MEHMET GÖK
Mehmet Gök, Executive Chef of Four Seasons Hotel Istanbul at the Bosphorus, has a lifelong appreciation for simple, seasonal food and the effort that goes into producing it. His mother was the driving force behind the communal feasts in the village in which he grew up in Northern Turkey. Gök and his brothers spent their childhoods working alongside neighbouring families, harvesting and drying fruits and vegetables and making jam for winter.
“We worked together as a community,” he recalls. “One family’s produce one day, another the next, until it was all done.”
It is only natural to Gök that fresh, local produce is the focus of Aqua Restaurant at Four Seasons Hotel Istanbul at the Bosphorus. Furthermore, he is ideally placed to understand the demands of the local market. He works with local farmers, planning ahead, often six months at a time, to ensure that he has access to the finest produce the land can provide.
Gök grows winter and summer herbs and his own cherry tomatoes – when the season allows. “It’s different here from being a chef in London, where you can get anything you want, all year round. To be fresh in Turkey, it has to be seasonal,” he explains. “It limits you but results in the best food.”
Gök comes from a family of chefs – his two older brothers are also in the business. So who cooks when his own family gets together? Not Gök. “My brothers are proud of me, but as the youngest, they still think I have a lot to learn.” There’s nothing like family to keep you grounded.
