The food of Istanbul – a lot more than meat on a stick

I haven’t written a post about food since Seville, but I think Istanbul really deserves one.  The food here has been spectacular.  Because we don’t get much Turkish variety back home, I incorrectly assumed that Turkish food was mostly meat on a metal stick over fire (kebaps) or meat on a rotating stick (doner).  Thankfully, I was wrong.

We checked the websites www.chowhound.com and www.istanbuleats.com to pick our restaurants, according to whatever area we were going to that day.  The best reviewed restaurants ended up being in close proximity to where we were living.  Score.  I’ll start with my review of the kebaps.  After eating the ones here, I realized I’ve been eating a bastardized version back home.  The many varieties (chicken, lamb, beef, spicy minced, etc etc) are all amazing.  A little crispy on the outside, spiced perfectly with a slight hint of the hot coals they’re cooked over, moist on the inside and full of flavour; basically the best meat on a stick I’ve ever had.  Meze appetizers are also a wonderful way to start your meal.  They’re small dishes (usually cold) that offer a surprising array of tastes and textures.  The salads, yogurts, cheeses, and dips were all great.   Their eggplant (or aubergine as they call it here) concoctions though, are something else.  Though I like eggplant, I’d never go out of my way to get some.  Istanbul has changed that, as we actually returned to a restaurant just to get their roasted eggplant dish again. 

All this food goes well with the Turkish drink of choice, Raki.  It’s a clear aniseed alcohol that when mixed with water turns milky like calpis.  The first restaurant I tried it at (also where I had the best kebaps) was called Zubeyir.  Everyone else at this packed joint was drinking Raki so I ordered a small bottle.  The waiter looked at me and said in his broken English that it would be too much for me and we would need more people to share it like the other tables.  The 16 year old (or more like the 16-29 year old) in me replied “No it should be fine”.  3 happy hours later, I finished that bottle.  I felt like high-fiving the waiter and yelling “Beeyaaah” (Dave Chapelle style) immediately after I emptied the last glass, however he, or anyone for that matter, was nowhere to be found.  We were the last customers in the joint, but at least I finished my Raki.

The street food on offer is delicious as well.  The doners, fish wraps, Turkish pizzas (pides), borek (flaky pastry stuffed with meat or cheese), the list goes on and on.  We were basically eating constantly and searching for restaurants became more important than finding the must-see sites (those were easy to find).  Oh we also had the Turkish baked potato called kumpir.  I used to think a baked potato with sour cream, chives and bacon bits was fully loaded.  Fully loaded potato now has a totally different meaning to me.  The kumpir here has butter, cheese, and about 10 (not exaggerating) other toppings.  Stuff like corn, hotdog, cabbage, peas, olives, durum, ketchup, mayo, I can’t even remember what else.  The final size of this potato was bigger than Di’s head (that’s not saying much cuz her head is size mini, we just bought her a hat at a children’s store) and it took us a good hour to eat one between the 2 of us.  Amazingly, the locals were inhaling one each in about 8 minutes.  We washed the potato down with an equally sized waffle stuffed with fruit, nuts and chocolate sauce.  This has been having a detrimental effect on my rippling 8 pack, but I guess I can deal with that later.

I must say I was slightly disappointed by Turkish coffee (even though we supposedly went to the best place called Mandabatmaz), and I reverted back to Starbucks.  Their desserts like their ice cream, baklava, and Turkish delight didn’t really do it for me either but I think we’ll be in Turkey for at least another week if not 2 so maybe I’ll change my mind.

Either way, don’t let that last paragraph deter you from coming to Istanbul to eat.  The food culture is great here, and I’m glad my ignorance to Turkish cuisine has been put in its place.