Topçu Restoran

About Topçu Restoran

Topçu, long known in İzmir as Topçunun Yeri, is a grill restaurant on Vali Kazım Dirik Caddesi in the Pasaport area of Konak, famous for çöp şiş, small skewers of grilled meat. The restaurant presents itself as an unchanged address since 1957. According to the 100 Tarihi Lokanta guide to historic Turkish restaurants, the business started in 1957 as a street cart run by Hüseyin Özyazmacı, who named it after his army nickname, Topçu. He grew it into a ten-table restaurant and handed it over in 1985 to Cevat Dev, whose sons Zafer and Barış Dev later joined him. The restaurant moved to its present site in 1986. The guide calls it the first place in İzmir to make çöp şiş, served with grilled onions and toasted bread, alongside kebabs, pide and other grills, clay-pot yoghurt and soups made with bone broth. The same guide says the restaurant became known in artistic circles after singer Zeki Müren began recommending it in 1967, and its walls are covered with photographs of famous guests. It also serves alcohol. A Çeşme branch opened in 2006. Recent posts on the restaurant Instagram account show it still serving çöp şiş cooked over embers with fresh mezes. Opening hours are not published on its own channels.