Name: Belly Pepper
Address: De Clercqstraat 128, Amsterdam, 1052 NP, NL
Telephone: 06 25496657
Rating: 4.3

Netherlands

Amsterdam

West

Belly Pepper

Tiny parcels of dough, each pinched around a pea-sized knot of spiced minced lamb, boiled and served under garlic yoghurt with hot butter stained red with pepper and a dusting of sumac and dried mint: mantı is the Turkish dumpling, and Kayseri is the city that made it a test of patience, with the old boast that forty should fit on one spoon. The dumpling family runs along the Silk Road from Chinese mantou and Central Asian manty, which are large and steamed, to the Armenian manti baked in broth, and the Turkish version is the smallest and the only one dressed with yoghurt. It is home cooking first, rolled and folded by several pairs of hands at the kitchen table, and in Kayseri it is served at weddings and to visitors as a point of pride; the city's mantı houses sell little else.

The dough is flour, egg, water and salt, kneaded firm and rested, then rolled with an oklava to a sheet thin enough to see the pattern of the cloth through, and cut into squares of about a centimetre and a half. The filling is lean lamb or beef minced fine with grated onion, salt, black pepper and sometimes parsley or a pinch of red pepper, kept moist. A piece of filling the size of a chickpea goes onto each square and the four corners are brought together and pinched, or two opposite corners for the open boat shape of Sinop. The folded mantı are either boiled straight away in salted water or stock for eight to ten minutes until the dough is tender, or dried first on trays, which is how Kayseri sells them. They are drained and sauced in order: a spoonful of thick yoghurt beaten with crushed garlic, then butter heated until it foams with sweet or hot red pepper, then sumac and dried mint rubbed on top. Some kitchens add a thin tomato sauce under the yoghurt.

Judge the size first, because it is the measure of the labour: Kayseri mantı should be small enough that several fit on a spoon, with the dough thin, the fold tight, and the filling in every piece. Then the dough, which should be tender with a slight chew and no raw floury taste, cooked through at the pinched top where it is thickest. The meat should be juicy inside its parcel and seasoned so the onion and pepper register. The yoghurt should be cold and thick, the butter hot and poured just before service, and the whole plate should be eaten before the yoghurt warms. Mark down large, thick-skinned dumplings sold as mantı, pieces that have split and lost their filling in the water, a gluey mass from being left in the pot, yoghurt that has been thinned to a sauce, cold butter, and frozen factory mantı, which are uniform and taste mainly of dough. Count what is on the plate and look at the folds.

Manti

Türkiye

The Shredded Burger (Tiftik) is a Turkish-inspired specialty prepared with slow-cooked lamb that is hand-pulled into fine strands, giving it a fibrous texture. Served in a burger bun with vegetables such as lettuce, onion, and tomato, it is often paired with sauces like garlic yogurt, tahini, or spicy pepper paste. This dish combines the deep flavors of Anatolian lamb traditions with the modern appeal of the burger, creating a unique cultural fusion.

Shredded Burger (Tiftik)

Çılbır is the Turkish dish of poached eggs on garlic yoghurt, finished with butter that has been heated with Aleppo or red pepper flakes until it foams and turns red, and eaten with bread for breakfast or as a light supper. It has a documented Ottoman past: the word appears in fifteenth-century palace records as a general term for eggs cooked in water, and the yoghurt version is the one that survived into the Republic and onto the menus of Istanbul's breakfast places, where it now sits alongside menemen and sucuklu yumurta. Outside Turkey it has had a second life since the 2010s as "Turkish eggs" on brunch menus from London to Melbourne, often with the yoghurt whipped with feta and dill, which is a different and softer dish. The original is three things on a plate, and each has to be right.

The yoghurt is thick, full-fat and at room temperature, beaten smooth with a crushed garlic clove and salt; cold yoghurt straight from the fridge sets the butter and makes the plate taste of nothing. The eggs are poached in barely simmering water with a splash of vinegar for about three minutes, so the white is fully set and the yolk runs, then drained on a cloth. The butter is the step that goes wrong: it is melted in a small pan, the pepper flakes are added, and it is heated only until it foams and the flakes colour the fat, which takes seconds; longer and the pepper turns bitter and the butter browns. Some cooks use pul biber, some Urfa pepper for a darker, smokier note, and a few add a little dried mint. The eggs go on the yoghurt, the red butter is spooned over so it pools in the yoghurt and runs down the sides, and the plate goes out with warm bread.

Cut the egg first: the yolk should flood into the yoghurt and the white should be fully opaque with no raw jelly. The yoghurt should be thick enough to hold a spoon mark, mildly sour, with the garlic present but not raw-hot, and the butter should be bright red, lightly spiced and fragrant, not brown or acrid. Together on the bread the three should taste richer than any of them alone. Mark down a cold plate, hard yolks, watery or thin yoghurt that has been loosened with water or milk, butter that has been overheated to a brown sludge, pepper flakes that are scorched, and the brunch versions where feta, dill, chilli oil or dukkah are piled on to the point where the egg and yoghurt are lost. One egg is a snack; two is the dish.

Çilbir

A soft wrap filled with a freshly cooked egg omelette, often served with vegetables and sauces.

Wrap Egg Omelette

Wonderful!

The ratio of the ingredients, taste of the meat and flour was great. Spices were enough and fresh. Yogurt was also enough.

and the real touch was the bone marrow… You can only eat this on Thursday 🤗

Tiftik Burger

Still great! Today it was a bit salty but still every bite taste nice. Whole burger and also the potatoes served hot. You must try it!

One of the nice burger I have had. 

Bun is a classic burger bread and heated already.

On the side there are potatoes cooked in oven i guess. Homemade hot chilli peppers sauce is great.

Finally really nice cooked meat and a nice match with soury vegetables and a sauce. I could have given 10 if the meat was served hot.

You should go and give it a try!

One of fav turkish breakfast places in Amsterdam. Çılbır and spanich borek ıs must try

Where to start?

I had eaten this wrap a month ago and it was really nice.

My experience today was not good at all. Why to put avacado inside this wrap? It makes it weird. Omelette was well cooked but the other ingredients was a mistake.

Sucuk was horrible.

I suggest the chef to take the avacado out of this wrap and use better sucuk

Belly Pepper

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