A hip take on meze and kebabs

Popular plate: The dessert tops off a great menu: each meal ends with a bowl of vanilla ice cream alongside a baby eggplant and a hulled walnut, both stewed in a sugary syrup.

Tucked down a quiet backstreet in Beyoğlu, this cool, monochrome restaurant specialises in appetizers and meat dishes from the Antakya region of Turkey, wedged between Syria and the Mediterranean Sea.

The owner brings most of the ingredients from his hometown: fruity olive oil, tart pomegranate molasses and cracked green olives. Try the mixed meze plate to start, which includes kekik salatasi, a mix of green olives, fresh thyme and olive oil. Follow this with popular main durum; a minced meat kebab wrapped with chopped onions and tomatoes in a flatbread that has been rubbed with red pepper paste, then grilled for that final finish.