strawberry and balsamic sauce.

 

An eggplant meze up front

because Turkish chefs

know how to make eggplant sing.

This was a Soya marinated,

baked eggplant salad with and fried onions.

 

Fennel comfit with root vegetables,

cinnamon, and star anise

because somehow the Europeans have kept the secret

of how delicious fennel is to themselves.

America has yet to discover fennel

in a big way.

 

Purslane salad with yogurt, garlic and peanuts

(not only is it a delicious salad green,

purslane is a very healthy super food),

also sweet potato salad

 with beef bacon and fresh herbs.

 

Potatoes gratin with truffles -

what satisfying comfort food.

 

The star of the plate was that tiny oven-roasted pear

with ricotta cheese and balsamic dressing.

Wow, it was fantastic.

 After our meze course,

we went back to the grill.

There were roasted lambs and chickens

and vegetables.

Chef d'parti Ibrahim Ünalan demonstrated

how he puts the naan on the side of the oven wall

with his naan mitt -

a detail kids would love

to watch performed

while they peer into the naan oven.

I had never seen this before.

So this is how naan is cooked!

There were so many meats

to choose from for a custom grill.

I choose two delicate lamb chops.

It was a hard choice, because the

pistachio-marinated beef tenderloin

also called out to me.

For those who preferred fish for their grill course,

there was mackerel, and salmon, and prawns

and many other fresh, top-quality choices.

Beef tenderloin

I can get back home,

but lamb done Ottoman-style

is not so easily found

in America.

I made the right choice!

 

 

Our final selection of the evening

was dessert.

What choices!

 Chef Ibrahim shows off

five different kinds of

homemade baklava.

 I think I'll have to try one

 of those small chocolate mousses

in the bottom right corner.

More tortes, cakes, and puddings.

Homemade mango sorbet

accompanied with chocolate mousse

and seasonal summer fruits.

What a beautiful finish to

a lovely dinner

at Çırağan Palace Kempinski's

Bosphorus Grill.

 

To see the entire menu

and price list,

click here.

 

 

 

You may also be interested in:

 

My first Hammam at the Çırağan Palace Kempinski Hotel, Part One

 

My first Hammam at the Çırağan Palace Kempenski Hotel, Part Two

 

Yes, Empty Nest Expat is on Facebook. You can follow me there!

 

 

 

Enjoying Istanbul Waffles

Every city has its famous street food. Istanbul is no different. I don't know how I made it three years without ever tasting one of Istanbul's famous waffles, but somehow I had. It was time to rectify that.

My friend Barb and I had met Internations friends for an afternoon exploring Istanbul's haunted mansion and first art museum in a working office.  After we finished, it was time for a treat. We adjourned to Barb's neighborhood, Bebek, and got in line for waffles (except the girl who was fasting for Ramazan - what discipline!).

There is always a line.

Waffles are beloved in Istanbul.

I admired this Turkish Dad

out making a memory

with his kids.

 We were right behind them

in line.

A waffle maker has to be

even more patient than

a Subway sandwich artist,

because there are even more toppings!

 

First goes on the base cream.

Here are some of your choices:

Nutella, Hazelnut, Dark Chocolate,

Milk Chocolate, White Chocolate,

Caramel, Strawberry, Pistachio,

Banana, and Coconut.

 

I chose Pistachio and White Chocolate.

 Then there is all the fruit.

I chose bananas, cherries,

strawberries, and kiwi.

That was pretty tame

given all of the

candied and fresh options.

 

 

 One last sprinkling

of chopped pistachios.

What I didn't expect

was how warm it would be.

I thought it would have lost its warmth

by the time he assembled it all, but no.

 

One delicious warm, gooey bite after another.

I am not waiting three more years to have another.

An Afternoon of Art and Beauty at the Borusan Contemporary, Part Three

After enjoying a beautiful meal in the Borusan Contemporary museum café, and going up to the 10th floor to see the beautiful view of the Bosphorus from the very top turret in Istanbul's haunted mansion, it was time to explore the art in Turkey's very first office art museum.

This was 1/4 of a Jim Dine painting

with four similar panels.

The color was fantastic.

Every office was full of the most spectacular

coffee table art books.

I could lose myself for hours

just in the books.

These binoculars were in the corner office

so I assume the office belonged to the chairman.

Below, his minimalistic desk.

Someone correct me, if I have this misidentified.

 Color of all hues

uplifted my spirit.

Do they do the same to you?

 

I thought the collection focus

of color repetition

was brilliant.

 The beautiful salon or living room

off of the corner office

had a whimsical, jazzy artwork on the ceiling.

An endearing personal touch.

How could kids resist

even the beauty of this elevator shaft?

What memories this place would create

in the minds of the staff's children.

 

One of the most fun videos in the collection

was in the stairwell.

