We met with our famous chefs and talked about the recipes on their menu. Their secret seems to be time constantly spent in the kitchen and hard work…

While praising a few dishes we tasted on the menu, Tanya begins to finish Uğur’s sentences. “Instead of adding this and adding that to create flavour, we prefer to use a few small but poignant ingredients.”

Tanya says “Utmost care is given to all main courses, salads and starters. We are fully aware that a plate we prepare should appeal to the eyes before it pleases the stomach. This could be a sauce, edible flowers or microgreens added to create an impressive food plating.”

On the other hand, Uğur summarizes these small touches in the recipes by saying “All of our dishes have fine touches and beautiful decorations. These are not only visual but also add flavour. For example, we use coriander on the Wings and Corn Ribs and also decorate the Chicken Croquettes with fresh spices. Decorations used with the Salmon Tartar and Red Beet Salmon Gravlax are actually part of the recipe and determine the taste.”  Tanya immediately intervenes and says “The decorations in all of our recipes have the same effect and are designed accordingly. They are all touches that complement the flavour not just the plating.”

We asked about the 4 Coloured Octopus Plate, one of the most striking recipes of their menu; How did this recipe come about? “We wanted to serve Octopus with Hummus which plays an important part in the Turkish Cypriot Culture so with small touches, we prepared this recipe by adding colour. The Octopus dish is decorated with plain, green (spinach), yellow (curry) and red (beetroot) coloured hummus”, says Tanya and Uğur continues by saying “ Yes, In Cyprus, octopus is eaten hard, mostly pickled actually, but we made a change and serve a soft white octopus instead. People find it different. This shows that habits can be changed. In fact, they like it more this way.”

“All of our meals are of course prepared with special recipes but none of them are secret recipes.” Says Uğur, “Everyone can try cooking and preparing these dishes but we prepare our recipes with great care” Tanya draws attention to a major difference here; “The recipes are made in a kitchen of a small business therefore we have the opportunity to elaborate. You may not find the same aspiration in the recipes if they were prepared in a bigger restaurant. Besides, a smaller business allows us to use high quality ingredients”

As for Twenty T-U which draws attention with its name and is the focus of people interested in new tastes, “We serve Beef Ribs with Bulgur Risotto and ginger carrot puree with mashed onions, jus (beef stock broth sauce) and hazelnuts.” “Plating this dish is equally fun,” adds Uğur. Whereupon we ask what their favourite dish to cook is. “I love cooking all of them,” says Tanya.

Tanya said, “We wanted to offer something from our Cyprus Culture for dessert so we made the commonly used puff pastry with walnut paste which is unique to Cyprus. Another example is the sine qua non offered at Cypriot taverns, Gırbac which is a quark cheese- based desert. We serve it with chocolate topped with flaky baklava pastry.” Followed by Uğur saying “From the start, we had planned to combine the Cypriot Culture with World Cuisine. We were thinking about this while preparing the menu and creating our recipes.”

When we asked if presenting unusual recipes here is an advantage earned with the Master Chef program, Uğur says, “Speaking for myself and I’m sure Tanya will agree with me, if I hadn’t participated in the program, I still would have become someone chasing different recipes.” Tanya has an agreeing glance and adds “but the program has its advantages. When any chef tries to add a different recipe to a menu, the restaurant director and dining customers immediately object because changing certain habits is not an easy task. Yet the popularity we gained with Master Chef and the privilege given to try different things, have given us the chance to show our abilities. We still would have carried out our plan but it would have taken longer to be accepted. I can say that being recognised and people giving us this chance accelerated this process.”

While talking, their special hamburgers are mentioned and Uğur confesses something: “We didn’t want to highlight hamburgers this much. The menu was balanced and more or less all dishes are preferred equally however the hamburgers have received much interest. Unexpectedly, they were highly liked so we even held a ‘Burger Night’ event last month in honour of this success. We offered different hamburger recipes just for the event. We are planning many more events such as Italian, Vegan and Cypriot Cuisine nights. Be sure to follow up on the details.”
 
At the end of our conversation, just as we were trying to memorise the dishes we hadn’t tasted yet and deciding on which ones to try next time, Tanya said, “By the way, we change our menu every three to four months according to the ingredients which are in season” She added that offering a menu with a limited number of dishes carefully prepared  with fresh and delicious ingredients in season is more fun than a crowded menu with endless options. “ In addition, when our regular customers have tried everything on the menu, it’s nice to be able to offer them an updated menu and different tastes after a while.” she said.