Our Mission
To modernize our unique heritage of taste in tune with changing palates, while always serving our guests fresh, daily, additive-free natural products with the highest standard of hospitality.
When Halil Ündar set out on this path, the streets of Sultanahmet still echoed the Istanbul of old. You may be sitting now where your grandfather sipped tea as a young man, or where your grandmother bought sweets for the holidays.
Halil Ündar started with just one helper at his side: Mustafa Gürsoy — known to you today as Uncle Mustafa. Those young men worked from dawn until past midnight, becoming master, counter clerk, server, and tea boy — all at once.
A second generation grew with the flavors and the love poured into them: Faruk and Tarık Ündar. The flavors grew, the work grew, and Çiğdem Pastanesi grew — so much so that for the past decade the third generation, Ulaş Ündar, has joined the family.
Çiğdem Pastanesi has been here for over half a century. Because we never chased trends, never multiplied; and because of that, we have never offered you the dull, identical flavors of factory production.