EFENDY

Control at the Levent pass

The pass stays in motion as Òscar Pérez , Chef at EFENDY in Istanbul, keeps the kitchen aligned to the room. His work here belongs to service rather than spectacle: plates moving from the open kitchen, small dishes gathering pace, fire and claypot cooking held inside a modern Anatolian frame. Pérez trained at Hofmann, where disciplined execution set the baseline for his cooking. At EFENDY that formation reads in restraint, timing, and clean structure, not in flourishes laid over the food. He also holds the Executive Chef role at Domaine de Clairefontaine in France, and in Istanbul his title is Chef, where the work meets the table in real time. The restaurant sits in Levent, within Beşiktaş, and carries the Efendy Group’s return to Turkish ground through Anatolian recipes, Middle Eastern references, seasonal local sourcing, and a service rhythm built around tasting menus, small plates, and à la carte. The Michelin Bib Gourmand awarded to EFENDY is recognition of this house, not a borrowed halo from another kitchen.

Fire, claypots, and small plates

The program depends on methods that carry weight before they are plated: grilling on fire, baking in claypots, and sharing food across the table in the meze grammar of the region. EFENDY’s signatures make that direction plain. Prawns in kataifi bring crisp pastry against shellfish; duck piadilla turns a familiar flatbread form toward a richer filling; stuffed meatballs keep the kitchen close to Anatolian comfort while giving the pass room for control. The menu moves between cold and hot meze, mains, chef’s tasting sequences, vegetarian tastings, and à la carte, with seasonal produce setting the limits of what appears. Hummus may arrive with tahini, herb-infused olive oil, deep-fried chickpeas, and capers; lahmacun comes from the wood oven; mantı and tarama sit inside the same conversation rather than being treated as museum pieces. Pérez’s method is contemporary because it is edited. The plate is not asked to carry every reference at once.

The room beside the open kitchen

The room is warm without losing its edge: chic modern design, Turkish motifs, and enough air around the tables for the pass to remain visible without turning service into theatre. Conversation holds at a measured level, which suits a kitchen built on small plates and wine pairings rather than long silences. The counterpoint is the beverage program, with local and organic Anatolian wines playing beside cocktails that lean into the smoke, pastry, herbs, and richness of the food. The list is curated for the menu’s movement, especially when tasting sequences gather pace, and it gives the room another layer of Anatolian material to work with. EFENDY feels most itself when the table has several dishes in play at once: kataifi, claypot heat, a glass from Anatolia, and the open kitchen still sending plates through the pass.