Roka Istanbul Hosts Maksut Aşkar in its Kitchen!

The chefs, who came together for the guest chef event to be held for the first time in Roka restaurants, will share their creativity, their passion for bringing together extraordinary flavors, the different techniques of the two cuisines and the stories they weave behind their plates. Roka IstanbulThey will keep it alive with the set menu they prepared for two special dinners to be held in .

Roka Istanbul's chef Suna Hakyemez, states that this collaboration will offer a unique experience blending the rich heritage of two cultures. Suna Hakyemez said that they started the preparations of the idea, concept and menu of this project, which Roka, an international restaurant group, will implement for the first time in Istanbul, months ago and said, “During these two nights, we worked to take our guests on an unforgettable journey with Turkish and Japanese flavors. Maksut Askar"'s creativity, knowledge of various cultures and closeness to Japanese culture are a great opportunity for this experience," he says.

Maksut Aşkar said about the event: “The similarity of Japanese and Anatolian culinary cultures lies in respect for traditions, products and producers. It is a great pleasure for me to blend the techniques of Japanese cuisine with the ingredients of Anatolian cuisine under the roof of Roka, with the respect I have for these common values. “With Chef Suna Hakyemez, we took care to create a menu that both reflects our common culinary passion and invites you to a special gastronomic journey,” he shares.

About Azumi Ltd

Azumi Limited is an award-winning global restaurant business with many established brands serving contemporary cuisine in key cosmopolitan locations. Azumi Group is one of the global investments of D.ream, which was established in 2012 as a subsidiary of Doğuş Group.

Created by Rainer Becker and co-founded with Arjun Waney, Azumi's journey began with the opening of Zuma London in 2002. This was quickly followed by ROKA London in 2004. There are currently 21 Zuma and 9 ROKA restaurants around the world, and preparations for other restaurants are ongoing. In addition to the Japanese concepts Zuma and ROKA, Oblix opened at The Shard in 2013.

ETARU, which was launched in Florida in 2017, offers the ROKA concept with a different look to the east coast of the USA. 

About Arugula

Following the enormous success of Zuma London, Rainer Becker quickly recognized the huge popularity of robatayaki cuisine and opened ROKA Charlotte Street in 2004, creating a contemporary Japanese menu. ROKA Group has expanded rapidly and now has a portfolio of restaurants in London's most sought-after locations. ROKA's main cuisine comes from the Robata grill. Located in the middle of the grill, the grill forms an integral design element of all restaurants, but more than just a striking feature, the robata is truly the heart of ROKA. 

The current ROKA portfolio includes the following restaurants (in chronological order): London Charlotte Street and Shochu Lounge (2004), London Canary Wharf (2009), London Mayfair (2014), London Aldwych (2014) Dubai Business Bay (2020) Spain Mallorca (pop -up 2021, 2022, 2023) Saudi Riyadh (2021), Istanbul (2022), Kuwait (2022), Jeddah (2023) and Barcelona (pop-up 2023).

Source: HORECA Trend and Arugula