/ Reviews / Interview
Emre Gurel
by Raphael Seghin
on Friday, December 23, 2011 12:00 AM
Pasha has been around for a while, and seems to have lost its touch recently. What made you want to come in and renovate it?
It was great when they opened it, close to Turkish standards. After that they lost their Turkish chef. They wanted to turn this place into a bistro; they were going to sell pork in a Turkish restaurant. Unbelievable. They were really really struggling in the last 6 months, before I took over. I came here for lunch after I bought the place, and I immediately said “Let’s close this place right now.” I couldn’t recognize the food. The name I knew, but it just wasn’t the same thing.
There are a couple of Turkish restaurant in Shanghai, and I was previously working for a Turkish company. Sometimes, I had to bring clients to show them Turkish culture and Turkish food. And every place we went to, it was disappointing and I was trying to explain: “this is not us, this is not Turkish food, if you go to Turkey, it’s not this way.” So I felt like I had to bring real Turkish food to people in Shanghai. That was the main factor. I didn’t open this place for money, it wasn’t an issue. I see myself as a representative of Turkey.
What are some of the changes you made to improve the image and the perception of the restaurant?
We want to offer a unique experience, for two hours. Starting with what you see, the visual, what you eat, and what you hear. I want you to feel like you are in Turkey, with every step. I want to put people in a certain mindset. Everything in this restaurant can be traced back to Turkey. Basically, more than being a successful restaurant, we wanted to be a real Turkish restaurant.
Here’s an example. I could easily sell French, Spanish, Australian wine here and make a profit off it. Instead, I spend a lot of money to make sure that the wine here is from Turkey. No one knows this wine here. “Ah, Turkey has a wine?” Every bottle I sell, it’s not for money. But I get a certain pleasure in knowing I introduced the wine to one more person. And it adds to the experience.
People don’t come here asking for Turkish goods. But that’s my job; I often give out free Raki, which is a Turkish liquor, often called Lion’s milk. How much am I going to lose? You aren’t going to buy it today. But you’ll have tried it, it’s an experience, and the memory will stay with you. You’ll tell your friends you tried Lion’s milk.
In what other ways do you think Pasha stands out as a restaurant?
We kept it simple. We lowered the amount of dishes we had. Our menu is only 2 pages long. Salad, starters, pita and kebabs. Dessert. “Do you have the dessert menu?” “No actually we don’t, only one dessert. You don’t want to eat it? Then we don’t have it.” We have one dessert, the baked rice pudding, but we do it so good. We brought all the ingredients from Turkey. When you only have one dessert, you make it every day, fresh. So far, since we opened, I think we consumed all the rice pudding, nearly every day. It’s a choice between making, let’s say, 10% of the customers unhappy because they don’t get another dessert, but 90% satisfied customers get to enjoy a fresh, tasty, perfected product. The way we handle our desserts is how we handle the restaurant. Make it simple, good quality. And the first rule in my short experience with restaurants is: “Do not listen to your customers.” Try to find a way to convince them, and understand them. I think it’s just a matter of time before people find this place. People come, and most of them come back. And they bring other people. And they tell them. They do my job for me. And they come in and say, do you have Lion’s milk?
