Hünkar Lokantası

Hikayemiz

Hünkar is a restaurant in Istanbul, Turkey, founded in 1950 in Fatih and moved in 2000 to Nişantaşı, an upscale living and shopping neighborhood. At the same time, a branch was also opened in Etiler, another upscale quarter.BackgroundThe restaurants are owned and run by restaurateurs Talip Ügümü and his three sons, Feridun, Galip and Faruk, while his grandsons are also in the business, all being the third and fourth generation of a chef family. Their grandfather served as chef of the prominent army general and politician Kâzım Karabekir (1882–1948). The founder of the reataurant, father Talip began his career at age eight in Erzurum as dishwasher in "Seher" Restaurant. After three years, he became kitchen-hand. Already at age fifteen, Talip was a cook. He was inspired to the variety of Ottoman cuisine found in Istanbul as told by travelling traders. In 1950, he decided to go to Istanbul, where he started again as kitchen-hand in famous restaurants at Sirkeci, then a popular restaurant district of the city.After getting sufficient knowledge in Ottoman-Turkish culinary, Talip Ügümü opened his own premise with only 4-5 tables close to Column of Marcian in Fatih district at age seventeen in 1950. Named after the Ottoman Turkish word Hünkar for sovereign or sultan, the restaurant specialized in typical traditional Ottoman-Turkish cuisine.