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.

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Our partners in kitchen are Nesim & Cüneyt Ustas (Usta means master). Nesim is our prep chef and Cüneyt heads up the grill. Just like us, they are also siblings and they hail from Agri, Türkiye. They cooked in Istanbul’s beloved meat restaurants as well as in California and New York close to a decade. Our line cook is Keval, from India. Our dishwasher Shane is an Alaska Native, born and raised in Anchorage. Our front house staff are Raj & Ashu from India. We are like a mini United Nations in our restaurant, with quite a few languages spoken among the staff. Our team is like a family and we hope that you can feel that when you dine with us.

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Our webpage was designed by Katie Behnke, a friend and colleague from UAA days. Our menus, logo, t-shirts, some of our IG reels are all designed by Sibel Sümer Sevener, a childhood friend who resides in Istanbul. Our branding kit, fonts and many of our reels (as well as our motto “a delight in every bite”) were designed by Lena Morgan, also a family member. Anchorage Community Land Trust and Alaska Small Business Development Center held our hand when we were getting ready to open and taught us many valuable skills through classes as well as individual consultation. APU Food Studies Business Professor and Alaska Food Policy Council mastermind Rachael Miller was always there for us when we had questions. When we first opened and didn’t have staff, our friends with professional full time jobs washed dishes to help us out (Rebe, Dayna, Hiroko, Julia), other friends (Lena, Annette) serving until we found full time staff. Some also worked with us at the beginning and now are elsewhere (Mehmet, Ekincan, Gurkan, Beyza, Zeki Usta, Yilmaz Usta, and our dishwasher Steven who passed away in Jan 2025). We are eternally grateful to all who have contributed to our business and we owe our success to this team effort. Çorbada tuzu olan herkesten Allah razi olsun.