As a young woman, our mum wasn’t remotely interested in cooking; she couldn’t even ‘crack an egg’ – the egg yolk would make it into the pan but the white splattered all over the hob. When she married, aged 23, Hümeyra developed a clever plan: takeaways from Ankara’s restaurants – every day. When, however, guests began to arrive for impromptu dinner parties, as was the custom in the 1950s Turkey, her plan proved unsustainable. The problem was, she was clueless. So she phoned her aunt for help with recipes and started making ‘potatoes with mince beef’ and ‘pasta with cheese.’ She began to remember her grandma’s recipes which were never written down, not even narrated to her. Her grandma’s guests loved her food and always wanted to know how she made things, so she told them. It was these overheard recipes that our mum tried to recollect, at the same time trying to visualise her grandma making them. The curious thing was, whatever she cooked turned out delicious. Someone asked her when she was in her 80s, ‘How come everything you make is so tasty?’ She said: ‘I don’t distance myself from the food, I’m in a relationship with the food; it’s as if I’m cooking myself in the pan.’ Hümeyra spent a few decades running Orkide Konfeksiyon, her boutique in Ankara, and cooking wonderful meals for us - and the guests who continued to come – before moving to Gumusluk.
Sevinҁ, her elder daughter, always loved cooking. She embarked on her first experiment when she was 15: a salad, but no ordinary salad. This was aubergine salad, a fine meze made with chargrilled aubergines, quite an undertaking for a 15-year-old. Her aubergine salad was so good that our cousin who lived in the US asked her parents to bring some when they went to visit her. Sevinҁ studied English literature at Bosphorus University in Istanbul, did a postgraduate course in social administration at Southampton University, then moved to Switzerland, initially to work at a private school. In Switzerland, Sevinҁ began to engage with food professionally and gave cookery demonstrations and classes, as well as running a catering business. But then she realised that she missed the sea and the sun too much and returned to Gümüşlük.
Having both settled in the tiny beach house, Hümeyra and Sevinҁ decided they would sell sandwiches to passers-by. But noone wanted sandwiches on the beach. One day, a woman who’d seen the sign for staff walked in. Still hopeful that the sandwich business would take off, they employed her. The woman mentioned that she made really good 'Kısır' (bulghur salad, a specialty of South-Eastern Turkey); out of boredom and curiosity, they asked her to make it. It was very good. That day, Kısır became their only dish on the menu, along with the unwanted sandwiches. People began to trickle in to eat the Kısır. The next day, Sevinҁ made piyaz (bean salad) and Hümeyra made börek (filo pastry bake). After a few days, they discarded the sandwiches and began to make more dishes. The younger daughter Selda suggested that they call their restaurant Soğan Sarmısak (Onion Garlic) and that is how this culinary oasis was born. A few years later, the first paper menus were prepared and Selda's daughter Amy, aged six, designed the covers..
The Onion Garlic way
At Onion Garlic there is no ‘professional’ chef. Sevinҁ and Hümeyra cooked everything until Hümeyra’s death in 2016 and Sevinҁ continues to cook everything. Processed foods, including canned and frozen ingredients, do not cross the threshold because we believe that food should be consumed as close to its natural state as possible. Fresh vegetables come from the local market or directly from farmers. The fishmonger is in Gümüşülük and the butcher is in the next town, Turgutreis. Milk is from a local cow and the ‘village bread’ is baked by a local woman. Extra virgin cold pressed olive oil is supplied by small producers from the Aegean region. Tomato paste (matured in the sun) and paprika are made by the mother of an employee. Sage and thyme arrive on foot, brought by a man who picks them from the local hills.
The recipes mostly come from Hümeyra's grandmother who was born in Istanbul in the 1880s, although some were created by Hümeyra and Sevinҁ. Other than the fact that the quantities are much larger, the cooking style is ‘home cooking’, that is, exactly how it might be prepared for the family. Only extra virgin cold pressed olive oil and butter are used. Sevinҁ is a member of Slow Food Bodrum.
Many thanks to Yigit Uygur for some of the photos on this page.
Hümeyra
Hümeyra was a passionate cook and a passionate person. Even in her 80s, she had the spirit of a 18-year-old. When we were preparing this website, we realised after some time that we forgot to mention the fact that she had had multiple sclerosis (MS) for the last three decades of her life, becoming gradually less mobile. She had shrugged it off so successfully that the MS had faded into the background, both for her and for us. She continued to cook and travel even when severely disabled. We miss her very much.
Hümeyra approached her cooking with the same excitement and pride every day; she used to say that her enthusiasm for cooking was on a par with her enthusiasm for the beautiful clothes she designed in the 1960s. Sevinc is just as passionate about the food she prepares and the integrity of ingredients.
We are sure that you will taste this special ingredient coming through in all our dishes.