Dilara Sabra Cadabra (Abracadabra) is the culinary concept of Dilara Erbay, who has studied experimental world flavours and our traditional lost tastes. This culinary understanding obtains its flavours from the wide range of unadulterated materials collected from all over Anatolia, and from the village markets. The basis of Dilara Sabra Cadabra’s (Dilara Erbay) culinary understanding is the freshness and natural season of the materials. It knows very well how tasteless food that has been forced out of season under artificial conditions is. It assimilates lost, soon to be forgotten tastes, traditional recipees. The traditional food geography reaches the Middle East from Anatolia. As well as freshness, not using processed food with additives, and its sensitivity in organic cuisine separates Dilara Sabra Cadabra (Dilara Erbay) from industrial kitchens (restaurant approach).

A Search Through Village Markets

Olive oil, pomegranate sour and chili sauce from Antakya, vanilla and frech black pepper from Madagaskar, 20 different types of mushrooms from Kastamonu, goat cheese from İzmir, are some of the interesting materials used in the dishes. Fresh milk comes from the villages. Brunches remind one of Van breakfasts, kashar cheese is from Kars, honey from Ardeşen and Fethiye.
İstanbul’s village markets are visited one by one, personal relationships are established with the villagers, all materials, from Diyarbakır’s Karacadağ yoghurt to Vakfıkebir butter, from Küçükkuyu olive oil to Urfa cheese, are collected with the meticulousness of a jeweller. The food that is the reflection of a culture, a surprise herb, a different material will immediately find itself in one of Dilara’s menus.

Experimental, Innovative Cuisine

At the other end of this kitchen lie experimentalism and innovation. From Indian to Far Eastern, from African to Latin American, world cuisines are mixed with an experimental outlook, and merged with traditional cuisine.
In the traditional/experimental cuisine offered by Dilara Erbay each dish is cooked with passionate love, with lots of soul added.

Dilara Sabra Cadabra, treating the cultural dimensions of traditional tastes and handling world cuisine experimentally, is one of the world-renowned pioneers of the new Turkish cuisine (See Newsweek, The New York Times).