We like to stuff every vegetable in Turkey. So we stuff artichokes too, that is not so bizarre after all. With or without lamb meat would be your choice, but my choice would be with a lot of herbs and little bit of bulgur. All winter long I wait patiently,…
Crowded and loud, the shop keepers chatting in front of their stores, cars honking. One left, one right, I was in a silent and small street, the street I was looking for, Asım Bey Sokağı. Soon big letters on the window read Huzur, literally meaning tranquility, I was there. Greeted…
The book opens with the famous words of Ara Güler, “Fish is caught, not with net or rod, but with rakı.” –Ne ağ, ne olta, balık rakıyla yakalanır.- As for sure you have heard us bragging about rakı-balık , rakı and fish, as for sure rakı in our dining culture has…
Offal, you either love it or hate it. I love it. Every piece of it, sweetbreads, brain, liver, intestines, heart, testicles, tripe, trotter… When growing up I had the best of offal on my table; lamb brain salad with olive oil, lemon and parsley, pan grilled ram’s testicles, thick slices…
Döner kebab -for the beginners- is a meat dish consists of deboned meat layered on a vertical spit, roasted rotating on its axis, then cut -shaved- thin slices with a special long knife aka döner bıçağı… Served as pide sandwich, wrapped in lavaş, in half loaf of bread or plated on…
I love street food! Love it! Simit, chestnuts, çiğ köfte, döner, kokoreç… You name it, I love it! So I have my stops at various neighbourhoods for different bites depending the time of the day… They are dear to me with their food, with their Ustas and their personalities! Simit… You…
We were in need of good food and a bottle of wine, we did not have a reservation but lucky enough we got a table. By the time we settled down, the place gave us a sense of relief. We were at Yeni Lokanta, Civan Er’s new restaurant. The restaurant itself consists…
Finally the tomato season kicked off! All I want to eat is tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers and olive oil! An easy task, after visiting the organic market held at Göztepe Özgürlük Parkı on Wednesdays, I got the first heirloom tomatoes of the season. All from Nar Çiftliği, from farm to table,…
I crave for lahmacun, all the time, every time! The abusive smell of the mincemeat mixture, the crispiness of the dough and the first bite! I love lahmacun! Who doesn’t?! But I don’t settle for any. Here are my four lahmacun restaurant in Istanbul! Halil Lahmacun at Kadıköy Balık Pazarı. Tiny shop with…