Turkish Delights

With his unique approach to flavouring, Fatih Tutak adds a whole new dimension to Turkish cuisine

WORDS: JOHN THATCHER

Memories of certain flavours are particularly vivid for chefs. So strong, they can literally shape their pathway through life. For Fatih Tutak it was an onion tarhana, cooked by his mother. “I tried it for the first time when I was seven. I remember coming back from school, and my mum was preparing it. I’ll never forget the smell from the kitchen. I went straight to the pot, picked up a wooden spoon and tasted it: that’s when I decided I wanted to become a chef.”

It was a good decision. Now at the helm of his own Istanbul-based restaurant, the two Michelin-star Turk Fatih Tutak, Tutak is revolutionising the cuisine of his homeland, respecting traditional ingredients yet elevating them through his unique approach to flavouring and use of preservation techniques, adding his own stamp to established dishes.

And yet his talent was honed not in Turkey but in Asia, where his thirst for discovery was first quenched. “I started travelling when I was 20, so I have had many opportunities to meet people and absorb their cultures,” says Tutak. “That was a critical part of my professional growth, as it helped me to get a more international perspective. Travelling abroad helps you expand your horizons. I built my career as a Turkish chef working mainly in Asia, where multiculturality plays a significant role, and I mean multiculturalism between western and Asian cultures, but also among Asian cultures themselves (Indian, Chinese, etc.). Everything I learnt there, all the experiences, the food I tried, have had an impact on the type of cuisine I am making today at Turk.”

A few places were particularly impactful. “Singapore was incredible. Tokyo is probably the place that influenced me the most: the variety of ingredients and the techniques there are fantastic. In China, I was especially surprised by their seafood; they are used to seeing and cooking the raw produce alive. And they give food a particularly umami intensity, thanks to their great use of fermented dry ingredients. I enjoyed living in Qingdao (a city in Shandong Province), where the cuisine is very light, not oily, using superb fresh seafood and vegetables.

“Thailand is rock and roll. It’s like you are engaging in a fight with food, it punches you from everywhere, and still, you don’t stop: you keep eating and fighting, eating and fighting, eating and fighting. I’m always trying to bring to my dishes that same element of the unexpected: a punching factor that wakes you up and keeps you engaged with the experience of eating.”

The head-spinning blow, to borrow from Tutak’s parlance, was delivered during his time at The Dining Room of The House on Sathorn in Bangkok, a restaurant he swiftly led to international acclaim when it was voted as one of Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants. “I vividly remember this group of guests (Turkish expats) at a private dinner being amazed by a dish I created called ‘From My Mom’ (Tutak’s take on Turkish manti). After finishing it in less than 30 seconds, they called me over to share their opinion. They said that even if the dish was clearly a humble dish, it was delicious. They were moved by it, and they could feel how meaningful it was for me to prepare it. But, most importantly, it showed the connection between me and where I come from. It was their emotional echo, how they connected instantly, that made me realise my call. It was a clear example of how food can touch the heart.”

The call to return home was too loud to ignore. “I needed to smell, touch and feel the real Turkey; to be part of the people again — the only way to feed my mind and heart was to go back.”

He did so in 2019, opening Turk Fatih Tutak in Istanbul. Working closely with farmers, fishermen and spice dealers, Tutak began by looking to source traditional ingredients that had fallen out of favour, one example of which is a dry-aged meat from a native duck, the inspiration for which Tutak unearthed while reading Ottoman-era history. He also began to reimagine entire dishes. By 2022, his eponymous restaurant had won two Michelin stars. “For me, what makes Turkish ingredients different from those of anywhere else is their historical background. I really care about the way and how long the products are stored: pickling, drying, fermenting, there are so many processes we can apply to each one of them to create different flavour profiles, and how long we keep them in that state enhances or diminishes the taste. By using the correct way of storage, the ingredients can best show the cultures and stories behind them. There’s so much history in each ingredient, their origin and how they have been used and adopted throughout the years and by different groups of people. My goal is to make these stories shine through my dishes.”

One such dish on the menu that

Tutak feels best encapsulates his food philosophy is a charcoal Thracian lamb, fashioned kebab-style from twenty five layers of lamb, compressed with lamb fat and mushroom. “The taste and texture is incredible.”

For someone who places such emphasis on ingredients, it’s little surprise that Tutak extracts the absolute maximum from them.

“Sustainability is very important in my cuisine. We don’t throw away produce, I use as much as possible from every product — by doing this, I basically use the whole ingredient across many dishes. And so we drastically reduce waste. Every guest who has come to my restaurant more than once has noticed that I change the menu quite often: my dishes follow the climate and the season, and I love that my guests can discover this evolution of nature through Turk. I would say that I combine seasonality with the future.”

And what of the future? Having achieved his dream of returning home to create a thoroughly modern style of Turkish cuisine, one so lauded, where does he go from here? “What ensures my evolution as a chef is my endless curiosity, and also continued research of new products and a happiness about my cuisine in general. I enjoy the freedom and the challenge at the same time of creating something new every day: that keeps my mind in action. I’m incredibly excited when I prepare a new dish, and that energy pushes my boundaries further. I am always trying and testing new combinations of flavours and techniques, and the dishes can always be improved — the only limit is perfection. So, even when a dish is ready to be included on the menu, I keep adjusting the recipe. And when it reaches perfection, after some time, I take it off the menu: there’s no challenge anymore, I move on to the next one.”

Whatever the next one, the future of Turkish cuisine is in safe, hugely talented hands.