A culinary walk through Istanbul

CATHERINE BELL

Sleet is falling and it’s well below zero, but the guide for our culinary walking tour is waiting as arranged outside the Spice Market at Eminonou.

People come to Istanbul for many reasons, such as the history and the art, but for me, this time anyway, it’s all about the food. And what better way to make some new discoveries and tread some new back streets than under the guidance of an expert?

Istanbul Eats’ culinary walking tours are designed so you can experience an Istanbul that tourists rarely can, and we have been warned to come with empty stomachs. Its website also provides the most up-to-date information about dining in Istanbul, from street snacks to fine meals at top restaurants.

Our lovely American guide, Megan, made the city her home many years ago and speaks the language well. Our small group of six sets off, not to the Spice Market as expected, but to the surrounding streets.

Megan explains that, sadly, it is more a general bazaar now, rather than the glorious food market I remember from past visits.

However, all around it we find a fascinating array of food stores, all specialising in something different.

We wander from store to store, tasting, at the friendly insistence of the vendors, olives, nuts and cheeses from the many different regions of Turkey. Then, huddled out of the cold near a tiny tea shop, we are plied with tiny glasses of tea and cups of Turkish coffee, which the owner carries to us on a traditional “hanging” tray.

Turks, Megan explains, drink as many as 30 or 40 tiny glasses of tea a day. She also shows us how to let the coffee rest so the grounds sink to the bottom before taking a sip. It is strong and needs lots of sugar lumps, but is perfect with our breakfast of freshly baked simit (sesame crusted rings of chewy bread), olives and fresh white cheese that Megan has gathered along the way.

Back out on the street in front of the fishmonger’s shimmering wares, we discuss which fish come from where and how each can be cooked. Next door, at the butcher’s, we squeamishly admire the beautifully displayed offal, still very much a staple of Turkish cuisine. The proud vendors pose as we take photos of them behind their counters.

Further on, we stop for a warming and utterly delicious lentil soup – squeezing in lemon juice and sprinkling on red pepper flakes – at what was once a soup kitchen adjoining a mosque. It is so hard not to finish it all up, but we are all very conscious there are many more tastes still to come.

On the street of wood turners, we buy lovely hand-crafted wooden spoons before pausing at a tiny pide shop where the owner cheerfully shows us how to make wood-fired, pointy-ended pide with the traditional fillings of minced lamb and red capsicum or goats’ cheese and tomato. On we walk, enjoying halva and Turkish delight from a family-run store 150 years old and, further on still, delicious lamb kebab from a corner vendor who spends two hours each morning layering lamb for his spit with onion, tomato and capsicums – so colourful and tasty compared with the commercial, meat-only versions.

At the lovely old-fashioned cafe Vefa Bozacisi, we try boza, an ancient fermented millet drink that has been made there since 1867, served with cinnamon and roasted chickpeas. It’s definitely an acquired taste.

For our final stop for lunch (yes, lunch!) we follow Megan as she weaves through the Kurdish area of the city until we come to Seref-Buyan Kebap Salone, which specialises in both pit-roasted lamb (buryan) and perdi pilaf, a scrumptious little “pie” of borek pastry filled with pilaf rice and chicken that is traditionally served at weddings. Our table groans with these dishes and more.

Somehow, we manage to eat a freshly made walnut baklava and a delicious cheese-filled pastry called a kunefe.

Istanbul offers so many dining options and it’s quite easy to find really good food if you stay away from the tourist haunts and don’t depend only on your guide book or the hotel concierge. My rule of thumb is to explore the back streets. That is where the best food always is.

I had read about the new Datli Maya, where chef Dilari Erbay cooks traditional Turkish fare in the wood-fired oven of an old simit bakery. It turns out to be very close to our hotel. Entering off the street right into the kitchen, you choose your dishes – yoghurt soup, wood-fired pide or lamuchan (very thin Anatolian pizza) or the stew of the day – before ascending the narrow stairs to the top-floor dining room.

On the way up, you pass through another kitchen where a chef is preparing kebab skewers.

For a simple and very inexpensive lunch after visiting the Grand Bazaar or Blue Mosque, experience a traditional working man’s eating house at Erol Restaurant. Choose from the selection of home-style dishes on display in the kitchen before finding a table. There are lots to choose from and always daily specials – stuffed cabbage rolls, eggplant kebab or Kiremit (casserole) – a stew of lamb, green capsicum, carrots, eggplants and tomato with large moghrabieh couscous or the ubiquitous lentil soup.

In summer, I imagine the dishes would be quite different, as the food is based on what is available.

On this trip, I was also keen to try some modern Turkish cuisine, something which is quickly gaining worldwide attention.

At Lokanta Maya, a female chef, Didem Senol, prepares her acclaimed cuisine. In her stylish, contemporary restaurant, we enjoy a series of small plates to share: her famous zucchini fritters, tender-grilled octopus and red onion on olive-oil grilled bread and warmed white cheese with caramelised onions, followed by a couple of lovely desserts, including a mastic pudding with cherry compote – a first for me.