It showed the furniture and dishes

of a home living room

sliding back and forth on the floor

as a house

was slowly rocked back and forth.

 

I could imagine a child

standing in front of it for hours

and giggling nonstop at the fun of it.

 

To access videos from the collection, click here.

"Eyeballs" inspired by George Orwell.

 Love it!

One of the few Istanbul-specific photography pieces.

The Hagia Sophia in snow.

The wishing tree
Staff and the public
left their wishes.

I didn't even notice the white "profile"

when I saw this neon art up close.

It was only when I got home and

saw this photo taken from across the room

that I saw it was more than abstract.

 "21 Books"

by a Korean artist

 The quality of building materials

was an unending delight.

I marveled at the precise heft of this door.

Love this blue.

How children must want to run their hands

continually over this piece

just to explore the symmetry, color, and sound of it.

All this art makes one feel like a child!

 We waved goodbye to the museum guides
through the "haunted" grillwork.

Perili Köşk at dusk.
"Goodbye Haunted Mansion!
You were an absolute delight."

Imagine opening up your work office to random people every weekend. I found this to be a very generous act by Borusan Holding Co.

Thank you for sharing your gorgeous art with the public. To the folks at Borusan Contemporary, I say, "your generosity is yet another example of why Turkish hospitality is the best in the world."

You might also enjoy:

An Afternoon of Art and Beauty at the Borusan Contemporary, Part One

An Afternoon of Art and Beauty at the Borusan Contemporary, Part Two

Empty Nest Expat is on Facebook. You can "like" my page. I hope to see you there!

An Afternoon of Art and Natural Beauty at Borusan Contemporary, Part Two

Isn't discovery exciting? One of my rules of life is - there must be some element of discovery in every single day. The "haunted mansion" Barb and I and our Internations friends had come to explore was actually Turkey's very first office art museum.

During the week, people who worked there were making decisions about a portfolio of companies collected into Borusan Holding Company. On weekends, from 10 a.m. - 8 p.m. the whole building gets opened up to the public to explore and enjoy.

The entrance to the haunted mansion

did not feature cobwebs.

Instead, it hinted at the art collection focus:

many contemporary,

and especially,

video installations.

This particular piece of art

created by a German artist

used solar energy to power propellers
and

musical instruments

that emitted pleasing tones

This temporary exhibit was entitled Datascapes.

On the surface,

these may look like black and white photographs

of extraordinary mountain vistas.

 

What you see, is not what you get.

Each photo had been manipulated to represent

a set of financial data.

 

I'll let you guess,

which vista goes with which financial data set:

Nasdaq '80-'09 ,

and HangSeng '80-'09,

and Lehman Brothers '92-'08.

 

What great fun!

And what a clever way for an investor

to internalize the pattern.

 

This data visualization fascinated me

as it was the first time I had seen it used

for an art museum application.

 

A blue dot represented a certain collector.

A black dot represented a certain artist;

and a green dot represented a prediction

for an artist or a collector.

 

I found it to be a very cool

marketing, pricing, and strategy tool.

 Wow!

The breathtaking conference room

near the very top of the building.

Our museum guide shared that it illustrated

one of the focuses of the collection:

color repetition.

 

It made me wonder if there were any works of art

by Turkish artist Setenay Özbek
in the collection.

Her work would fit right in.

A view to the right

featured the ancient Rumeli Hisari fortress

on the Bosphorus

and closer in,

a minaret complete with an

emblematic crescent

at the top.

From the center end of the conference room,

I think it would be impossible to be bored

waiting for a meeting to start, don't you?

Instead of looking right or center,

 let's now look left,

 where there are doors

leading out to the terrace.

 

Don't you want to see the view

of the Bosphorus

from out there?

I do.

Wow! Wow! Wow!

Who doesn't love container ships?

And that glorious mansion or palace!

I wonder what it is.

That's the Black Sea beyond the ship.

The view closer in of the neighborhood.

A constant thought I had

during my visit is how

every aspect of the building

would delight any child

who comes to visit.

 

Yes, this is seating,

but how would a five-year-old use this?

It doesn't roll.

I checked.

 

So what's at the very top

of the haunted mansion?

In the very top turret?

Let's go look.

A perfect little spot for

two to four people

to close a deal.

Notice the color repetition

of coffee.

Magnificent.

 

 

Come back tomorrow to explore the offices of Borusan Contemporary in my third post on Istanbul's haunted mansion or Perili Köşk. Now you have discovery in your day too!

 

 

In case you missed it, here's my first post

on Turkey's first office art museum,

Borusan Contemporary:

 

An Afternoon of Art and Natural Beauty at Borusan Contemporary, Part One

 

 

Some additional posts about art you might enjoy:

 

"CuriousSouls" Gather in Istanbul for Discussion

What's there to do in Wichita, Kansas? Why not see breathtaking art?

