Every issue of my newsletter ends with a handful of short notes: a table I sat at, a piece of news, a product I can’t stop thinking about. Stories from the Road and the Table is where those notes live on the site. They reach subscribers first, then land here a few days later, slightly expanded.
An off-menu pilaf at 7 Mehmet
7 Mehmet, the restaurant whose book I co-wrote, now has an Istanbul outpost. Last Tuesday I hosted a group of visitors from abroad there, and the kitchen sent out something you won’t find on the menu: höşmerimli pilav.
The base is baldo rice cooked in lamb bone stock. On top go burnt water buffalo kaymak and 7 Mehmet’s take on höşmerim, a sweet from the Marmara region made with fresh unsalted cheese. Here it’s made with sugar alone, never caramelised, so the sweetness, the scorched cream and the savoury stock all meet on the same spoon.
I can’t remember the last time salty and sweet collided this sharply on one plate. It isn’t on the menu, but ask and they’ll make it.
For 7 Mehmet’s story, produce and recipes, see our book: 7 Mehmet: Stories, Produce and Recipes.
Bresse-breed chicken, raised in Turkey
At Casa Lavanda’s mushroom hunt, chef Emre Şen shared some news: he’s about to start buying chicken from a farmer raising France’s legendary Bresse breed here in Turkey.
In French cooking, Bresse is the benchmark. Blue feet, white feathers and a red comb – the tricolore on legs – and a protected designation of origin since 1957. To carry the name, a bird raised in the Bresse region needs generous pasture and at least four months roaming free, finished on grain and dairy. Slow-growing and firm-fleshed.
A note on names: “Poulet de Bresse” is reserved for birds raised in Bresse itself. For a bird raised in Turkey, the right term is Bresse breed, or Bresse Gauloise. I’ll report back once it’s on the menu.
Telezzüz’s autumn menu
In mid-October I was invited to the tasting of Telezzüz’s autumn 2026 menu in Istanbul. Bahtiyar Büyükduman ran the kitchen, Murat Cem Orhan conducted the orchestra and Göknur Gündoğan handled the pairings.
It felt less like a dinner and more like a night of art – the kind I’d gladly do all over again. A short clip from the evening:
Can’t make the mushroom hunt? Saklı Orman
If you read my mushroom hunting post and thought, “I’m not heading into a forest, but I’d love to eat those”: Saklı Orman, based in Saray, Tekirdağ, delivers wild mushrooms foraged in the forests of Thrace.
In season: fresh saffron milk caps (kanlıca), black trumpets, hedgehog mushrooms, morels, porcini and cincile; plus dried and brined mushrooms, truffles and truffle products. Hedgehogs and black trumpets were among our finds in Şile. Orders go through their website or WhatsApp.
Seasonal produce always gets my attention. I have no commercial relationship with Saklı Orman.
These notes go out in my newsletter first (in Turkish). Subscribe and you’ll get them a few days early: sinanhamamsarilar.substack.com.
Advertising and partnerships. This post contains advertising. I attended the Telezzüz autumn menu tasting as a guest. I heard Emre Şen’s news at the mushroom hunt, which I attended as a guest of Casa Lavanda. I co-authored 7 Mehmet’s book. I have no commercial relationship with Saklı Orman. All opinions are my own. My editorial principles →
