The First Restaurant, The First Flame

MY GRANDFATHER SERVED HIS DISHES IN THIS MODEST EATERY IN THE OLD FISH MARKET UNTIL HE MOVED TO HIS NEW LOCATION IN 1956

Before hearing the full story from Mehmet, I was already familiar with the “handing-down ceremony” and the “never-extinguished flame.” He shared this story — the very first fruit of the legacy passed on to him — as we sipped our coffees at a café in Konyaaltı, and it filled me with excitement…

“I had heard from my father that my grandfather’s first master, Hacı Hasan, supported him when he opened his restaurant. I even knew that Hacı Hasan did the shopping for my grandfather’s shop and gifted him the kitchen equipment. We also know that he performed what could be called the master-to-apprentice handing-down ceremony, by personally lighting the fire of my grandfather’s restaurant. Back then, there was no bottled gas or natural gas; stoves were fired with wood or coal, and the flame was everything for a restaurant. Hacı Hasan made this meaningful gesture and lit the fire himself so that the restaurant could receive its blessing. Even today, the flame on which the dishes in our kitchen are prepared is the very same fire that was first lit by Hacı Hasan in my grandfather 7 Mehmet’s restaurant — a fire that has never gone out. In that sense, we strive to protect and honour our legacy.

I am also often asked where this first restaurant was located, so let me clarify that as well. What is now the Belediye İş Hanı was used as the fish market in 1937. The ground floor of that building became Yedi Mehmet Lokantası. The summer restaurant was the pavement right in front, and the winter restaurant was the small room inside.

The layout of the winter space was quite remarkable. It was only wide enough for a single table for four. Since there was no running water in Antalya at the time, water was carried in earthenware jars. One person would even dine on the wooden board placed over the jar to keep anything from falling in — making the restaurant, in effect, a five-seat establishment. The menu of the first restaurant was just as simple: tripe soup, white beans, rice pilaf and pumpkin dessert… As a third-generation chef, I still prepare these dishes today using the very same recipes.

Until he moved to the shop at Yayla Palas Hotel in 1956, my grandfather served the people of Antalya in this humble little restaurant.”