The importance of the share of the products that reach brand values from the local cuisine in the promotion of that city is indisputable. Building a tourism vision on this, in the field of gastronomy UNESCO‘nun “Creative Cities Network”included in Gaziantep There is a very special example before us, after all. On the other hand, keeping the example of Gaziantep separate; I don’t care much about such a view that makes it easy to put only the famous flavors forward and pushes other riches to the background.
If we talk about Thrace; yes, I like and prefer modest places that do the best, don’t have big signboards, and the food screams. However, it is too easy for me to spend a meal with fried liver in Edirne and meatballs named after their cities in Kırklareli and Tekirdağ every time I visit. For this reason, if I go to a city ten times, I find myself in search of an artisan restaurant where I can find modest tastes in nine of them.
I know that I can taste the most delicious food in those artisan restaurants, where I want to turn my bowl slightly on its side, take the last sip of my soup with the tip of my spoon, catch even the last grains of rice on my plate with my fork, and dip my bread in that delicious water of the food without hesitation.
Latif Restaurant; From 1927 to the Present, Generation to Generation…
By distilling flavor for three generations since 1927 people from Tekirdagdelighting the palate Latif Restaurant just such a restaurant. The restaurant, which can be easily found by those coming from outside of Tekirdağ, is located in the most famous and central place of Tekirdağ, on the Government Street. Pillaraltiis located in. The third generation operator of this modest two-floor space Hakan CHARLIE, has duly succeeded in carrying the legacy he received from his grandfather and his father, who followed in his footsteps, to the present day. You understand this better as you taste the flavors cooked in this kitchen.
To a taste or place “I don’t know history, neyci” I’m not one to give a lot of compliments on such ascriptions. Especially if the place is as old as it wishes, if it has cut off its ties with the first generations that established that place, I am much more distant. Latif Restaurant, “date” It is a place that can use its word in front of its name, and deserves it more than enough. With luck, not many years later. “dalya” they will overthrow a century.
The restaurant was named after the current manager of the restaurant, Hakan, his grandfather. Latif SARLItakes from. The Albanian immigrant grandfather chose to hold on to life in the best way he knew how in this new homeland, where he tried to survive after the population exchanges. In 1927, at a young age Latif Restauranthe founded. The restaurant is one of the rare places that has never changed its place in Tekirdağ since then. also in 1927 PillaraltiIt was in its current location. Latif SARLIFor years, it has brought together the flavors of the famous offal soups of Rumeli with the people of Tekirdağ. As the venue announced its name and processed, it added new flavors to its menu that it had prepared with the dexterity of its hand. His son, who grew up with him like an apprentice Sadettin SARLI his own son, the current owner of the place, with the same professional ethics, humility and taste overflowing from his cuisine. Mr. Khan brought up. He has been running Latif Restaurant since he lost his father 18 years ago.
“I’ve been in this restaurant since I was a kid as long as I can remember myself” says Hakan while telling. “I used to come and help when I was out of school. For this reason, I learned the operation of Latif Restaurant, just as my grandfather taught my father, according to them, by living. I set up the tables, I cleaned the floors, I swept, sometimes I worked in the kitchen, sometimes I sat at the cash register. For this reason, I can say that I have come to my current position over the years, just as a dish unknowingly acquires its taste in a skewer.”
Hakan is one of those who have a hand in the restaurant, his wife Serpil woman. In the operation of the place, a lady follows what is going on with her sensitivity. In a sense, he keeps the book of the restaurant. What is missing at the counter, which table does not want or expect, it coordinates all these with the employees. In the kitchen, Hakan’s close relative, who can also be considered as a family member, was his aunt’s son if I remember correctly, there is a middle-aged head chef; Engin AYSEL. All meals to be served to the customer at the counter, the planning and timing of this is asked from him. You understand that he is a connoisseur of his job when you taste the food.
What can I lie about? In one corner of the place, there is a meat and chicken doner kebab stove, which can appeal to students, soldiers or those who are looking for other flavors in this country that receives many immigrants and who are in trouble for fast food, creating a bit of a contrast to the spirit of the place. Obviously, they included that place out of necessity in order not to turn the customer away. The master of that part is already different. But he is the architect of every flavor of the main kitchen of the restaurant, which I strongly recommend to you. Engin AYSEL.
Four kinds of soup are prepared daily. Head soup and tripe soup from offal soups are accompanied by chicken broth soup and lentil soups. the day i visited “Would I like another plate?” I loved the head soup that made me worry. In Thrace, I have drank such a delicious double-layered in very few places. Unless I discover a new place, I can say that Latif Lokantası is at the top of them.
