Nancy and Bayram? Butterfly Bar?

[sue mac]

I have posted this enquiry on the Hisaronu forum some time ago, but never received any reply, so I am wondering if anybody out there can help.  14 years ago, on my first visit to Hisaronu, there was a little restaurant run by Bayram and his Mancunian wife, Nancy called the BUTTERFLY BAR.  They went on to expand to a bigger restaurant over the following years, and had a little girl called Nancy Elif.  They were still running the family restaurant in 1997 and it was still called the Butterfly restaurant.  We visited very briefly in June of this year to purchase property and again in September. WE never got down to Hisaronu, but when we asked around about Bayram and Nancy we heard a mixture of stories, one that they had returned to Manchester due to their daughters illness, and another story which I do not wish to publish in case it is not true, but if it is, is very sad.  Can anybody out there put me in the picture?  The restaurant does still exist in HIsaronu, but I have no idea who runs it.  Many thanks.

[villalavanta]

Hi, I don't want to go into the whole story here, but some of what you have heard is true. Bayram is settled near Rochdale now and has no connection with Butterfly. The last family link with the restaurant was sold last year.
His nephew Ata(who was the chef at Butterfly until he did his national service) owns the restaurant next door, Swallows, and he came to the UK at Christmas introducing us to Bayram. Bayram was in Hisaronu earlier in the year on holiday, and may come back in September.
If you want to know more, and you can get to Hisaronu, then you can have a chat with Ata, maybe reminisce over a beer!!

[sue mac]

Stuart,thanks very much for that information.  I had known Bayram and Nancy and their daughter back in the mid nineties. The story I heard last year was obviously not true then - I am delighted to hear, although I do know all about Nancy Elif, and would love to hear how she is doing now. I will certainly pop into Swallows next time I am out.
Sue