A story of growing up in rural inner-Anatolia in a family of 20 siblings, of working as a shoe-shine boy from the age of seven with no formal education. A story of his sheer skill and dogged determination, of his bravado and self-belief. A story of the sacrifice of working 16 hours a day, every day, for decades. A story of an up-and-coming young chef in Istanbul immigrating to London, opening Mangal Ocakbaşı, and subsequently, Mangal II. I wanted the world to hear this man’s words, his own words, on how things came to be the way they did. It was an immigrant’s tale, one of extreme struggle followed by unprecedented success.
The Mangal II story: drink, divorce, pain and glory
