What is Istanbul Elsewhere?

Small plates, a.k.a. shared plates, a manner of dining where small dishes resembling appetizers are ordered à la carte and often shared, has gained immense popularity in North America since the turn of the millennium. A decade later, England jumped on the bandwagon and, in the blink of an eye, restaurants and bars offering small plates and allowing their customers to try a variety of dishes alongside their choice drinks cropped up all over the country, particularly the capital. Although a novelty in the Anglo-Saxon world, sharing plates has been a significant part of various culinary cultures – especially Mediterranean and Russian – for centuries. And, no institution illustrates what sharing – plates among other things – means better than the meyhane.