Back in town and sweet unions
This month marks the anniversary of two global Asian restaurants, Akira Back and Roka. Roka Istanbul’s executive chef Suna Hakyemez is originally from Istanbul, but she worked for several years in the original London venue and made a comeback to her town by the opening of the Istanbul branch. For internationally renowned Akira Back, Istanbul was a new branch in the long chain of high-end restaurants, the 25th one to be precise, but not just another one, he always had a fondness for the city. Last week I tried both venues, not only tasting great plates, but personally meeting both chefs.
About a year ago, famed chef Akira Back silently opened a branch of his several global restaurants in Istanbul. I say silently, as it was just after a flood disaster, and he had to skip being here personally to celebrate the opening. Now just after a year, Akira Back was back in town, this time to greet Istanbulites and also to be a guest chef in the Masterchef Türkiye competition.
Last year, we could only do a zoom meeting online, this time I was lucky to meet him and taste his food.
Born in Seoul, Akira Back left Korea with his family at the age of 14. From then on, it was a journey from country to country. Due to his father's job, they moved to Aspen, one of America's leading ski resorts, when he was 15. Just the right age to hit the slopes. He soon became a master snowboarder, and with the courageous nature of youth, appeared in extreme sports movies. During this period, he started working in a Japanese restaurant to cover his expenses. For seven years, he alternated between the slopes and the kitchens, and after a while he realized that the thrill on the snowboard was also felt in the kitchen, with the adrenalin rush of meeting orders, plating flawless dishes, and in a way, winning the admiration and applause of customers was no different to finishing a black diamond piste. Eventually he enrolled at the International Culinary School in Colorado, where he studied international gastronomy, particularly focusing on Asian culinary techniques.
The rest was like a dream come true. His first venture in the restaurant business had been to open the Yellowtail Japanese Restaurant & Lounge at the famous Bellagio Casino in Las Vegas, which proved to be a worldwide success, soon becoming a favorite among celebrities. It was followed by Akira Back, his eponymous brand offering modern Japanese cuisine. He never stopped and continued to build brands, creating one place after another with different concepts. ABSteak is an ambitious steakhouse in the Korean tradition of grilling, while ABbq, its sibling, is a traditional, typical Korean barbecue restaurant, also serving typical Korean delicacies such as bulgogi and kimchi. ABar is a bar concept offering snack platters to nibble for night owls. The sports background of the chef reflects in his take on combining fun and excitement with cuisine. His restaurant Dasha serves Chinese cuisine and has private Karaoke rooms. Lumi restaurant, which serves Nikkei cuisine, a Peruvian-Japanese fusion, is frequented by young people with DJ performances. The chef has also made a cool comeback to his homeland Korea and received one Michelin star in Seoul, the city of his birth, at Dosa, which he opened with a modern Korean concept.
Chefs working in other countries are like wandering souls in a vast culinary space. As seen in Akira Back’s case, he never stopped dreaming and he never stopped like a true racer. He has created different places inspired by the influences of different cuisines he has experienced during his journey from Korea to Japan and America, and all the countries he has traveled around the world. He calls these nostalgic dining experiences. He tries to add a memory, a flavor from everywhere to his kitchen. In the menus he creates, he aims to offer each guest a set of flavors and stories on a personal level, creating a melting pot of cultures. When he was young, he and his family used to visit Istanbul on their vacations to Greece and he always thought Istanbul was an exciting and amazing city. Now he is here, and hopefully we expect to see more of him. Last year he admitted that he likes the way in which we use eggplant in our kitchen. Who knows, maybe in the future, he will establish a connection with Korean and Turkish cuisines, with which we share similar tastes, albeit distantly, and he will include our favorite eggplant flavors in his places.
Sweet union of two neighboring brands
Another wandering soul in the culinary world is our lovely Suna Hakyemez. Her passion for cooking was first spotted by her father when she made a dream cake for her mother at the age of 16, resembling snow fairies on a snowy day. Her father supported her to study culinary arts and she encountered Asian cuisine at Zuma in Istanbul, where she worked for two years. The rest of the story unfolds in London, following her chef Hamish Brown, who set sail for the Roka adventure and moved to London. After gaining a total of six years of experience in both branches of the restaurant, Hakyemez wanted to have another experience and worked at Heston Blumenthal's legendary restaurant Fat Duck for more than two years, and then moved to Trivet, opened by former Fat Duck team chef Jonny Lake and famous sommelier İsa Bal.
After working at Trivet for a year, she returned back to her town last year to become the master of robata here in the Roka Istanbul branch opened at Galata Port. Just on the same block is Butterfly Chocolate, a leading artisanal Turkish chocolatier celebrating its 20th year. They have been a pioneer in introducing the bean-to-bar concept in Türkiye, creating haute couture handmade chocolates combining beans of the world with Turkish ingredients and spices. Eventually, the two neighboring brands thought of a collaboration to create a signature dessert combining chocolate and Asian flavors.
The story of bean-to-bar Butterfly Chocolate, with 80 percent Madagascar beans, begins at the Bejofe Estate farm in the Sambirano Valley; it is the most sought-after "single origin" cocoa beans in the craft chocolate world. The beans are processed by hand by Butterfly to reflect the “terroir properties” of the cocoa for this special dessert by chef Hakyemez. Named “Chocolate Sundae with Poki Sticks,” the dessert will be on the menu only for a month, so do not miss this opportunity to finish an exquisite dessert celebration with this sweet union of Roka and Butterfly Chocolate.
