Cemilusta Akçaabat Köftecisi (Akçaabat)

Akçaabat köfte is a protected regional product, and Cemilusta is one of the houses built on it. The only street address the company publishes — Yaylacık Mahallesi, Düzköy Caddesi 78 in Akçaabat — is labelled as its head office and meat plant; the street addresses of the restaurant branches are not published. On its own history page the business dates its start to 1969 and describes fifty years of serving köfte and Black Sea fish; it also places the wider spread of Akçaabat köfte on Orta Cadde in the mid-1940s.

The company describes selecting brisket, shoulder and neck from cattle raised on local pasture, trimming out sinew and excess fat, mincing and kneading the mix, then resting it a day before packing. The plant covers 5,000 square metres, runs under veterinary supervision, and ships to the branches on an unbroken cold chain. Its certificate page lists ISO 9001 and ISO 22000.

The menu widens out from the köfte. Mornings bring a spread breakfast with fried and sucuk-topped eggs, kuymak — the Black Sea's cornmeal-and-cheese fondue — and kaygana, a herb omelette. Beyond the köfte come rib-eye and tenderloin, lamb chops and küşleme, saç kavurma, kangal sucuk and a clay-pot güveç. From the sea there is anchovy fried or grilled, fried whiting and steamed sea bass; to close, hazelnut baklava, rice pudding and set yoghurt in earthenware. It also states that it was voted Black Sea Restaurant of the Year in a public vote run by Istanbul University.