Turkey's first MICHELIN-starred restaurants announced!

With Istanbul being selected as Turkey's first “Michelin Guide Destination,” the restaurants that earned Michelin stars were announced at a ceremony attended by numerous guests, foremost among them Minister of Culture and Tourism Mehmet Nuri Ersoy, TÜROB Chair Müberra Eresin, Vice Chair Taner Yallagöz, and Board Member Temel Aygün.

The Michelin star, known as the Oscar of the restaurant world, is a star rating awarded to restaurants since 1926, and as of 1931 it has been graded as 1, 2, and 3 stars. A Michelin star is an award given to the restaurant itself, not to the chef. When the chef of a Michelin-starred restaurant leaves that restaurant, they cannot take the star with them; however, they can take their reputation.

In general, restaurants with a Michelin star are renowned for the price/quality balance of their menu, their creativity, the quality of the ingredients used in preparing their dishes, and their delicious cuisine.

At the Turkey launch of the Michelin Guide, our restaurants that won one and two Michelin stars were revealed. The restaurants that won a single star were Nicole – Chef Serkan Aksoy, Araka – Zeynep Pınar Taşdemir, Mikla – Chef Cihan Çetinkaya, and Neolokal – Chef Maksut Aşkar, while our two-star restaurant was TURK - Chef Fatih Tutak. The winner of the evening's Michelin Green Star was also the one-Michelin-starred Neolokal.
We congratulate all of our chefs and restaurants.