The Pudding Shop is the

nickname A nickname is a substitute for the proper name of a familiar person, place or thing. Commonly used to express affection, a form of endearment, and sometimes amusement, it can also be used to express defamation of character. As a concept, it is ...

for the Lale Restaurant in Sultanahmet,

Istanbul ) , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = 34000 to 34990 , area_code = +90 212 (European side) +90 216 (Asian side) , registration_plate = 34 , blank_name_sec2 = GeoTLD , blank_i ...

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula ...

. It became popular in the 1960s as a meeting place for

beatnik Beatniks were members of a social movement in the 1950s that subscribed to an anti-materialistic lifestyle. History In 1948, Jack Kerouac introduced the phrase "Beat Generation", generalizing from his social circle to characterize the under ...

s and, later on,

hippies A hippie, also spelled hippy, especially in British English, is someone associated with the counterculture of the 1960s, originally a youth movement that began in the United States during the mid-1960s and spread to different countries around ...

and other travellers on overland route between

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

and

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area, the List of countries and dependencies by population, second-most populous ...

Nepal Nepal (; ne, नेपाल ), formerly the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal ( ne, सङ्घीय लोकतान्त्रिक गणतन्त्र नेपाल ), is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is ma ...

, and elsewhere in

Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an are ...

: the "

hippie trail Hippie trail (also the overland) is the name given to the overland journey taken by members of the hippie subculture and others from the mid-1950s to the late 1970s between Europe and South Asia, mainly from Turkey through Iran, Afghanistan ...

". The restaurant got its colloquial name as a result of "word of mouth" from numerous foreign travellers that could not remember the name of the restaurant but did remember the wide and popular selection of puddings sold there and thus referred to it as the "pudding shop".Hewton, Terry. "Pining for past pudding in Istanbul" ''The Advertiser'' 18 March 1998:1-3. Retrieved vi
Lexis Nexis
23 January 2008.

Background

Brothers İdris and Namık Çolpan opened the restaurant in 1957. Later, most of its customers were tourists, the Pudding Shop eventually developed into a popular rest stop, a place where people could gather, discuss their travelling experiences, and delight in fairly priced, traditional Turkish food. Among the restaurant's variety of well-known dishes and desserts was

tavuk göğsü Tavuk göğsü ( tr, tavukgöğsü, , "chicken breast") is a Turkish milk pudding made with shredded chicken breast. It was a delicacy served to Ottoman sultans in the Topkapı Palace, and is now a well-known dish in Turkey. It has long been ...

, a seldom found pudding made from pounded chicken breast, rice flour, milk, sugar topped with cinnamon.Leigh, Rowley. "Food and drink and silver and spice and all things nice" ''The Guardian'' (London) 16 November 1996: 52. Retrieved vi
Lexis Nexis
23 January 2008. The restaurant still offers this dish, catering to customers with appetites for traditional

Turkish cuisine Turkish cuisine () is the cuisine of Turkey and the Turkish diaspora. It is largely the heritage of Ottoman cuisine, which can be described as a fusion and refinement of Mediterranean, Balkan, Middle Eastern, Central Asian and Eastern Eur ...

. During the 1960s, customers could enjoy their meals inside, where there were large booths and couches surrounded by piles of books and the audible music of contemporary rock bands playing lightly in the background. Decoration was minimal; on the plain white walls hung occasional prints of paintings and photographs without a real theme. Towards the left side of the restaurant's interior, the entire wall was composed of glass, creating a greater sense of space for the small location. The lack of decor did not in any way make the restaurant appear meek or glum. The garden was another area to relax and eat with the grand view of the Blue Mosque and the

Hagia Sophia Hagia Sophia ( 'Holy Wisdom'; ; ; ), officially the Hagia Sophia Grand Mosque ( tr, Ayasofya-i Kebir Cami-i Şerifi), is a mosque and major cultural and historical site in Istanbul, Turkey. The cathedral was originally built as a Greek Ortho ...

in the distance. Here many customers played their instruments, sang, and conversed about their travels in the fresh air. Adem Çolpan, son of İdris Çolpan, remembers how "it was the time of the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (also known by #Names, other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vie ...

" and how many of the travellers just "lived for the moment… didn't think much of tomorrow." In its first few years, the Pudding Shop was the only place in the area where direct transportation to Asia and tourist information on Turkey were readily available. With this knowledge, the Çolpan brothers put up a bulletin board inside the restaurant so that travellers could schedule rides with their fellow travellers and communicate with friends and family members. This board was very useful to the tourists, and eventually became notorious for the variety of personal messages that were posted alongside the transportation notifications. These included love and apology letters; one of the board's most well-known posts was an open love letter from "Megan" to "Malcolm" in which she asked for his forgiveness and apologised for "the business down in Greece."Milton, Giles. "The pudding that just fell to earth" ''Evening Standard'' (London) 3 May 1995:27. Retrieved vi
Lexis Nexis
23 January 2008. A few other messages from the 1960s travellers are still posted on the board today serving as nostalgic homages to its past.

Today

Outside the restaurant, there is now a large sign that says "The World Famous Pudding Shop" and inside there are no longer servers but a self-service cafeteria and a large menu illuminated by neon lights. The old bulletin board still hangs but is no longer flooded by messages between family members, friends, and lovers. Today, it is covered instead, with less romantic and more practical messages between travellers. The garden where travellers once congregated for meals, or after meals to play their instruments has been removed. Some individuals believe that the major change that the restaurant has undergone since its hippie hey-days is due to the fame that it has acquired. In 1978, the Pudding Shop was featured in the popular

book A book is a medium for recording information in the form of writing or images, typically composed of many pages (made of papyrus, parchment, vellum, or paper) bound together and protected by a cover. The technical term for this physical ...

and

film A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmospher ...

''Midnight Express'', which contributed to the growing reputation of the restaurant.

Notes

External links

* * {{coord, 41.00805, N, 28.97719, E, source:placeopedia, display=title Restaurants in Istanbul Hippie movement Fatih Restaurants established in 1957 Turkish companies established in 1957

Background

Today

See also

Notes

External links