A quoproquo. Turkish chef Nuri Soysal should have been delighted to learn that his restaurant was going to appear in the Michelin Guide. But the exchange was interrupted: “I thought it was a scam. I said ‘Hang up!'”
The chef realized that his interlocutor was not a scammer when he saw his restaurant on television on Tuesday night, cited among the 53 establishments in Istanbul recommended by the emblematic red guide, he told the Turkish Anadolu press agency.
“I was, of course, very sad [de ne pas assister à la cérémonie, NDLR]. I missed a big event,” said the chef at Rumelihisari Iskele, a fish restaurant located on the banks of the Bosphorus. The anecdote was confirmed to AFP by the Michelin Guide team.
“It is an honor”
The guide’s inspectors, created in 1900 by the Michelin brothers André and Edouard, went anonymously to the restaurant where he has been chef for 30 years, for this first selection of the Istanbul Michelin Guide.
“I don’t know if they ate sea bass or tuna (…) But they liked our dishes. It’s an honor,” said the award-winning cook.
The chef from Istanbul, who has been wearing a new white jacket with the Michelin inscription and the famous embroidered Bibendum for a few days, now wants to win a star.
“I will include new specialties in our menu. I hope that [les inspecteurs du Michelin] will return without our knowledge.”
Source: BFM TV
