BİTEZ · FROM 1987 TO TODAY
Whatever the sea gives, that is what we cook. In forty years that is the one rule that has not changed.
In 1987 Bitez was not the place you know today. On the seaward side of Çökertme Caddesi there were a few houses, one pier, and boats coming back in the late afternoon. That year İsmet opened his own place on this shore.
At the beginning there was no menu. Whatever had been caught that day was cooked, written on a board, and wiped off when it ran out. That habit never changed. Today the carte is still decided when we come back from the morning fish market.
The second generation
What changed was that the kitchen grew. The meze counter took its present form in those years. What did not change was where the fish came from.
The same name, forty years on
Today the grandson who carries his grandfather's name is in the kitchen. Same shore, same name, third generation. Bitez has changed a great deal; it has grown crowded and expensive. The rule of this table has not changed: whatever the sea gives is what we cook.