Beyoğlu Art & Culinary Tour

April 30, 2024, İş Bankası Museum of Painting and Sculpture The Friends of the Kitchen Association held its first cultural and culinary tour in Istanbul on April 30, 2024. As part of the “Beyoğlu Art &Taste Tour,” participants toured the İş Bankası Museum of Painting and Sculpture—which opened on Istiklal Avenue on October 29, 2023, to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Republic—accompanied by its founding curator, esteemed Friends of the Kitchen member Prof. Gül İrepoğlu. Housed in the historic Boudouy (Bodvi) Apartment, which served as the Türkiye İş Bankası Beyoğlu Branch from 1953 to 2016, features a permanent exhibition titled “Tracing Turkish Painting,” designed to shed light on the development of Turkish painting and sculpture. The Friends of the Kitchen toured this selection, curated from the Türkiye İş Bankası Art Collection, as well as the museum’s temporary exhibition, “The Portrait of Istanbul”—conceived as a pictorial tour of Istanbul—accompanied by Gül İrepoğlu’s detailed commentary. The museum tour was followed by lunch at Hodan, owned by chef Çiğdem Seferoğlu, located within walking distance of Istiklal Avenue. During the lunch in Hodan’s serene garden, guests sampled Hodan specialties such as pan-seared artichokes, stuffed meatballs, pirpirim salad, and crispy stone-oven bread.