From butchery to mastery, from the horizontal hearth to vertical fire, from Kayhan Bazaar to the Bursa of today.
Mehmet's son İskender, who learned butchery from a young age, was inspired by the lamb roasts of Kayhan Bazaar and began cooking prepared meat vertically in front of a charcoal fire.
Thinly sliced meat was served with butter, yoghurt, tomato sauce and pide. First known as İskender's rotating kebab, the dish gradually became identified with Bursa under the name İskender.
Continuity depends on more than a recipe: managing the fire, slicing, the rhythm of service and the culture of hospitality have all been carried from one generation to the next.
Today the Ünlü Cadde Wooden Shop, FSM and Podyum Park carry the same approach to taste through three different Bursa settings.
The craft that began in 1867 has been carried within the same family not only as a recipe, but as a culture of fire, service and hospitality.
Raised in Bursa's butchery tradition, İskender Efendi developed a method of preparing meat on a vertical spit and cooking it as it turned beside a charcoal fire. What began in Kayhan Bazaar became the foundation of both a distinctive flavour and a family craft.
Süleyman İskenderoğlu, the middle son of İskender Efendi, remained at the family's original shop in Kayhan during the 1930s and kept the hearth going throughout his life. After his death in 1965, the family craft passed to the generation of his sons İskender, Fahri and Yavuz İskenderoğlu.
Fahri İskenderoğlu, representing the third generation, became an important link between the family's tradition and a new era. Across his life from 1945 to 2017, the İskender heritage he inherited remained part of the family memory carried forward to the next generation.
Today, fourth-generation Süleyman and Alparslan İskenderoğlu continue the family's approach to flavour and hospitality. Their aim is to preserve the essence of the craft handed down since 1867 while keeping the İskender experience alive in today's Bursa.
Our kebabs are prepared with lamb and cooked over charcoal.
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