Cooking Alaturka

Cooking Alaturka is a cookery school and small restaurant on Akbıyık Caddesi in Sultanahmet, a calm street just below the Blue Mosque, where visitors learn to cook Turkish dishes and then sit down to eat them. The restaurant describes itself as an oasis of calm amid the bustle of Sultanahmet, and the hands-on classes are a relaxed way to spend part of a day in the old city.

In a typical class, participants work together to prepare a full Turkish meal: a soup, olive-oil vegetable dishes, a main course and a classic dessert, served with pide bread. Once the cooking is done, everyone sits down in the restaurant to eat what they have made, with Turkish tea or coffee and a choice of drinks such as local wine, cherry juice or ayran. Recipes reflect home cooking rather than restaurant showpieces, so they are practical to recreate at home.

On Wednesdays the company runs Shop Locally Cook Happily, which adds a market and neighbourhood walk before the class. It starts at Sultanahmet Square at 14:30 and finishes at the restaurant at 20:30, for groups of two to eight people. The walk takes in a local farmers' market, where you shop as a Turkish family would, a stroll through the old town, a visit to a local bakery for pide bread and a 17th-century bazaar, with tastings of seasonal produce along the way. Everything consumed during the walk and class is included in the price.

Groups are small, so reserve well ahead, especially in spring and autumn. Booking requires your contact details, group size, preferred days and any dietary requirements, and the team asks to be told about restrictions in advance so that it can accommodate them. Wear comfortable shoes for the walk and come with an appetite.

The classes suit couples, families with older children, solo travellers and anyone who wants to take a taste of Istanbul home. The restaurant is a short walk from Sultanahmet tram stop on the T1 line and close to the hotels of Sultanahmet and Cankurtaran, so it is easy to fit into a sightseeing day. The Blue Mosque, the Hippodrome and the Little Hagia Sophia Mosque are all within ten minutes on foot.