Mavi was recommended to me by the owner of the guest house we were staying at, saying that Nigar,…read morethe owner of the restaurant is a wonderful lady and a great cook, and that we'd love it.
He didn't promise too much. We arrived on Heybeliada around Noon on Saturday, left for Istanbul on Sunday in the early evening - and managed to visit Mavi no less than three times. That's how tasty the food is, that's how nice Nigar and her crew is.
Lunch on Saturday consisted of sauteed zucchini in yoghurt, stuffed wine leaves, a kind of chili cheese paste, their special potatos, and - the highlight - an enormously delicious main course with rice and mussels. The dishes are hard to put names on - simply because they are so unique - as much as they are rooted in Turkish cuisine, most dishes have a very distinct personal note - that of Nigar and her family in the kitchen.
The zucchini in yoghurt for example - topped with crushed nuts, it's a simple but wonderful delight. Or the potatos - a kind of warm salad with bell peppers, onions and other fine ingredients, and deliciously spiced with some kind of yellow curry... a surprising and addictive combination.
Or the rice and mussels - it's a kind of Turkish paella, with saffron rice, shrimps, vegetables, and mussels, waiting in a giant pot in Nigar's kitchen - I could eat almost endless amounts of this.
We returned for dinner the same evening. Wonderful Meze again, including an octopus salad that contained slices of gherkin, which we first found surprising, and then absolutely fitting. And a hot side on top: something they call Karidesli Börek, and which can only be described as something like a Turkish spring roll, filled with shrimps and vegetables - really yummy.
As a main course we chose Iskorpit Sote - featuring a local fish, which is, as far as I could find out, the Black Scorpion-Fish. Nice solid white meat, really tasty, and a great dish to go for at Mavi.
Lunch on Sunday was a feast too... One new starter: we tried the stuffed artichoke, and loved it. really tender, tasty, and filled with something that was similar to what goes into the stuffed wine leaves. Delicious.
One new main course too: grilled kalamar - simply delicios, accompanied by a little bit of soy sauce - just fine. Just as the lovely little Sevgi Böregi, heart shaped pastries with cheese - nothing spectacular, but we loved them too.
Just like the family feeling of this restaurant and the great service. Sometimes you have to wait a while longer than you'd wish, but that's simply due to the enormous success and the many happy customers.
One of those places you simply have to love. No way around it.
