The Cookshop, Maltepe Park, Istanbul

I hope I have already proven my love for food and there is no doubt about it. If you get a chance to express your love while on work, that’s the best part I believe. I have always liked to rub shoulder with people from different culture and it was another such opportunity for me.

It was during my Istanbul visit and I was invited for lunch by my Turkish colleagues. I had no reason to deny the invitation and gladly accepted the hospitality. The place I was living was Maltepe which is a quite big place and the office was in Hastane which is quite close to Maltepe (only 4 stations from Maltepe over metro toward Kartal). I was accompanied by one of my colleague in his BMW to Maltepe Park where The Cookshop was located. We were around 10 people and the restaurant was happy to have us there. The colorful cozy environment was quite attractive, I believe it looks more attractive after dark.

I had the menu book and was asked to choose my dish. There was a English version of the menu on the same book but I preferred my beautiful lady colleague to choose on my behalf since she was quite familiar to the place and knew the food much better than me. She ordered for Steak with Creamy Mushroom Sauce and since I like spicy food a bit, she ordered Steak with Three Pepper sauce for me. Initially my understanding about 3 pepper sauce was stuck with bell peppers only but when I had the dish in front of me it was a sauce made of 3 kinds of pepper corn. The peppers had different flavors and none them was hot. I was even asked to make choice about the tenderness of the steak and I was surprised to see my colleagues making choice for semi-cooked steak whereas I couldn’t imagine anything other than well cooked meat. Finally it was a real soft and juicy steak with a tangy sauce.

We also ordered for some red wine which is a perfect match with red meat and having a sip of red wine with the steak was truly awesome. After finishing the dish we had a lovely ice cream which was a combination of three flavour with real fresh fruit. I should also mention the hospitality of the staff. Overall it was a splendid experience and I really had spent a quality time.