Who is Mehmet Deveci ?
My adventure in Antioch cuisine started with my father. He was there at the very beginning when we launched the “Baris Mutfagi “(Kitchen Of Peace). Born in 1950, Mehmet Deveci started the business of food from scracth to support his family. In my opinion my father was great in terms of food serving, he reached the end of his career in Antioch at Women’s Club. My father migrated to Istanbul in the 1970s; he worked there at the kitchens of well known hotels where he introduced the recipes he learned from his mother.
But it was not until 1985 that he started his own business. He opened a little restaurant called ‘Akdeniz’ (Mediterranean) at the Laleli district of Istanbul. Perhaps it wasn’t a five star location, but it was a nice and small place where people enjoyed eating; it had only 9 tables. was designed for trades’ people around the town, and people would go there to eat traditional Antioch food.
Along with his family, he then opened a new place in 2007 called ‘Akdeniz Hatay Sofrasi’ featuring traditional Antioch food. Since then his customers have been enjoying Baris Mutfagi menu… He has built a team originally from Antioch with chefs cooking food from ingredients brought from Antioch.
He had two main goals when opening the new restaurant in 2007. One is to offer families from Hatay the chance to enjoy homely smells and tastes; and the one is to introduce with help of his sons, the tastes of Antioch to an international food loving audience.
Who is Dahiye Sultan ?
When introducing Antioch cuisine through Baris Mutfagi, I wanted it to feature the recipes of my mother who in my mind is the best chef ever. My mother Dahiye Sultan was born in 1956. She visits two of our restaurants several times a month to check if her recipes are cooked properly.
The products that we are producing with our brand ‘Antakya Bakkali’ (Antioch Market), are produced by my mother and her siblings. 3 traditional methods are used in preparing the products: Stew, drying and pickling… The reason why we are applying these methods is to serve you products with a longer shelf-life while offering a better food safety.
I would like to thank not only to my mother but all mothers for giving me tha chance to offer you nearly 100 products we are producing in our village in Hatay.