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 visited the İş Bankası Museum of Painting and Sculpture—which opened on Istiklal Avenue on October 29, 2023, to celebrate the centennial of the Republic—guided by its founding curator, the esteemed Kitchen Friends member Prof. Gül İrepoğlu. Housed in the historic Boudouy (Bodvi) Building, 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, drawn from the Türkiye İş Bankası Art Collection, as well as the museum’s temporary exhibition, “The Portrait of Istanbul”—conceived as a tour of Istanbul through paintings—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 peaceful lunch in Hodan’s serene garden, guests sampled Hodan specialties such as pan-seared artichokes, stuffed meatballs, pirpirim salad, and crispy stone-oven bread.