An ocakbaşı is a grill you sit around: a long copper hood over an open coal fire, with stools along the edge so you watch the skewers being turned. Beyoğlu Ocakbaşı has been doing this on Kurabiye Sokak since 1993.
The order runs the same way each time — cold mezes first, then hot ones, then the grill. Adana and Urfa kebabs, lamb ribs, liver, and the seasonal vegetables cooked directly on the coals. Rakı is the expected drink and the pace is deliberately slow.
Open evenings, closed Sundays. It is small, so book, particularly Friday and Saturday.
Seven minutes on foot from The Soul Hotel, down one of the side streets off İstiklal.
Category:
Restaurant