A kitchen does more than produce food; it feeds on roots, slows down time, and calls people back to a real table. What Ayşe Şensılay has built is the embodiment of an authentic, unpretentious understanding of cooking.
No matter what you place upon them, some tables carry a soul. The tables Ayşe Şensılay sets are just that—deeply soulful, carrying traces of the past into the present. At first glance: olive oil, herbs, seafood… But if you pause, you begin to see childhood, migration, an island, time itself on the plate. Each dish feels like the continuation of a way of living, a habit, a cultivated sensibility built over years.
Stretching from Giritli Restaurant in the heart of Istanbul to Manici Farm in the North Aegean, this story should not be read as the growth of a restaurant. It is, rather, a long walk back to one’s own roots. Along this journey, every stop is rebuilt through a dish, a scent, a memory. It is about how we live, what we value, and what we place on the table. In this conversation with Ayşe Şensılay, we talk about how a kitchen is formed, how a table comes alive, the role of the land in this story, why simplicity is difficult, and what our relationship with food ultimately reveals.
What has remained unchanged in your kitchen from the first day you founded Giritli Restaurant until today?
Staying true to the essence—feeding from the roots. For 31 years, the table I’ve set for my guests has been the same as the one in our home.
Calling you a “chef” often feels insufficient. How do you define yourself in the kitchen?
I am not a chef. As I always say, I am a woman who has been cooking with an undiminished appetite and from the heart for years. I’m not entirely sure what being a “chef” means anymore; concepts get blurred and distorted. But in my kitchens, I’ve always held the main control—maybe that’s why they call me a chef? (She smiles.)
Is Cretan cuisine, for you, a collection of recipes or a way of life?
Not just Cretan cuisine—Crete itself is a way of life, almost a concept with its own philosophy. The island has hosted many civilizations and nations, often fought over, so it doesn’t belong to a single culture. The cuisine, being one of the core elements, seems shaped by this way of living. A cuisine of necessity, for example: rusks, herbs, goats, and plenty of olive oil.