“We Rumelian origins, especially us Albanians (there is a slight nepotism that makes us smile) are well aware of offal soups. It is also about using good materials as well as the master. I always buy the meat that I will use, whether for head soup or meat products that I will use in the place, from certain and known places. I take care not to step outside of that circle. This is due to the solidity of work ethic and trust between that producer and the user who turns that product into food like me. When the material is good, the rest is left to the skill of the master.” says Mr. Hakan.
“Head Soup” I say that customers are more like him. “head soup” or “head and trotter soup” He is in his seventies, and from Tekirdağ, from the accents of his speech, he was sitting at the table by turning the visor of Ecevit’s cap to the back, which evokes the feeling that he might even be one of the former immigrants. “Give me a head soup from there…” These old terms are the features that make a kitchen unique and carry it from generation to generation. For this reason, I “head soup” I prefer to say.
Offal soups are prepared with bone broth. The bone broth of the next day is taken to the stove at 7-8 in the evening and prepared for distillation until 6 the next morning. Then soup is cooked with this water and it is seasoned. Rumeli offal soups are soups whose flavor and consistency are linked by seasoning. In addition, when it comes to the table, the flavor is balanced with garlic sauce or vinegar. With the first hours of the morning, the soups start to be released on the counter of Latif Lonaktası.
in this place “slow food” (slowfood) You can easily find home cooking and dishes with local touches that can inspire the movement. Chief among these “liver wrap” is coming. A flavorful liver wrap, prepared by wrapping lamb liver, pine nut and currants with a balanced use of spices and brewed censer rice, wrapped in a lamb’s shirt and baked. Saying that I ate liver wraps, which are also made very successfully in Edirne, I strongly suggest you try them at Latif. Moreover, almost every day of the week, not at certain times of the week or season, there is a baking tray full of liver wraps on the counter. literally “growing up”. Especially do not miss a presentation that is not drowned in tomato paste as I have seen in other places, it is very delicious and is poured over the cooking water with the taste of vegetables. “Shall we add some water on it?” Do not object when they say.
They report that they can often prepare liver wrap, which was prepared mostly in seasons, with the ease of accessing the material in all seasons, with the increase in fattening, since animals used to lamb in the spring months. However, he does not neglect to warn that they can prepare liver wraps less frequently towards winter.
You don’t even care that there are Tekirdağ meatballs or grilled meatballs among boiled meats, stew-type meat dishes, juicy meatball variations, moussaka. In an Albanian restaurant “Albanian liver”In any case, it would be impossible not to find the best of them. Like a delight, like a delight Albanian liver I taste. I advise.
What surprises me the most in this restaurant is the demand for vegetable dishes. Vegetable dishes, which may be at risk in another place, are offered to the customer with a certain frequency throughout the week, taking into account their seasonal delicacies. You can find green beans, black-eyed peas, kidney beans, peas, okra with meat, and various dishes.
The day I was at the venue, surprisingly, customers were next to me in my direction. “fresh broad bean meal” I am in awe of your orders. If there were another place, they might consider putting this dish on the counter as a risk and a chore, while the dishes that are prepared quickly and won from the delivery are still standing. Latif Restaurant, on the other hand, considers such delicacies as a richness and a signature for its 90-year-old venues.
Hakan, who understands my amazement, explains the issue as follows:
“The people of Tekirdağ like vegetable dishes. Fresh broad bean meal is one of them. Even if I took the dinner from today’s dinner to take home tonight. ‘Is it finished?’ For example, today I took it out to a client who asked. However, such dishes ‘The people of Tekirdağ love it’ I can’t make it shallow. Tekirdag is also a city of students and soldiers, where many foreigners live. When customers from this profile come to our restaurant, the reason for the orders I receive is their interest in these dishes; I consider it as ‘There must be something that reminds them of their home, of their mother’s kitchen.’”
in Tekirdag Latif Restaurant, is a place that is as graceful as it imprints on its name, befitting its 90-year past, with a refined approach to its customers and a pleasantness. in Thrace “slow food stream” ( slowfood ) a successful example. Well, with these internalized processes, they “What do you mean slowfood?” Although they say, those who think about this issue Latif RestaurantI believe they should be taken into account.
Text & Photo: Dincer ALABAŞOĞLU
LATIF RESTAURANT
Address : Government Street, Direkleraltı, No: 87 / TEKİRDAĞ
Tel : ( 0 282 ) 261 69 35
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