Back at our hotel, the beautiful Tomtom suites in Beyoglu, two talented young chefs are cooking some of the best food in the city at La Mouette. Both Uryan Dogmus and Cihan Kipcak were classically trained abroad and have returned to Istanbul to cook modern interpretations of the dishes they grew up with.

An afternoon spent with them in the kitchen introduces me to some fascinating ingredients and cooking methods – thankfully, not molecular gastronomy, but clever, lighter, and more beautifully presented dishes adapted from those learned from their mothers and grandmothers.

Quinces are poached in hibiscus sherbet (sherbet is a syrup) and served with buffalo clotted cream (kaymak), something the Turks love to have on toasted bread and drizzled with honey for breakfast.

A simple casserole of prawns, tomatoes, bright-green capsicums, tarragon and garlic is quickly assembled and baked – a dish I could imagine eating at a small eatery anywhere along the coast of Turkey – then a traditional borek, a long, coiled “pie” filled with different local cheeses, such as dil peyniri and ezine, onion and herbs.

Later, we dine in the restaurant itself, an enclosed rooftop terrace which affords an expansive view across to the Galata Bridge and beyond to the Sultanahmet. At night the mosques and the Topkapi Palace are magically lit, as are the ferries that glide across the Bosphorus.

The small menu of just seven entrees and seven main dishes is as enchanting as the view. My favourite dish is one of delicate veal liver with a light-as-air potato and cumin mash, cherry wine confit and parsley coulis.

It is clear that Istanbul’s culinary offerings should not be underestimated. There is so much more to this city than trays of mezze, apple tea and baklava.

WHAT TO DO BESIDES EATING

Antique hunting or browsing: I particularly enjoy wandering the labyrinth of tiny back streets around Ukurcuma Square (Beyoglu area) where antique stores sell everything from furniture and carpets to interesting Ottoman era curios.

Take a ferry down the Bosphorus towards the Black Sea: It’s the perfect way to see the beautiful Ottoman houses that still line the shore and the ancient fortresses that once protected the straits. Be aware the ferry stops for three hours when it gets to the last village but you can enjoy a simple lunch at one of the lokantas nestled over the water.

The Grand Bazaar: Even though this is probably the most tourist-infested place in the city, it is a must-see. Sixty covered streets, some like boulevards, others barely wide enough for two people to pass, have more than 5000 shops selling just about anything you could imagine. Don’t forget to look upwards – to see some of the most beautiful vaulted ceilings.

Arasta Bazaar: If you want a slightly more exclusive shopping experience, this small bazaar, just below the Blue Mosque, has lovely stores selling traditional Turkish wares. Jennifer’s Hammam specialises in beautiful fringed cotton towels and colourful Uzbekistani pottery.

The Harem at Topkapi – this palace deserves a full day’s exploration but at the very least you must see the Harem apartments. Each room seems more exquisitely tiled than the last and of course it is fascinating to see where all the Sultan’s wives and their eunuchs were housed.

Aya Sophia: Once a Byzantine church and an Ottoman mosque, it has been deconsecrated and is now a museum. The austere exterior in no way prepares you for the beauty within, especially the sea of Ottoman era chandeliers, viewed from above.

Kadakoy market: I love the fresh market just a 20-minute ferry ride across the Bosphorus on the Asian side and not far from the dock. The simple stalls line narrow streets and more permanent stores sell everything from honey to roasted sheep heads. This is also where you’ll find the eponymous Ciya restaurants.

Buy a carpet: If you have both the time and money, the experience of being entertained with endless cups of tea while carpet after carpet is laid out for you to see is really not to be missed. The only prerequisite is that you must make a purchase at the end.

FACT FILE

Where to stay: Tomtom Suites – The Old Franciscan House, Tomtom Mh, Tomtom Kaptan Sokak 18, 34413 Beyoglu, Turkey, ph +902122924949, tomtomsuites.com.

What to do: Istanbul Eats walking tours cost US$125 (NZ$152) and you won’t need dinner. istanbuleats.com.

Where to eat: La Mouette at the TomTom Suites tomtomsuites.com/tomtom–taste.php. Lokanta Maya, lokantamaya.com. Datli Maya, datlimaya.com. Erol Restaurant: Catalcesme Sokak. No 3, Cagaloglu. (From a previous visit) Ciya, located in Kadakoy on the Asian side and considered one of the finest restaurants for regional cuisine, ciya.com.tr.

How to get there: Singapore Airlines flies one stop via Singapore to Istanbul from Auckland, singaporeair.com.

Catherine Bell is a food educator and writer and is chairwoman of the Garden to Table Trust. She flew to Turkey with Singapore Airlines.

– © Fairfax NZ News