About us

“Ours is a typical immigrant story. You move across oceans and foods of the homeland become synonymous with longing, family and love. You try your hardest to recreate some of these tastes with what you can get your hands on here in terms of produce. The ingredient is everything when creating a great dish. We all know that. But what about the kind of ingredient if you are trying to reproduce tastes that belong in a different climate? This is where our story became more complicated.”

Born and raised in Turkey, siblings Engin and Zeynep Kilic took ownership of Turkish Delight in 2022. The entrepreneurial pair reimagined Anchorage’s only Turkish-inspired restaurant to embrace a welcoming cultural atmosphere and fresh, made-to-order Turkish dishes.

Zeynep Kilic is an accredited scholar and award-winning documentarian turned restaurateur. Her film Tables of Istanbul (2016) captures food, culture, and identity through the eyes of an immigrant returning to her homeland. After receiving 10 awards and recognitions for her film, Zeynep (thanks to some helpful nudging from her ever-persistent brother) has segued from researching delicious Turkish meals, to heartfully creating them here in Alaska.

Engin Kilic’s adventurous spirit led him to emigrate to the U.S. some years after Zeynep. The culture shock of moving to a different climate with new foods and ingredients prompted Engin’s own longing for the now-exotic meals from back home. The siblings, typically polar-opposite, soon found that food became a central theme and opportunity for connection in their daily discussions. The pair’s differences worked to their advantage as the focused and detail-oriented Zeynep complimented Engin’s laid-back entrepreneurial approach, and thus their culinary dream was realized.

Turkish Delight is thrilled to bring a fresh cultural footprint to the tables of Anchorage.

—————-

Our partner in kitchen is Yilmaz Usta (Usta means master). He hails from Agri, Türkiye and has cooked in Istanbul’s beloved meat restaurants as well as Saudi Arabia, Boston, and New Jersey for over two decades.