Modern Istanbul Eats with Feastly

My friend and colleague Priya invited me to check out this awesome vegetarian Turkish lunch she found on Feastly.

Feastly connects talented local chefs and home. cooks with diners looking for an intimate, off the beaten path dining experience.

This lunch was a modern interpretation of Turkish cuisine, prepared by the lovely Laura and Sayat and hosted at The Tradesman in the Mission. Chefs Laura and Sayat have worked in top restaurants in Spain, India, and the U.S. Their Feastly meals are highly rated and usually sell out. After this meal, I know why.

Everything we ate was incredible.

Here’s a closer look at the menu

We started with a velvety sunchoke soup made with buttermilk and cream (forgot to photograph this) and a cheesy, buttery feta dill bread that I could live on

Then we had some melt-in-your-mouth dolmas (Chef Sayat’s mother’s recipe) with currants and pine nuts

Next came asparagus in a green goddess tahini dressing with lots of edible flowers

That was followed by crispy Turkish style latkes (made without flour or eggs) topped with pickled mushrooms, greens, and labneh

Next came a lucious rutabaga poached in olive oil and lemon (not pictured) and bouregs (savory Turkish pastries) with goat cheese, preserved lemon, and spinach.

That was the end of the mezze round. We were already stuffed and we still had the main course and two dessert courses to go.

The main course was baby eggplant in a spicy tomato sauce over some buttery rice and preserved lemon

And now for the dessert!

We kicked it off with a very sophisticated version of hosaf. Hosaf is a Turkish winter dessert made with stewed dried fruit.

The Turkish lady sitting next to us called this the Cadillac of hosafs. It consisted of smoked yogurt spheres, balls of pear stuffed with a dried cherry and plum sauce, and gold flecked almonds, all suspended in a sweet orange blossom broth. Very refreshing and truly fit for royalty.

Finally, the meal closed out with a mastika and bergamot liqueur and Petit fours: a tahini amd date cookie sandwich inspired by PB&J, a saffron-pear pate de fruit, and a dark chocolate disc with pistachios and rose petals.

At $55, this meal was definitely more than what I usually spend on brunch but it was worth it. Everything was unique and very thoughtfully prepared.

This my first Feastly meal but it definitely won’t be my last.