Welcome to Capitalism!

Celebrating 90 Years of Artist Zenděk Sýkora

 

Yes, Empty Nest Expat is on Facebook. Follow my blog there with a "like."

 

 

 

 

An Afternoon of Art and Natural Beauty at Borusan Contemporary, Part One

Our quest:

to explore this "haunted mansion"

My friend Barbara proposed an afternoon outing yesterday. I was deep into a good book so I took much convincing.

"It's too beautiful to stay indoors!" she said. It was beautiful too. This summer temperatures in Istanbul this year have been wonderfully temperate. "O-k-a-y," I said reluctantly. Sometimes you just have to trust your friend and go with her.

This was our quest: to explore this magnificent old building from 1910. It's called the Perili Köşk, or Haunted Mansion. For years, it had an outer shell only. The entire building had never been fully finished as war had interrupted construction. While it sat in that state, the building would make noises that spooked the neighborhood as materials shifted around. Hence, its reputation as haunted.

 We walked from Barbara's place

in the Bebek neighborhood

along the captivating Bosphorus corniche

to Perili Köşk Istanbul,

about a 15-minute walk.

The renovation of the building

 by architect Hakan Kıran

had been done perfectly;

all the new materials enhanced

the magnificence of the 10-story building.

 

Our lunchtime view:

an Istanbul ferry under the Fatih Sultan Mehmet Bridge

The Haunted Mansion had been renovated and updated with spectacular attention to detail. The inside was light, airy, and modern - not in a way that fought with the historic nature of the house, but in a way that uplifted the spirit and sharpened the senses.

 

The historic building has been leased to Borusan Contemporary Holding Company on a long-term lease. During the week, over 70 people worked there managing a portfolio of companies. On weekends, the building is opened up to the public to explore and enjoy. Not only is it a workplace, but an office art museum.

 

Our first stop was the second floor, where we were having lunch with Internations friends in the museum café.

This young Turkish woman

 had been fasting for Ramadan

since sunrise.

She sat with us at lunch,

 and as you can see,

she still had her humor.

This Polish woman

was such a firecracker.

She had come from practicing dressage

all morning

for a competition in Bulgaria

next month.

Serdar, the organizer for our outing,

had just been to Ecuador

for a homeopathy convention

where he was the lone Turk in attendance.

He had enjoyed serving as the

"flagbearer for his country."

Every spot in the café had an amazing view

of the Bosphorus

and the bridge and shipping traffic.

 

It was time to go in and explore the rest of the building. Our museum guide had arrived to show us around. I had no idea what to expect because I had not even heard of the building before that day. Come back for my next post on the Borusan Contemporary to see what we discovered:

An Afternoon of Art and Natural Beauty at Borusan Contemporary, Part Two

An Afternoon of Art and Natural Beaty at Borusan Contemporary, Part Three

 

 

You might enjoy a few other posts about architecture:

 

The Days of Wine and Roses and Tulips: Wine Tasting at the Four Seasons Sultanahmet

 

Come and Join Us for Coffee

 

Art Deco Elegance in Old Town Prague

 

I Needed Some Cash in My New Neighborhood

 

Pavel's Prague, Part Two: Grand Café Orient

 

 

 

Yes, Empty Nest Expat is on Facebook, follow me there!

After the Trayvon Martin Verdict: Here are Ten People Who Helped Me Expand "My Circle of Compassion"

Trayvon Martin

Sometimes events at home are so dismaying I can hardly bear them. Such as it was with the Trayvon Martin verdict. This blog post is dedicated to him, my fellow American, 17-year-old, unarmed Trayvon Martin, who was killed while walking home by a white, armed, male adult.

President Barack Obama said: 

"... we should ask ourselves if we’re doing all we can to widen the circle of compassion and understanding in our own communities.  We should ask ourselves if we’re doing all we can to stem the tide of gun violence that claims too many lives across this country on a daily basis.  We should ask ourselves, as individuals and as a society, how we can prevent future tragedies like this.  As citizens, that’s a job for all of us.  That’s the way to honor Trayvon Martin.  

One of the things President Obama asked Americans to do to deal with their pain after the Trayvon Martin verdict was to continually work to expand their circle of compassion. By listening to voices different than our own, we may come to understand what it is to walk in another person's shoes.

One of the great things about Twitter is it allows us to listen to voices different than our own in a really non-threatening way. If you're a white American who wants to do as your President humbly requested and imagine other people's realities, here are ten black American voices I would like to recommend for you to follow on Twitter. These people have helped me grow and imagine life in someone else's shoes in the four years I've been on Twitter at @emptynestexpat.

I think we should listen not only as a spiritual thing to do, but as a strategic thing to do. As our nation becomes more multicultural, the better we are able to navigate and understand our differences, the less friction there is on forward motion in the future.

