Twinkling stars in the Aegean sky

The arrival of the MICHELIN Guide in Türkiye was the top news in the culinary circles last year. MICHELIN was met with excitement in general, but naturally the announcement of the stars also triggered a series of discussions. Of course, many critics were focused on why certain venues were not included, or on the contrary, how certain places could manage to sneak in the list. Apparently, the names of some places were serviced to the inspectors, and some places were deliberately left out from their routes. The skepticism on a few venues still prevails. Some people, not realizing that the guide only covers Istanbul, questioned why some notable chefs at Aegean venues were not included. Well, the Aegean region is now added to the guide this year, as announced, it will cover İzmir and Bodrum.

Last year I remember boring Gwendal Poullennec, International Director of the MICHELIN Guide, with my endless questions. Poullennec is a wordsmith who fulfills his assigned task thoroughly. No matter what question you ask, there is an answer in his pocket. With great sincerity and a steely cool attitude, he gives you long explanations in detailed and well-crafted sentences. No matter how you listen with deep concentration, at one point you realize that you don't get the exact answer to the real question and somehow feel tricked. Last year, he faltered a little bit on only one question I asked him, and he said that yes, in some countries this can be a problem. My question was: "Where do you draw the boundaries of a megapolis like Istanbul?" I supported my question with the following examples. Especially in France, the birthplace of MICHELIN, many 3-star restaurants are located in the countryside. Afterall, the starting point of the guide was to spot the worthwhile culinary destinations while driving from one city to the other. Likewise, in countries such as Spain, Italy, Switzerland and Germany, there are many starred restaurants far from the city center which are exactly in line with the definition of the guide, places worth taking the effort to hit the road to go, or change routes for. In last year's Istanbul selection, some off-center places were obviously not visited and some neighborhoods were completely left off the radar. It was obvious that the Anatolian side was insufficient, and that out-of-center places such as Şile and the Princess Islands were not visited. When I listed these examples, Poullennec seemed unaware of the situation and did not give a clear answer to my question, but merely said, "Sometimes we stay in the center."

The question I asked about Istanbul last year applies to İzmir this year. Even Bodrum's borders are hard to draw. Will all districts of İzmir be covered? There are places like Seferihisar, Foça, Bergama, Tire, Ödemiş. In all those areas the local cuisine is very strong, and new places are emerging here and there. We submitted our question to MICHELIN headquarters in writing and this time we received a very clear answer: “In İzmir, the inspectors will focus on the city center as well as Urla and Alaçatı areas.” Now we are clear, İzmir list will cover Urla, the emerging gastronomic center of Türkiye with its boutique wineries, olive groves, and exciting chef’s restaurants, including the popular Alaçatı, hinting that they may even have Çeşme covered in between.

But what about local cuisine? One of the strongest points of the Aegean region, now referred to as "Turkaegean" in tourism promotion programs, is its own local cuisine. Old-school restaurants and eateries, local fish restaurants and meyhanes, and especially the Aegean's cornerstone food spots serving only a single type of food. Such places are usually destinations worth driving for, such as pide places, the Turkish flat bread with a variety of toppings, or köfte shops, every area is famed for its köfte aka meatballs, and the list goes on with gözleme, another kind of griddled flat bread with a variety of filings, mantı shops for the much-loved Turkish dumplings, and Aegean other culinary trademarks serving only special dishes of the “quinto quarto” that is offal delicacies such as kelle, söğüş, paça, işkembe and so on. These are all favorites of locals to steer the wheel and take the toil to drive for. Of course, it is hard to equate them with chef restaurants and luxury establishments, especially to those that open in Bodrum only for one season, usually at great expense. Last year in Istanbul, I drew attention to this imbalance. Some other countries seem to manage with those small establishments serving unique dishes. In Singapore, Bangkok and Tokyo, for example, places that serve local cuisine, such as ramen, dumpling and noodles, were included in the list. In BKK and Singapore street food is well-covered. Visitors to those cities divide their time between such small food spots and high-level chef’s restaurants with elaborate tasting menus. Of course, I totally understand that receiving a star qualification needs special requirements and serving just tasty food does not suffice. But as seen in Asian examples, there must be a way to open a special category to accommodate flag-carriers of local cuisine and embrace all aspects of Turkish gastronomy. This is something that the Türkiye Tourism Promotion and Development Agency (TGA) needs to guide. I take many foreign food writers around, and what attracts their attention most is these kinds of places unique to Turkish cuisine, and that is exactly what they want to write about in their pieces on the gastronomic scene in Türkiye. This point is also very important for tourism promotion, I am afraid that our local culinary values may go under the radar and I ask again, is there any revision in the Istanbul list in this direction? What measures have they taken this year to prevent imbalance? How will inclusivity be achieved this time? The MICHELIN Guide team sent the following response: “The MICHELIN Guide inspectors are simply looking for the best food quality, whatever the proposition. They have no set-up number, neither quota or preferred type of food or cooking. They are always very proud to showcase local cuisine and traditional food as long as the restaurants’ propositions meet their quality criteria.”

My one last question was about the phenomenon of highly trendy pop-up venues that sometimes shine for a season and fade into oblivion and do not open next season. They are like supernovas, that dazzle with their bright glitter, but they glide away swiftly like shooting stars. Needless to point out, they come in with very big budgets, even stepping in costs an arm and a leg, they are one-hit wonders. I was curious how these single-season pop-ups are dealt with. Here is the answer: “Our team is used to dealing with seasonal restaurants, as in many areas across the world some restaurants only open for summer [coastal places for examples] or winter [Alpine region and ski resorts for example]. However, our inspectors also look for consistency from year to another as their selection is made yearly and part of their methodology, they try restaurants several times before adding them for selection.”

The guide says that the inspectors will leave no stone unturned, well the Aegean is full of pebble beaches, not to mention Istanbul which is like a cosmos on its own, there are way too many stones to be turned and one needs a good preliminary survey to start with before hitting the road. Good luck to inspectors, the Aegean seashore is full of pebbles and the culinary sky is full of stars that twinkle. Hard to choose and inspect, bonne chance!