About Us

Yalıçapa's story began in 1979 in a small net shed beside the Kireçburnu pier. After returning from his morning's fishing, fisherman Hüsnü Yalçıner set up six tables in front of the shed and began cooking the day's catch for neighbours who stopped by the pier. Word of the tables soon spread beyond Sarıyer, and this place, which bought fish from the boat and cooked it a hundred metres away, became one of the simplest tables on the Bosphorus for Istanbul's residents.

Today

Today Yalıçapa works in the same spot and by the same principle, with a 140-seat glass dining room, a garden and a 28-metre wooden pier. Captain Hüsnü's son Murat Yalçıner runs the dining room, and his granddaughter Selin Yalçıner, a fisheries engineer, does the morning buying. Chef Serkan Doğruel has led the kitchen for 22 years, with Nermin Akdoğan at the meze counter.

Our principles

• Fish in season: our menu follows the Bosphorus calendar; we do not sell fish out of season.
• Minimum size: we never buy fish below the minimum sizes in the commercial fisheries communiqué, and for bluefish we set ourselves a 24 cm limit.
• Transparent prices: fish sold by the kilo is weighed at your table and the total is given before you order.
• Traceability: every purchase is recorded with an invoice and catch or harvest details.
• A daily kitchen: meze are made every morning; we never buy them in ready-made.

Food safety

Our kitchen follows the hygiene rules of the Turkish Food Codex: fish is kept on a 0–2 °C ice bed and raw and cooked stations are separate. Our food business registration number is TR-34-K-118742. Allergen information is listed for every dish on the menu.