mutfakkoz
A small Kozyatağı restaurant in the MICHELIN Guide that tucks Turkish street-food staples like tripe, beef tongue and mackerel into brioche, alongside meze and mains built on careful, balanced flavour combinations.
The story
The menu at mutfakkoz reads like a reworking of Istanbul comfort food. Sandwiches come in brioche: pulled beef short rib with fresh herb sauce, Albanian-style cold beef liver, mackerel with pickled onion and beetroot in a nod to balık ekmek, and beef tripe with mustard sauce and shoestring potatoes, a take on kokoreç. To share there are green almond cacık, a beef tongue and tripe terrine, and hummus with peanuts and capers. Larger plates pair sac kavurma with fresh pappardelle, set grilled lamb heart on orzo pilaf, and wrap porcini and morels in fresh yufka with garlic cashew yogurt for a vegan sosyete mantısı. Vegetarian, vegan and gluten-free dishes are marked throughout. To drink there is spicy beetroot ayran or cornelian cherry juice, and desserts include a lemon 'fairy' and a chocolate crème brûlée.
Good to know
TAGGG AI- ✦Order the short rib brioche, where the sauce at the bottom makes the sandwich.
- ✦The tripe brioche is close to kokoreç in texture, so skip it if that usually puts you off.
- ✦The warm mushroom salad with hummus and oyster mushrooms is one of the strongest meze picks.
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