Real Italian cuisine in Nişantaşı: Il Patio

by Müge Akgün - Referans

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In Turkey, people go to a restaurant as long as they believe that it is a popular center of attraction. No one cares about the ordinary taste of meals; they just want to be seen there. But the cuisine of a country or culinary culture of a city can survive only through its local restaurants.

Fortunately, there are chefs who are passionate for cooking and they open new small restaurants against all odds. One of these restaurants is Il Patio, which opened about 18 months ago in Istanbul’s Nişantaşı district. Il Patio means "secret garden" in Italian. Mim Kemal Öke Avenue, where the restaurant is located, is a kind of backyard of Nişantaşı.

Il Patio is completely a chef’s restaurant. Its owner Rudy Pellino is a chef who has introduced real Italian cuisine to Turkey. Naples-origin Pellino worked in Italy, Netherlands, Switzerland and Hungary for 13 years after finishing cooking school in Bologna. He came to Turkey 14 years ago to open Mezzaluna and has lived here since. When he wanted to cook freely and make the most of it, he took the risk of earning less money and opened his own restaurant. Il Patio has been designed with natural materials and everything is organic.

Real Italian cuisine
It is said there are more than 400 Italian restaurants in Istanbul but the number of those that offer real Italian cuisine is 10 at most. Pellino cooks meals from classic Italian cuisine. He prepares fresh pasta made with special water ordered from Italy and organic flour. He doesn’t event cut them in machines. Everything is handmade. He doesn’t dress the plates because he believes that everything must be plain and simple in Italian cuisine. He only cares about the taste of the meal.

The taste comes not only from cooking methods but also ingredients. Unlike many Italian restaurants in the city, he uses Parmigiano Reggiano cheese rather than Grana Padano and uses real steak rather than rounds of beef. He prefers natural ingredients but not processed ones. He chooses organic fruits and vegetables and never offers fried meals.

Pelline uses olive oil in his recipes. "Profit is not important to me. I use the best quality ingredients," he said. He doesn’t use frozen products, either. He only keeps porcini mushrooms and ice cream in his freezer. Asparagus soap, four-cheese pizza, octopus tonnarelli, trucioli with eggplant sauce and mozzarella, crawfish ravioli and risotto with shrimp and calamari are noteworthy tastes in the restaurant.

Customers are Italian
More than the half of Pelline’s customers is Italian. He is very pleased by that but thinks it is not enough. His target is to become Istanbul’s best restaurant. He wants young people to come to his restaurant and try traditional Italian pizzas and pastas. He said, "14 years ago most of the customers at the Mezzaluna Restaurant used to send pastas back saying they were not cooked. But customers are not the same as they were in the past. They are more conscious."

Pellino also is the first foreigner who has license to sell alcohol in the city. Nearly 70 percent of his wine list is Turkish wine. "The quality of foreign wines with the same price tag with Turkish ones is too low," he said.

Pellino said after he left Mezzaluna, he thought that flavor junkies would follow him in any case if he could offer the best meals of traditional Italian cuisine in Istanbul but he was wrong. Even if he cooks the best Italian dishes and offers reasonable prices in the city, his restaurant is not full but is worth discovering.

Il Patio also offers surprises for its guests on special days like St. Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day and Father’s Day. The first surprise is this Valentine’s Day. One couple among the customers will win a three-day holiday in Venice. Price is 69 Turkish liras.