(ABOVE) Mother-and-daughter chefs Ahu Hettema (left) and Nili Yildirim (right) at Istanbul, the popular Turkish restaurant in Honolulu inspired by Nili’s home cooking.
Looking at the festive logo for the Kakaako restaurant Istanbul, you might never guess it was born of sadness. About seven years ago Ahu Hettema, a Turkish national, was living in San Francisco and studying psychology and art. But the US government was threatening to deport her, and the stress drove her into a profound depression. "I didn't want to exist anymore," she recounts with surprising candor. "I was heavily medicated to deal with the pressure of it all. I became numb."
But Ahu's mother, Nili, flew in from Turkey and showed up on her doorstep with a suitcase full of the spices and the foods Ahu loved as a child. Nili nursed her daughter back to health in the way she knew best: with food. "She cooked for me, then we cooked together. The more we cooked, the closer I felt to my home, to family. It awakened something in my soul. The sadness started to subside." They cooked so much that they had more than they could eat, so they shared with the neighborhood. Then a neighbor encouraged them to sell their food at a farmers market in Kailua. "So we did and people loved it." That success led to their next leap: opening a restaurant.
"It's a magical story for me. I never planned on opening a restaurant or being a chef," Ahu laughs, "but it all came together." Along with the support of her father, husband, mother and brother, the family pooled their creativity, building the furniture, painting, designing fixtures to create a warm space reminiscent of a modern Turkish home. Then, just as they were about to open, the pandemic hit. "We were out of money," Ahu says. "I just sat down and cried. But a woman walking by saw me, hugged me and told me to just keep working. I took a break and got back up again."
Now considered the best Turkish restaurant in Hawaii, chefs Ahu and Nili credit the restaurant's success with their commitment to cooking from scratch (their hundred-day dry-aged ribeye is done in-house) with fresh ingredients imported from Turkey, like Mediterranean sea bass and bright, jewel-green Turkish pistachios. "My goal is to share the nourishment that brought me joy. My food is my message to the world: If you find something that makes you happy, keep doing it as long as you can. Chances at happiness should never be taken for granted."
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