Yaren Çarpar, driven by the motto "My grandfather’s Turbo Grill, my grandmother’s appetizers," launched Dafni last week, taking full responsibility for everything from the fire and kitchen to the service. This makes it the first open-fire grill restaurant in Türkiye owned and run by a woman. The Rocket Chef Turbo Grill meals, originally from İskenderun, brings the culinary traditions passed down from her family to her dishes. One moment, she’s expertly spinning kebab skewers over a fire, with smoke swirling around her. The next, she’s in the kitchen preparing appetizers, and then she’s out among the tables, engaging with guests and checking in on the vibe. In fact, she prefers to describe Dafni as "ateşbaşı," which translates to "fireside," emphasizing that it’s more than just your typical open-fire grill restaurant. While the physical space may have only recently opened, she’s been mentally running Dafni every morning and closing it every night for years. In fact, the last line of the article I wrote about her five years ago reads: "Yaren’s dream is to open her own open-fire grill restaurant and work by the fire.
Let me start by giving you a brief introduction to Yaren Çarpar. Yaren’s mother was the first female bar owner in İskenderun. Running her venue as a café by day and as a bar by night, she taught Yaren the principles of business ownership and management from a young age. Yaren’s grandmother, on the other hand, taught her the importance of the family table. Every Friday, when Yaren visited her grandmother for dinner, she would prepare a spread of diverse appetizers. This was no ordinary grandmother - she roasted her own spices, shredded her own meat, and added her personal touch to the traditional appetizers of Antakya. In fact, the muhammara recipe on Yaren’s menu today, made with chickpea flour instead of breadcrumbs, is directly inspired by her grandmother’s original recipe. Yaren also learned the skill of deboning a whole chicken without shredding the meat. At 18, Yaren moved to Istanbul and completed eight months of training at MSA.
During her internship at Swissotel, she quickly realized that the hotel kitchen was overwhelmingly male-dominated, making it difficult for her to find her place. While working at the hotel’s fine dining restaurant, Gaija, she also discovered that this style of cooking wasn’t aligned with her own approach. For Yaren, food culture is about gathering around the table, sharing meals, and feeling satisfied. As she embarked on her professional journey, she chose to work at Zuma, taking advantage of the opportunity to learn about Far Eastern cuisine, since there was no opportunity for her to go abroad at that time. However, she soon realized that upward mobility was limited there, too. After two years, she left Zuma and took a position at the French restaurant Le Petit Maison. In my view, this was one of Yaren’s biggest achievements: Carefully planning her career by gaining diverse experience across different culinary traditions. She then crossed paths with Arda Türkmen, whom she regards as a second father and credits as the first major turning point in her career.
At just 21 years old, she formed her own team and took the helm of the kitchen at Arda’s Forneria in Karaköy. Soon after, they launched Mükellef Karaköy on the terrace of the same building. Picture a young woman managing two large teams at the age of 22, a challenge that significantly boosted her self-confidence. She also worked as Arda’s assistant for five years. When she expressed a desire to pursue her own path, he supported her wholeheartedly, saying, "I’m right behind you." He remains the first person she turns to for advice. Her journey continued with the opening of House of Ekria in Maslak, followed by the challenges of the pandemic, and then Ema, a small bakery in Nisantaşı. She also faced the devastation of the earthquake, which affected her hometown. When offered the chance to oversee both the kitchen and service at the restaurant part of Bridge in Nakkaştepe, she felt the time had come to start her own venture and launched Dafni Ateşbaşı.