Turkey: The Place and the Food

The food of Turkey, not the food turkey.

My generous parents were kind enough to take along their adult children (my sister and I) on a trip to Istanbul and the Bodrum peninsula of Turkey. We went for two weeks and had a magnificent time. I could tell you all about the trip, but in an effort to stay on topic, I'll focus on the food highlights.

Here I am patrolling the food stands and markets of Istanbul.

Did I mention the food? It was delicious, and I ate all of it. The best way to describe Turkish food is Mediterannean with a Middle Eastern twist. My family and I had a very difficult time with the Turkish language. But I had prepared myself. I couldn't say hello, I couldn't say goodbye, and I couldn't say thank you. However, I could identify and pronounce popular dishes of Turkey such as manti, menemen, borek, pide, lahmacun, and gozleme. Priorities are important.

Meze at Giritli

The first meal I would like to share is an amazing restaurant we stopped at for a much needed lunch break from our touristy day on the Golden Horn (i.e. the Blue Mosque, Topkapi Palace, Hagia Sophia, and Basilica Cistern). The restaurant is called Giritli, and it is an elegant fish restaurant with a delightful outdoor garden and prix fixe menu.

We started with meze (well, technically we started with white wine). Meze is a bunch of different small dishes. This included sardines, beets, pastrami salmon, hummus, tzatziki, roasted eggplant, etc. As you can see for yourself, there were many options:

This was just the start of the meal! We proceeded to have an orzo salad, calamari, octopus leg marinated in garlic and olive oil, borek (a spinach pastry), and grilled seabass. We then finished off (as if this wasn't enough) with dessert. We enjoyed the warm Istanbul afternoon over a few slow hours of stuffing ourselves silly. This was one of my favorite meals of the trip.

Fish Sandwiches

One recommendation we heard repeatedly was to get a fish sandwich from the fishing boats docked next to the Bosphorous bridge. We weren't quite sure what we were in for, but what we found was awesome.

 Fishing boats next to the Bosphorous Bridge

The sandwiches were very simple, but quite tasty. They consisted of grilled fished with onions, lettuce, and lemon juice on a loaf of bread. There were servers walking around with plates of mini honey donuts, which we also (obviously) purchased. This was a fun, easy, and cheap streetfood that can't be missed in Istanbul.

My sister and I with our sandwiches and donuts. Everything goes with donuts, even fish sandwiches.

Turkish Breakfast

A fan favorite in Turkey. A standard Turkish breakfast would include bread, lots of different white cheeses (including feta), olives, butter, jam, a boiled egg, sliced tomatoes, and cucumbers.

Additionally, you can order other dishes such as menemen (my personal favorite of the trip) which is eggs scrambled with onions, tomatoes, green peppers, and spices.

In Istanbul, our favorite Turkish breakfasts were at Van Kahvalti Evi in Cihangir as well as Cakmak in Besitkas. Normally, I wouldn't think I would enjoy a plate of cheese, tomatoes, and olives for breakfast, but I was proven very wrong.

Maçakızı

For the second part of our trip we left the hustle and bustle of Istanbul for the quiet Mediterannean seaside of Türkbükü on the Bodrum Peninsula. We stayed at a beautiful resort named Maçakızı. We grabbed a few lounge chairs on the dock and pretty much parked ourselves there for the whole trip.

This was one of the most beautiful places I've ever been. The Aegean sea was incredibly clear, blue, and buoyant. The weather was perfect. The resort was incredible. But to top it off, the food was outstanding. Every single meal we had was just as good as, if not better than, the last. At lunch they had a buffet of meze along with doner kebab, kofte, grilled seabass, roasted chicken, steak, etc. The pictures don't do the food justice.

Each day there was also a different type of baklava. We had the traditional, an orange version, and then the chocolate baklava. This last one was one of the best desserts I have ever had the pleasure of tasting. I ate three in one sitting, and I have no regrets.

One of our favorite afternoon activities consisted of a bottle of rosé on the dock.

Turkish wine was very good. I had never really heard about Turkish wineries before this trip. We talked to the sommelier at dinner, and discovered why: in Turkey, wineries cannot advertise. It is illegal to market or sponsor alcoholic beverages in Turkey.

Food Lessons Learned

I tasted so many different, unique, and interesting flavors on this trip. I enjoyed just about all of them. Turkish food is fantastic, and I could go on and on about the food we ate and meals we enjoyed. But I'll leave you with just a few observations. We will start with the most obvious.

1) Kebab. All kebab is delicious. Turkish adana kebab is especially delicious.

 2) Baked potatoes are a fast food in Turkey. They call it Kumpir. You essentially mix the potato with butter and cheese, and then add whatever you would like. Who knew?

 3) Dill is a very common flavor in Turkish food. This suprised me. Dill is not normally a flavor I cook with, or even eat that often. I was definitely not expecting it, and I noticed it everywhere. Here it is in a seafood pasta (which was outstanding, by the way).

4) Pastrami is Turkish. It comes from the word "pastirma" which means pressed meat. I had no idea. I assumed pastrami was only found in a reuben sandwich with sauerkraut and russian dressing. The pastrami in Turkey was thinner and drier, but equally delicious.

Turkey was a beautiful country with so much to offer, beyond just the food. Don't be surprised if you see some Turkish flavors here soon. Until next time, güle güle (good bye)!

View of Istanbul from the Galata Tower