How much food can you pack in a day? Here is all that I was able to get a taste of on my first day in Istanbul with two of my friends.
1. Islak Hamburger (Wet Burger) – It is wet burger with a small beef/lamb patty inside it. It is available in Taksim Square at many spots. Look for a case where you find steaming small burgers stacked in a small case. It can be bought for 2 Turkish Lira.
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Called Wet burger, Islak hamburger is a small, moist burger with beef and lamb patty |
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Steaming case – Small case to put in Islak hamburgers to keep them hot and moist |
2. Simit – It is a bagel covered with sesame seeds.
3. Salep – The drink was served during the Ottoman rein. It is made out of roots of orchids. Can be bought for 3 Lira.
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A poster on the Salep selling cart displaying key ingredients of the drink. |
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Special metal dispenser with fire underneath to keep the drink hot. |
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Cinnamon dusted cup of Sahlep/Salep |
4. Iskender Kebabs – thinly cut lamb like doner kebab and some pita bread pieces soaked in tomato sauce with butter and yogurt. The dish is named after the person who invented it.
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Iskender Kebab, Chicken Seekh and Turkish bread |
5. Chicken Pide – it is a variety of Turkish Pizza. Very delicious but different from Lahmacun, they say in terms of shape and thickness.
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Bits of Chicken Pide |
6. Baklava – yes, I managed to eat some Baklava but my friend who ordered the dish lapped it all up. May I daresay that whose baklava is it anyway is won by Turkey. Turkish Baklava is better than Greek.
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Pistachio baklava and cappuccino at a cafe in Taksim Square |
7. Mezze – Yummy cold mezze gave me immense variety on one plate. On the house Lavash bread provided to me made me order a plate of mezze with 8 different preparations including chilli paste, egg plant salad, garlic yogurt, red peppers, mushrooms, hummus, and a couple of other things. This was for about 28 Lira. Turkish hummus was grainier than hummus I have had so far.
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Hummus and Bread |
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Plate of Cold Mezze |
8. Tavuk Gogsu – No jokes. This is really a dessert with shredded chicken breast. You take a bite and after a few seconds you can feel the chicken in your mouth. Yes, I ate it. No, I didn’t finish it. Definitely will not order it again.
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Chicken Dessert – Tavuk Gogsu |
9. Tavuk Sultan Hurrem – I could not find this dish anywhere on my return. This was a dish with cheese in tomoato sauce with lots of chicken pieces and mushroom and red peppers bubbling in a clay pot. Let me know if you recodnize it and know what it is.
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Bubbling dish in tomato sauce cooked in clay pot |
10. Turkish Tea – It is a bitter tea served without milk in a small glass
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Turkish Coffee – It is bitter, sweet drink with ground coffee remaining at the end.
12. Turkish rice – Boiled rice with trace of vermicelli. It tastes very rich!
13. Pomegranate Juice – Available for 5 Lira in Sultanahmet outside the major attractions, this is a very refreshing drink. The vendors have a special machine to extract the juice to avoid the rigour of peeling and removing seeds.
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Vendors in Istanbul have a special machine to extract the juice to avoid the rigor of peeling and removing seeds. |
14. Chicken Seekh kebab – Spicier than other kebabs I have had.
15. Lavash – It is a giant blotted thin bread on display in many restaurants. A restaurant owner where we walked for a coffee offered it on house when I asked about it! It was lovely crispy and thin. He served it with oil and a lemon dressing.
Needless to say my stomach is like an acid factory reminding me of my Amritsar trip but I am getting ready for tomorrow.
read it while wAiting for a flight … nice read … n ya … making me hungry now ..