You’re sure to have seen the name or the happy blue and yellow logo throughout the city in upscale supermarkets, şarkurteri (delis), and cheese shops. So it’s a wonder why their only storefront is masked as a second rate hotel café-restaurant. Although it’s easy to miss, up the streets of clean and pristine Akaretler, Rani Çiftliği (Farm) – inside its hotel residence – is waiting for you.
Rani is an interesting place that we recommend to anyone who wants to delve deeper into the world Turkish cheese. The farm first got started raising livestock for both dairy and meat products long with some produce. They built an excellent reputation by supplying the service and hospitality industries in and round Antalya during the mid-1990s. Less than ten years later, Rani completely converted their farm into an organic one. While the farm was producing the same (organic) goods, today, there seems to be a much greater emphasis on the dairy side of things.
With the likes of Antre Gourmet perfecting the celebration of Anatolian cheese, Rani is perfecting a hybrid – inserting Anatolian ingredients into foreign cheese making methods. From Parmesan wheels to buffalo yogurt to cases of – real – butter, you’ll find it here, and all of it organic too.
The variety that Rani is capable of producing is a feat in itself; alongside the traditional Turkish cheeses from lor (crumbly cheese often compared to ricotta) to the country’s favourite beyaz peynir (white cheese), Rani offers up a minimum of nine different kinds of gouda, over four types of cheddar, parmesan, mozzarellas, ricottas, and mascarpone. Not only do they specialize in classic foreign-style cheeses, Rani also stocks a couple of innovations of their own, such as their goat-milk gouda or their garlic Emmental – to which we have welcomed many a time, just not for breakfast. And those are just the cheeses. You’ll also find butters, yogurts, and of course, milks. In fact most of the products you see in shop, probably have a cow-, sheep- or goat-milk replica close by.
As far as their meat is concerned, there is less of a variety but it is just as delicious. You’ll find deli staples like dana (beef) and manda sucuğu (buffalo sausages). They also have 
a collection of fresh organic produce. And while it looks great, those who are trying their hand at buying local may want to skip the produce – there are other places in the city to buy organic.
A visit to the shop is never boring. The shop is stocked with an array of other organic and Anatolian delights from erişte (sun dried egg noodles) to pekmez (molasses-like syrup). During our most recent visit, we stumbled upon a new shelf carrying organic Turkish wine (you can be sure, there aren’t many).
If you are not fortunate enough to visit the store in Beşiktaş or their Antalya headquarters, Rani has an online shop. Yep. Order today, eat it tomorrow. However, if it just so happens (and it does happen) that the special cheese you were looking for ran out, ask the gentlemen behind the counter about it. They will make note of it and reserve some just for you from their next order. Trust them, they understand the importance of the cheese.
Rani Farm
0 (212) 259 01 00
Vişnezade Mahallesi, Süleyman Seba Caddesi No. 60
Beşiktaş, Istanbul
http://www.ranifarm.com
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