Parvus

We made a very enjoyable bit of tasting and discovery with Şebnem Sükan at Parvus, one of the places that surprised us most when we saw its name in the Michelin Guide this year. Parvus, which means “small” in Latin, has been home to big flavours in a small shop since 2023.

Three words make up the motto here: simple, original and delicious. The plates appeal to the eye but stay well clear of showiness, using few ingredients and only the essential ones. Simplicity may be the guiding idea, yet chef Alican Yağcı has added his own original touches too. With the best quality ingredients on top of that, the result is plates full of flavour.

The menu at Parvus changes every quarter of the year. The Winter 2026 menu covers a wide range, from soup to pasta and from seafood to red meat.

Under the heading “Bostan” there are vegetable-led plates as well. Because the kitchen uses nothing frozen, you get to taste vegetables that are properly in season. Ours was the Mantar Bahçesi. The plate is built with four different kinds of mushroom (morel, chestnut, porcini and oyster), and the cheese cream suits it very well.

For the main course we tried both seafood and red meat. The Denizci Yahnisi, served with garlic bread, left a pleasant aroma on the palate, but the seafood, the octopus especially, was tough. The Dana Yaprak Ciğer was one of the menu's surprises. It was cooked exactly as it should be and had not soaked up any oil. The Izgara Kuzu Karski, meanwhile, was the plate of the night. Morel mushrooms turn up here as well. Seeing an ingredient we had liked in the starter appear again on another plate was a happy thing. Here it is the cauliflower purée and the sour cherry lamb jus that stand out.

With only one dessert on the menu we expected something rather more ambitious, but the chocolate mousse did not give us the deep chocolate flavour we were after. The accompaniments had overwhelmed the main element of the dessert.

In short, with a menu that renews itself each season, Parvus will carry on being one of those hidden gems that keeps offering surprises.

What to Order

• Mantar Bahçesi
• Dana Yaprak Ciğer
• Izgara Kuzu Karski