“Oh, but between us, I’m the better dancer”, says Gamze Inceli playfully nudging Özhan Sıratoğlu, in response to being told that they’re fine dining’s Fred-&-Ginger show.

If a traditional kitchen’s hierarchy is rigid, it’s for a good reason: to maintain standards; only the chef should have a say how a dish leaves the stovetop to reach the customer’s table. In contrast, nouvelle cuisine, with its openness to anything new, encourages tweaking of established norms - including how a professional kitchen is run. Sure, most highly-regarded dining establishments of either kind still have only one chef de cuisine, who dictates what comes out of his or her kitchen where a tight pyramidal control prevails. The reining-in especially needs to be a chokehold if the establishment is eponymous to its chef/owner’s name. After all, one inspired deviation by a staff member could mean the loss of a hard-won Michelin star!

With nouvelle cuisine morphing into every direction, however, some new chefs have loosened up in the workplace. Some even go so far as involving coworkers in creative sessions. The adage that too many cooks spoil the broth doesn’t count when an alliance brings in productive synergy to the equation. This is particularly the case in drawing up a “fusion” menu.

Fusion cuisine, the popularity of which has only grown since the 70s, is the proactive blending of two or more elements of distinct cuisines. It is often an exercise in postmodern deconstruction. As such, a chef who’s well-versed in a single culinary geography and who attempts to cross over a not-so-familiar terrain would do well to welcome any help in determining what could work.

At Leb-i derya-Richmond, one of Istanbul’s few temples of culinary creativity, the young talented chef Özhan Sıratoğlu not only welcomes suggestions from his staff of eight but has good-naturedly embraced being part of a two-person team. The other is Gamze Inceli, (Richmond-Kumbaracı-Rumeli) Leb-i derya’s passionate bonne vivante of a Creative Director.

Before resettling here, Gamze lived in New York and Paris, two of the world’s best places to indulge in epicurean pursuits. Indeed, aside from ideas on stylish entertaining, she has an amazingly extensive archival and practical knowledge of world cuisine, including Ottoman – a great requisite to her job. This came into play when she and Özhan, whom she considers a protégée, decided to focus on Turkish Fusion as their specialty when they got paired by Leb-i derya’s owners three years ago. The result is that seasonally both come up with fusion-interpretive dishes that are balanced and well-rationalized using locavore-sourced ingredients. Their working partnership is totally unique and unprecedented hereabouts, with no other haute cuisine establishment having a similar set-up.

 About the dishes

Leb-i-derya’s F/W09 degustation menu was a showcase of great editing, one which offered quality over quantity (8 dishes). The well-chosen items steadily layered flavors and textures in a confident sequence. Even how the dinner started was well-thought of: a glass of bubbly Prosecco prepared the palate for the series of dishes. Gratinated almond-crusted shrimp arrived in three shells paired with almond-flavored pumpkin soup served in vodka shot glass. Then the perfectly-prepared lukewarm sea bass carpaccio with truffle-scented mushroom tapenade on a bed of fresh samphire followed. A change of beverage came next, with Sarafin Blanc Fume 2007, lending its oaky/fruity attributes to the carpaccio, one of the house signature dishes. The white wine went on to welcome an obviously Asian-Turkish/Mediterranean combo of textures: sesame-crusted salmon fillet with roasted eggplant and tahini-miso sauce.

The dinner segued from seafood to meat after a wonderful forest berries compote with raspberry sorbet and balsamic glaze, during which the ever-attentive and efficient female server theatrically presented a big wine decanter to the table, into which the dark flavorsome red Reposco was poured. The wine’s peppery robustness was a good counterpoint to the sweet-sour subtlety of the cognac-glazed figs and lamb fillet sitting on a caramelized cassis sauce. For the joue de veau (veal cheek) tenderly-cooked in red wine with herbs and spices, however, the Reposco augmented the flavor.

A dessert duo (semolina with caramelized peaches with fresh mint and bitter chocolate mousse) drew the tasting curtains down with bravado when they arrived with a cognac shot garnished with thyme.

Degustastion menu inclusive of beverage as outlined above 190TL; w/o beverage 105TL. A la carte: Starters 19-25TL; Main courses 32-38TL; Pasta 25-28TL; Desserts 15-16TL

Leb-i derya-Richmond

Istiklal Caddesi No.227 Beyoğlu 34430

(0212) 243 4375; 243 4277-78

http://www.lebiderya.com/