Beyti is a restaurant in

Istanbul Istanbul ( , ; tr, İstanbul ), formerly known as Constantinople ( grc-gre, Κωνσταντινούπολις; la, Constantinopolis), is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, serving as the country's economic, ...

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...

specialising in roasted meat. It was founded in 1945 in Küçükçekmece and since 1983 has been situated in Florya. The establishment is owned by the

restaurateur A restaurateur is a person who opens and runs restaurants professionally. Although over time the term has come to describe any person who owns a restaurant, traditionally it refers to a highly skilled professional who is proficient in all aspec ...

Beyti Güler and run by him together with his sons Cüneyt and Ahmet. The main dining room, with a total capacity of 500 seats, offers traditional

Turkish cuisine Turkish cuisine () is the cuisine of Turkey and the Turkish diaspora. It is largely the heritage of Ottoman cuisine, which can be described as a fusion and refinement of Mediterranean, Balkan, Middle Eastern, Central Asian and Eastern Eu ...

and various

kebab Kebab (, ; ar, كباب, link=no, Latn, ar, kabāb, ; tr, kebap, link=no, ) or kabob (North American) is a type of cooked meat dish (food), dish that originates from Middle Eastern cuisine, cuisines of the Middle East. Many variants of the ...

s grilled over oak charcoal. Beyti kebab, a specialty named after the chef, is the most popular. Beyti is a member of the prestigious international

gastronomic Gastronomy is the study of the relationship between food and culture, the art of preparing and serving rich or delicate and appetizing food, the cooking styles of particular regions, and the science of good eating. One who is well versed in gastr ...

organization Confrérie de la Chaîne des Rôtisseurs.

Background

Beyti Güler is a descendant of

Turkic people The Turkic peoples are a collection of diverse ethnic groups of West Asia, West, Central Asia, Central, East Asia, East, and North Asia as well as parts of Europe, who speak Turkic languages.. "Turkic peoples, any of various peoples whose memb ...

who fled from

Samarkand fa, سمرقند , native_name_lang = , settlement_type = City , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from the top: Registan square, Shah-i-Zinda necropolis, Bibi-Khanym Mosque, view inside Shah-i-Zi ...

Crimea Crimea, crh, Къырым, Qırım, grc, Κιμμερία / Ταυρική, translit=Kimmería / Taurikḗ ( ) is a peninsula in Ukraine, on the northern coast of the Black Sea, that has been occupied by Russia since 2014. It has a p ...

in the 1720s after the assault of Persians. In the 1870s, following the

Crimean War The Crimean War, , was fought from October 1853 to February 1856 between Russia and an ultimately victorious alliance of the Ottoman Empire, France, the United Kingdom and Piedmont-Sardinia. Geopolitical causes of the war included t ...

the family moved to

Dobruja Dobruja or Dobrudja (; bg, Добруджа, Dobrudzha or ''Dobrudža''; ro, Dobrogea, or ; tr, Dobruca) is a historical region in the Balkans that has been divided since the 19th century between the territories of Bulgaria and Romania. I ...

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Moldova to the east, a ...

. The family immigrated in 1935 to Turkey. In 1945, Beyti and his father opened a small roadside meat restaurant measuring 30 m² with four tables in the suburbs of Istanbul. The restaurant, though it only had 20 seats, became a popular venue and gained fame soon after opening. Notable journalists, top executives and even high-ranked politicians came to taste the döner kebap that was rarely available elsewhere. An article published in 1965 in the ''

New York Herald Tribune The ''New York Herald Tribune'' was a newspaper published between 1924 and 1966. It was created in 1924 when Ogden Mills Reid of the ''New-York Tribune'' acquired the ''New York Herald''. It was regarded as a "writer's newspaper" and competed ...

'' led to international fame. From 1966 to 1974, the restaurant catered daily to four

Pan Am Pan American World Airways, originally founded as Pan American Airways and commonly known as Pan Am, was an American airline that was the principal and largest international air carrier and unofficial overseas flag carrier of the United State ...

airliners. The restaurant served U.S. President

Richard Nixon Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as a representative and senator from California and was t ...

aboard

Air Force One Air Force One is the official air traffic control designated call sign for a United States Air Force aircraft carrying the president of the United States. In common parlance, the term is used to denote U.S. Air Force aircraft modified and used ...

during his first official trip to

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located enti ...

, an opportunity that helped the Turkish kebap become renowned. To meet the growing demand, Beyti Güler erected a three-story building in Florya, an upscale residential neighborhood close to Atatürk International Airport. Consisting of eleven dining rooms of various sizes plus a terrace, the building was designed in a modern architectural style by Osman Yılmaz Şanlı. The interior decoration was inspired by Ottoman Turkish art. Construction was begun in 1979 and the new site opened by 1983.

Beyti kebab

During a visit to Switzerland in 1961, Beyti Güler was inspired by the renowned butcher Möller's way of preparing meat. When he returned home, he introduced a dish consisting of roasted lamb fillets wrapped in strips of lamb cutlet fat. It came to be named after him, as Beyti kebab, when the kebab's fame spread internationally. However, the dish made of ground meat, widely sold as street food under the same name, bears little resemblance to his original.

Notable customers

In more than fifty years, many heads of state, high-ranking politicians, top businessmen and celebrities from around the globe have dined in Beyti during their visits to Istanbul.

References

{{Reflist, colwidth=35em Buildings and structures completed in 1983 Restaurants established in 1945 Restaurants in Istanbul Bakırköy Turkish companies established in 1945