One morning, I rushed in the restaurant asking for ribs as if I was starving, Şeref Usta told me to come back at 11.30am, hence it is still cooking… But the büryan was ready, hanging on the hooks, still warm, the fats dripping, calling my name. But I wanted to wait for another hour and have the ribs as well. So we left to return.
I wrote about the real deal of büryan… In Istanbul things vary due to consumption patterns. In Istanbul, you eat büryan at late morning, if you are like me, or over lunch like everyone else. Şeref Usta is the third generation büryan master. He personally takes care of everything, prepares the büryan orders, by cutting small pieces of meat from different parts of different lambs then he tops it on the tırnaklı ekmek, starts cutting it to bite sizes so the most delicious part of the meat left ekmek,its jus and fat.
When the time came we return to hit hard, even far more hungry then the morning. We ordered yağlı, fatty part comes with cracklings. The soft fat of the lamb is melting in our mouths, we tucked pieces of meat in tırnaklı ekmek, a piece of onion, and green chilis. As we were amazed by the taste, Şeref Usta looked at me and told me over the counter ‘ I am bringing the ribs….’ Golden words…
No need to say how it was, look at the photo! Juicy, pink, fatty, falling of the bone, ribs is the word! After some minutes this little plate was done for as well, we were like monsters. So we ordered yarım yağlı, a half fatty one. While we were chatting with Şeref Usta, he cracked a tail and added it on our plate. Tail, lamb tail with its little fat on!
After sucking the tail, licking our hands, fighting over the last piece of crackling, the third plate of meat, fat and happiness has all gone. All we wanted is to start over again, or run till home, climb mountain Ağrı (aka Ararat), or have a cup of decent Turkish coffee, so we chose!
Address: İtfaiye Cad, No.4, Fatih, İstanbul