Hamdi brings hospitality, Turkish cuisine and whole lamb to Seattle

When Katrina Schult and Berk Güldal served 1,800 people Turkish food and whole roast lamb for three days on Bainbridge Island in March, despite the crowds and hail, they were inspired to move to Seattle and work on opening the restaurant of their dreams.

They arrived in June and immediately launched a series of successful pop-ups called Hamdi, and that’s just two more this weekend before heading to Turkey for a month of culinary and cultural research.

The couple met while working at SingleThread, a Michelin three-star restaurant in Sonoma County, where Güldal rose to be sous chef and Schult to captain, and Güldal previously worked at New York’s highly acclaimed Eleven Madison Park. But during his time in some of the most prestigious kitchens in the country, Güldal realized that he wanted to showcase the food he grew up with.

Hamdi’s gastronomic offer underscores the Turkish tradition.

Vanessa Ronquillo

“People are not used to it here,” says Güldal of dishes such as kokoreç, the sweetbreads sprinkled with Turkish thyme, which he serves in Macrinas Bui rolls that he hunted on the street carts as a child. According to his mother’s recipe, he prepares the Kısır, a vegetarian Bulgarian salad with pepper paste and pickles, and adapts the traditional Gavurdağı salad with sumac, isot paprika and walnuts to a ceviche with fresh fish from the region.

While the two had little contact with the city before they moved, they wanted to escape the constant smoke and evacuations in California and fell in love with the port city, which reminds him a little of Istanbul, says Güldal. They came for the nearby mountains and the outdoors, but they also saw their March pop-up as a city hungry for high quality Turkish food that reflects the country’s traditional dishes. “We want to combine the new and the old,” says Güldal. “The new hospitality, but cooking with the old style.”

The kitchen is being prepared for Hamdi.

Vanessa Ronquillo

Although they knew almost no one in town and needed very special facilities for their pop-ups because of the charcoal cooking, they found people willing to learn what Turkish food can be. They keep hummus on their pop-up menu to give people a familiar entry point, while also showing what makes it their own by topping it with garlic confit and maraş pepper oil and topping it with chips serve the lava from which they make by hand scrape and roll. From there, they watch customers return to explore the rest of the menu, such as their marinated chicken wings with black cumin seeds called Kanat and the juicy lamb kebab, which is made from hand-chopped ribs of lamb.

“We only use male lambs,” says Güldal. This comes partly from tradition, but there is a reason: “The male lamb has less game flavor.” When he first came to the USA, he was surprised by the lamb here. Regardless of gender, lambs eat Turkish thyme, he explains. “We didn’t even have to season the lamb,” it naturally has the thyme flavor. By focusing on the male lambs – and adding the thyme itself – Güldal found that he could eliminate the ferocity. The thyme Hamdi uses – and their peppers, sumac, cumin, and other spices – come straight from Turkey to ensure they carry the right flavor.

Stuffed meatballs

Vanessa Ronquillo

This week they will have their final two pop-ups before traveling around Turkey for a month cooking in the kitchens of family and friends, looking for inspiration in both food and culture to create their future restaurant design. When they return in October, they plan to work with their group of potential investors to raise funds and find a location, ideally in Ballard.

Hamdi will be offering his usual pop-up menu at Fair Isle Brewing from 12pm to 8pm on Sunday 5th September, but also a special pop-up event at Obec Brewing on Saturday 4th September, where roasting a whole lamb – similar to the March version that led them to Seattle.