People in Restaurants: Midpoint of Bilkent Center

Hi. It’s been a week since I posted restaurants in Bilkent Center. This time I came up with the special people in Midpoint. But, before that I will introduce a brief history of restaurant ‘Midpoint’. According to the restaurant, they initiated their business with “Everybody’s meeting point” motto in 2002 at the center of Istanbul’s Asian Bank,  Bağdat Street. They are trying to target a high level of customer satisfaction and provide selected delicacies of world cuisines in a well-designed interior.

In my perspective, Midpoint has a merit of guaranteeing the standard delicious tastes in any Midpoint restaurants in Turkey. Also, the unified interior of Midpoint chain restaurants brings about the comfort since it gives a similar atmosphere that you felt in other Midpoint restaurants.

In terms of people who work in Midpoint, they need to get a period of training in order to deliver foods to tables and entertain a number of guests. This might play a significant role for Midpoint to distinguish themselves from other international restaurants.

The curiosity toward the people in Midpoint allured me to head to that place. Since the Midpoint in Bilkent Station was the only place I went so far, it was the only choice that I could promise the quality of meals as well as waiters.  Moreover, I have a nice story of mine regarding the people who work for Midpoint.  A few months before, I was having a great time with my fellows in Midpoint. After I finished the meals, I went back to my house and realized that I lost my phone that I purchased a month ago. So, I was in panic at that time and did not expect my phone to be returned. However, 3 hours later I got a phone call from the university security that the waiter of Midpoint left my phone in lost and found box. Even though it was not responsible for him to give the phone back to the owner, he did it for me. This event made me the profound impression to the quality of Midpoint of Bilkent Station(Real). Thus, these are the primary reasons to interview the waiter of Midpoint in Real Center.

Since he was not able to speak English, the content of the interview is based on Turkish. The questions that I asked him are largely three questions. If you want to check his answer to these following questions then click the link I attached below his Portraits. Also, I translated his interview in English below, so, do not worry about it!

Link: https://soundcloud.com/user-928471317/interview-with-mr-okan

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First, How long have you been in this restaurant and why did you determine to work in this place?
(Q1) Ne zamandır burada çalışıyorsunuz ve çalışmak için burayı seçme sebebiniz neydi?

Ans) My name is Okan, I have been working in Midpoint for three months. I have been doing this job for four years. I work here since it is financially supportive. Also, I am here because it is more systematice than other restaurants in Ankara.

Second, What is your opinion about international foods in Ankara? And does your restaurant have any nice international food that you can recommend to us?
(Q2) Ankarada bulunan başka ülkelere ait yemekler hakkında ne düşünüyorsunuz? Sizin restorantınızda bize önerebileceğiniz başka ülkelerin mutfağına ait bir yemek var mı?Ans) My thoughts about the foods belonging to other countries is that I believe Ankara can compete with other countries’ cuisines. I believe that this sector is self-renovating where it cannot compete.

Lastly, Turkish cuisines are chosen as top 3 international foods among others, In your opinion, what was the factor that made Turkish foods to be in that rank?
(Q3) Türkiye uluslararası mutfak sıralamasında üçüncü sırada yer alıyor. Sizin düşüncenize göre Türkiyeyi en iyi üçüncü sıraya alan yemekler neler olabilir?Ans) Turkey is third in the international cuisine rankings. I trust that Turkey’s cuisine has been well-evaluated since the Ottoman period. I believed that the restaurant sector has progressed in recent years. Especially in the last ten years, I believed that as brands grow higher in numbers, the food sector grows. I did not know that Turkey ranked at 3rd place in the international cuisine lists, but, when I learned it I felt glad in the name of the job I have. This is all I can say. Thank you very much.​

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Heun Jae Lee is a South Korean student who studies International Relations in Bilkent University. You would probably assume that he is a Erasmus student. But, he has been staying Ankara since 2013 and planning to graduate next year.  The reason why I interviewed him is that as a foreigner aboard usually a food is one of major difficulties that we face at the first time and until the end of life in a different country.  This is same to Heun Jae Lee as well.  Thus, I asked a few questions regarding Midpoint and international foods in perspective of a foreigner. By the way, he can speaks English so that the interview was done in English. If you also want to hear his answer to the questions, check the link below his photo.See you next time !