Over the last thirty years İstanbul has grown enormously. A city that had at the time of the Ottoman Conquest in 1453 a population of around 60,000 is now bursting at the seams under the strain of perhaps 16 million residents, with its furthest reaches now sprawling almost all the way to Tekirdağ on the European side and Kocaeli (İzmit) on the Anatolian side. Frequent flooding highlights some of the problems this speedy growth has created, but there are also undoubted benefits, one of which is that now more than ever it’s possible to eat your way around Turkey without ever leaving the metropolis as more and more new restaurants start dishing up mother’s cooking to the homesick.
Some parts of the city have a particularly heavy local character reflected in their eateries. Typical examples include “Little Siirt” in the shadow of the Aqueduct of Valens, and “Little Urfa” around the Aksaray transport interchange. There’s also a strong Hatay presence around Aksaray, while Fener and Balat have many residents whose families originally hailed from Kastamonu and the Black Sea.
So here, without further ado, are just a few of the tasty regional treats awaiting you on a culinary tour of İstanbul. For more on all aspects of eating in İstanbul see the excellent culinarybackstreets.com website.
Siirt – büryan kebab and perde pilav
Thirty years ago it was a grungy area known for a livestock market and some rather dicey butchers’ shops. Now the Kadınlar Pazarı (Women’s Market), otherwise known as Little Siirt, immediately in front of the Aqueduct of Valens on the right as you head up Atatürk Bulvarı from the Golden Horn, is the best place in town to eat büryan kebab, one of a set of pit-baked meats (think tandir kebab and kuyu kebab) that are always melt-in-the-mouth tasty. In Little Siirt they fire up the ovens early, and you’re best advised to head there around lunch-time when the meat is at its best – avoid Fridays when so many people flock in after prayers that you’ll be pushed to find a table.
Büryan kebab is served on a bed of pide and washed down with foaming fresh ayran (yoghurt drink). The best accompaniment is a helping of crispy perde pilav (“veiled rice”), which is baked in a fez-shaped container and comes out shot through with shredded chicken, currants and almonds.
Incidentally, the Kadınlar Pazarı is also a great place to shop for such culinary curiosities as tandir ekmeği (doughnuts of dried bread that need rehydrating before eating), Van otlu peyniri, a white cheese speckled with herbs, and lots and lots of super-fresh honey.
Sur Ocakbaşı, İtfaiye Caddesi No. 19, Tel: 0212-533 8088
Hatay – tuzda pilav and künefe
The cuisine of the Hatay corner of Turkey is influenced by Syria and the Middle East so if you visit the Hatay restaurants around Aksaray you’ll be in for some great surprises including warm humus topped with slithers of pastırma (pastrami). At the Akdeniz Hatay Sofrası the biggest treat has to be chicken or lamb cooked inside a case of salt which is sliced open at the table with great ceremony. Be warned that it’s a treat that must be ordered in advance – two hours ahead in the case of chicken, a day ahead in the case of lamb. You also need a group of three diners for chicken, even more for lamb.
The Hatay’s other great gift to Turkish cuisine is künefe, the mouth-watering dessert made up of crispy grilled shredded wheat wrapped round a succulent helping of soft cheese, with copious quantities of syrup dribbled over the top. Eat it with cream at the Khorasani Restaurant in Sultanahmet and you’ll be in seventh heaven.
Akdeniz Hatay Sofrası, Ahmediye Caddesi No. 44/A, Vatan Hastanesi Karşısı, Aksaray, Tel: 444 7247
Khorasani Restaurant, Ticarethane Sokak No. 9b, Tel: 0212-512 1227
Şanlıurfa and Diyarbakır – ciğer and mırra kahvesi
If Hatay food is not your scene, Aksaray is also a great place to dine Şanlıurfa and Diyarbakır style. On summer nights in Urfa the main drag is lined with low tables and tiny wooden stools on which sit local men tucking into generous helpings of freshly-grilled ciğer (lamb’s liver) served on skewers with lashings of greenery. There are plenty of places to emulate the experience in Aksaray, although Canım Ciğerim in Bostanci (way to go) is also renowned for its liver – watch out for the skewers with neat lamb’s fat that come bundled up with it.
Afterwards you can round off the evening with a gulp of mırra kahvesi (mırra coffee), an Urfa and Mardin super-strong take on Turkish coffee that is brewed and rebrewed before being served with elaborate ceremony. Down it in three sips but don’t put the cup on the table afterwards or you might find yourself expected to pay a forfeit – a cup’s worth of gold, or the cost of the waiter’s wedding.
Mırra Urfa Sofrası, Muratpaşa Sokak No. 29, Yusufpaşa, Tel: 0212-532 7432
Canım Ciğerim, Bostancı
Ehli Kebap ve Ciğer Diyarbakır, Simitçi Şakır Sokak No. 32, Aksaray, Tel: 0212-631 3700
Mersin – tantuni and şalgam
Everyone is familiar with döner kebab in all its assorted manifestations. Tantuni, however, tends to get less of a look in, although around Mersin and Adana it’s the snack food of choice. Finely-chopped snippets of beef are stir-fried with water, oil, onions, tomatoes and herbs, then stuffed into a half loaf of bread or wrapped in paper-thin lavaş bread. Ideally you down it with bitter şalgam, the turnip-and-black-carrot juice taste sensation that can be acquired from the pickle stalls down on the Eminönü waterfront.
Beşaltı Kirvem Tantuni, Mumhane Caddesi No 37, Beyoğlu, Tel: 0532-265 0372
Bursa – İskender kebab
It’s so ubiquitous that it’s easy to forget that İskender kebap was in origin a Bursa specialty, supposedly created when the eponymous İskender stabbed his sword into the ground, then loaded it with meat so that he could grill it while slowly revolving it and so reduce the risk of charring. After adding a dollop of yoghurt plus tomato sauce and a hot butter sauce, and laying slithers of the meat on pide bread, he had the makings of a dish that is now one of the greatest delights of Turkish cuisine.
Kebapçı İskender, Albay Faik Sözdener Caddesi No 3, Kadıköy, Tel: 0216-236 5571
Rize – karalahana çorbası and hamsi
Fewer places in İstanbul serve the cabbage-heavy cuisine of the eastern Black Sea region, but on Fevzi Paşa Caddesi, the main road through Fatih, Kömür Loantası dishes up hefty helpings of stuffed cabbage leaves and cabbage soup to appreciative diners. This is also a great place to come to eat crispy, crunchy hamsi tava (fried anchovies), a wonderful winter treat.
Kömür Lokantası, Fevzi Paşa Caddesi No. 18, Fatih, Tel: 0212-336 0777
Kayseri – mantı
If you want to make a lonely Kayserili’s eyes water, just mutter the word mantı to them. These tiny pasta packets enclosing minuscule morsels of meat are usually doused in a garlicky yoghurt sauce or a thick home-made tomato sauce. They’re often called the Turkish ravioli although you could as easily describe them as Turkish dumplings. Really they’re a dish unto themself.
Hala, İstiklal Caddesi No 137/A, Beyoğlu, Tel: 0212-292 7004
Gaziantep – pistachio baklava
Whatever your choice of starter and main course you’re bound to want to finish up your meal with a helping of baklava, the cigarette-paper-thin, multi-layered pastry that reaches its apotheosis when stuffed with some of the pistachios for which Antep in the south-east is famed. Most restaurants worth their salt serve baklava but for the finest of all head straight for Güllüoğlu in Karaköy where they still use a recipe dating back to the 1870s.
Karaköy Güllüoğlu, Kermankes Caddesi No 67, Tel: 0212- 225 5282