Here they are:

1) Charles Consult tweets at @Charles_Consult. He's a Wisconsin native, attorney, martial arts expert and enthusiast, now living as an expat entrepreneur in the Netherlands.

2) Dr. Blair LM Kelly, an American historian and professor teaching in North Carolina. She's the author of the book "Right to Ride" about streetcar segregation. She tweets at @profblmkelley.

3) Every teenage student should be lucky enough to have a teacher as cool as Brandon David Wilson. Brandon, tweeting as @Geniusbastard, is a not only a role model in the LA Public Schools as a teacher, but he's also a cinephile, activist, and thoughtful commentator on pop culture.

4) Courtney Young is a writer, a Spellman grad, and a board member of an organization I admire called Hollaback (documenting street harassment). She's an enthusiastic book reader (I love talking books with her), and founder of Think Young Media. She tweets at @Cocacy and at @thinkyoungmedia.

5) I can count the number of inspiring American math teachers I know on one hand (in Turkey, it would take both hands and my feet...but that's another post). How about you? Do you know a lot of inspiring US math teachers? Here's one who teaches in the New York Public Schools. He is, as his bio says, "the teacher Gotham deserves." Jose Vilson, tweeting at @JLV is a math teacher, writer, and activist. He hates that it in American culture it is ok to admit math phobia; he works tirelessly to get kids excited about math. Just for that, he deserves a follow!

6) Robin Terrell is a San Francisco diversity expert who has something big in the works called "The Global Mobility Project" that is supposed to debut this summer. I'm very curious what it is, but I enjoy her tweets right here and now at @robinlterrell.

Michael Twitty

preserving and promoting

African-American foodways

7) Somebody I just started following is @koshersoul. Michael Twitty came to a whole lot of people's attention with his open letter to Paula Deen. He's a black, Jewish Southerner and culinary historian who shares food photos that can make a happy expat like me, currently enjoying Turkish kitchen, wish to be right at a Southern table drinking sweet tea, eating barbecue and making room for blueberry cobbler. Michael also tweets at @antebellumchef. Here's what he says is the "best of his blog" for new followers.

8) Tinu who tweets at @blackgirlinprague rarely tweets. I wish she did because she always has something sassy to say. She's the one person on this list I know in person. But maybe if she had more followers, she'd be inspired. She's a tech professional, raised in America, now fluent in Czech, making the Golden City of Prague her home.

9) Someone researching black male performance in American education is Antonio M. Daniels. More power to him. Our education system is failing black males and I'm glad someone is trying to figure out how to fix this. The last American education system I worked in had a 17% high school graduation rate for black males. You can follow Antonio at @paideiarebel.

10) Jennifer Williams instantly telegraphs she is looking out for the next generation of young women who follow hers with her twitter handle @4coloredgirls. That sensitivity, and her desire to shield them from hurt, is something I learn from. She is a writer, professor, feminist and cultural critic in Houston, Texas.

Of course, there are many famous names, frequently in the media, whose bio I won't detail as they're all so easily findable. I learn from @oprah (she's really the founder of this category, isn't she?), @MHarrisPerry, @baratunde, @MsTerryMcMillian, @elonjames, @rebeccawalker, @ashong, @DonnaBrazile, @neiltyson, @ProfHolloway @cornelwest, @tavissmily, @marclamonthill, @MichaelEDyson, @NewBlackMan, @BobHerbert, @VanJones88, @hillharper and @chrisrock.

Truly,what choice do we have but to listen to each other better? Who wants to go through life in a world where we barely tolerate our fellow citizens that differ from us ethnically? Surely we can think bigger as citizens. Our advantage as Americans is that we have the world's ethnicities and cultures living right amongst us. If we choose to only honor people just like us, we're missing the whole point of America.

Dear friends in America, what's one action you can take to help heal America after the Trayvon Martin heartbreak? I invite you to also listen...and learn. Thanks to all the people named above for sharing their thoughts in ways that make me grow as an individual.

You might also like:

Listening to Dissidents

A near spiritual experience at Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas

Why the Obama Presidential Library Should be Built in Springfield, Illinois

What's there to do in Wichita, Kansas? Why not see breathtaking art?

Topkapi Palace , Part Two: Harem Culture Shock

Enjoying Neil Degrasse Tyson at the UW Senior Sendoff

Yes, Empty Nest Expat is on Facebook. You can follow me there.

"My Little Library in Anatolia" by Kaya Genç

Kaya Genç

I found this first-person narrative by Kaya Genç of his memories when he did his Turkish military service as a librarian to be absolutely delightful. I can't resist sharing it. Thanks to @carpetblogger for passing it along. You can read it here.


Yes, Empty Nest Expat is on Facebook. Join me there!