Tasty Kastamonu dishes at Abdu!kadir's

Chef Hamdi first came up with the recipe one-and-a-half centuries ago and today Raif and Şükrü Gülsunar, two dedicated chefs, are his followers in Kastamonu. However, you do not need to head to Kastamonu to taste the delights of a Kastamonu kebab because the Abdu!kadir restaurant, which opened one-and-a-half years ago in Bakırköy, has this dish on offer for İstanbulites to try.

We initially didn't expect to taste such a mouthwatering döner kebab after entering Abdu!kadir, but to our surprise the food, personally served by the chef, was delicious. Abdülkadir İmamvekilioğlu, who had long been working in textiles like his father, fortunately decided to give up his job in this industry to take up cooking. Had it not been for this, we would never have been able to taste his delicious food.

Abdülkadir Bey sources his meat from farms in Balıkesir in the Marmara region and marinates it in a specially prepared sauce. His döner is served with minced onion and bread.

Kastamonu is also famous for its pastırma (cured spiced beef), which is also definitely worth tasting. It is far more delicious than Kayseri pastırma, which has soared in popularity. Chances are that you will not have tasted as light a pastırma as Kastamonu's, which melts like butter in your mouth.

It is made according to old Central Asian tradition, where the meat is kept in salt for three days and is called kakaç. At the end of these three days the kakaç is washed with water and attached to kınnap (string). Once hung with kınnap, the meat is left to dry for between seven and 21 days in a place called a sayvan on the roof or balcony of a house.

After our kebab, we tried Kastamonu etli ekmek (a different version of lahmacun) and simit tiridi (a traditional Kastamonu food made from bagels unique to Kastamonu). They are both delicious. Claiming that he likes to serve the food he ate during his childhood in Kastamonu, İmamvekilioğlu, who is very passionate about cuisine, noted, “I try to serve the food I have dreamt of for years.” Kastamonu pide, a kind of pastry with minced meat, chopped tomatoes and onion, tastes just like our grandmothers' homemade bread. It is either baked on a sac (a flat and wide oven) with oil or served with butter after it is baked. As for simit tiridi, it has a wonderful taste and is made from butter, yoghurt, minced meat and parsley, and is mixed with Kastamonu simidi.

Abdu!kadir has an array of dishes on offer, and other notable dishes such as kuzu haylama (a dish prepared with lamb), which is cooked in a special pot, stews and other meat and vegetable dishes. For those wanting something light, delicious olive oil dishes consisting of flat beans, artichokes and zucchini and rice pudding are also on the menu.

Mouthwatering pastırma and döner

After eating at Abdu!kadir you will forget any other döner and pastırma you have tried.

The restaurant is small and seats 60. It boasts a garden. Business hours are 7 a.m. to 11 p.m., every day.

Tasty and inexpensive

Soup: TL 3

Meat döner (150 grams): TL 10

Simit tiridi: TL 8

Kastamonu bread: TL 5

Su böreği (Layered pastry with cheese or minced meat filling), macaroni: TL 4

Stew, roasted meat: TL 10

Boiled lamb: TL 14

Dried beans: TL 5

Musakka: TL 7

Olive oil dishes: TL 5-6

Rice, salad, rice pudding: TL 3

Kastamonu pastırma (cured spiced beef): TL 80 per kilogram; TL 5 for 50 grams

Find Kastamonu-style cuisine at:

Abdu!kadir Restaurant, İstanbul Cad. No: 30/A Bakırköy-İstanbul Tel.: 0 (212) 570 49 31-543 49 36, www.abdulkadirlokanta.com