Sultanahmet Köftecisi (Selim Usta)

Sultanahmet Köftecisi, located on Divanyolu Street in Istanbul, is a historic restaurant founded in 1920 that serves a signature Turkish meatball recipe unchanged for over a century. Founded by Mehmet Seracettin Efendi, the family business moved to its current location in 1964. Run by four generations of the Tezchakin family, it remains the most imitated eatery in Turkey, maintaining traditional Ottoman hospitality practices like handing out symbolic lucky coins.

Istanbul · from the walk “Sultans, Spices & Hidden Streets” · audio ~3 min · Generated

Tarihi Sultanahmet Köftecisi Selim Usta, Divan Yolu Cd. No:12A, Sultanahmet, Fatih, İstanbul

Why was Selim Usta added to the name of Sultanahmet Köftecisi in Istanbul?

Take a deep breath in... and smell that. Charcoal smoke and grilled meat drifting through the air on Divanyolu Street. You're standing near one of Istanbul's most stubborn survivors... Sultanahmet Köftecisi, also known as Selim Ustah.......... The year was nineteen twenty. The Ottoman Empire was crumbling. Istanbul was under Allied occupation. And in the middle of all that chaos, a man named Mehmet Seracettin Efendi did something either brave or crazy... he opened a tiny shop on this very corner and started grilling meatballs. Just meatballs. Not kebabs, not stews, not a dozen different dishes. Just köfte.......... He called it Turan Kebapchi... the Turan Kebab Shop. The recipe? Shockingly simple. Beef, bread, onion, and salt. That's it. No spices whatsoever. The idea was to let the meat speak for itself. And over a hundred years later... that recipe has Never changed.......... Now here's where it gets interesting. When Mehmet Seracettin passed away in nineteen fifty two, his three sons... Mustafa, Selim, and isMail... took over the family business. Then in nineteen sixty four, their original shop was expropriated by the city, and the brothers had to move right here, to this spot on Divanyolu. They renamed it "Meshhur Halk Kebapchi"... the Famous People's Kebab Shop.......... And the imitators! Oh, the imitators. Walk down this street and you'll see restaurants with Almost the same name everywhere. It has become the most imitated restaurant brand in all of Turkey. That's why they eventually added "Selim Ustah" to the name... after Selim Tezchakin, the second-generation master, just so people could tell the Real one from the fakes.......... But my favorite detail? This family keeps alive two forgotten Ottoman traditions. After your meal, they may hand you a small out-of-circulation coin. One is called "Bereket Parassi"... a lucky coin you're supposed to keep in your wallet and never spend, believed to bring abundance. The other is "Dish Kirassi"... literally meaning "tooth rent"... a symbolic gift the host gives a guest after dinner. It dates back centuries to Ottoman hospitality customs.......... Four generations of the Tezchakin family have grilled köfte on this spot. And the walls inside are covered floor to ceiling with photos and handwritten notes from presidents, artists, and generals who have eaten here. No empty spot left on those walls.......... So if you step inside, remember... köfte, Piyaz, bread. That's the order. Trust the simplicity. This place has outlived empires by doing exactly One thing... and doing it perfectly.

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