Food safety in Istanbul.
 

I will be visiting Istanbul for a few days in April and was wondering if there are any foods I should avoid. Is it safe to eat off the street stands and in restaurants?

Let me state that I mean absolutely no offense to those that live in Istanbul...I am simply ignorant of the food quality standards in Turkey.

Any guidance would be appreciated & any restaurant suggestions would be wonderful.

Thanks!

I ate extremely well in Istanbul (and throughout Turkey). With street food pretty much anywhere I prefer to see it being cooked.

We had no problems at all, ate very well in a variety of restaurants. As a eule, we don't eat strret food even in the US.

Our guide told us to drink only bottled water.

BTW, I think the trip report by tedgale had some good restaurant info -- you might look for it.

You should have no problem. Like everywhere else in the world, if a restaurant is busy, it usually means the food is good and fresh.

Take some hand gel or antiseptic wipes to use before you eat.

Street food is what you make of it, and beyond that, trust your instincts. That limp pizza sitting beneath a warming lamp? No, thanks. Fresh empanadas being sold on the street outside of a small market? Yes, please! Istanbul is no different; our daughter and I found the street food there to be among our favorites, with the kebabs having a nicely spicier taste than they do here in Vienna.

We, too, were advised to drink bottled water, but could otherwise shower, brush our teeth, and make tea with the tap water.

I recall we were told t drink bottled water because the tap has a bad taste to it. We used tap water for everything else.
Our very long TR has places we ate - you can scroll thru it to find them. We started and ended in IST.
http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...ern-turkey.cfm

" wondering if there are any foods I should avoid."

I can comment on that if you let us know of any religious or medical restrictions, allergies, dietary requirements.

Just as an example, as far as I know, kosher salt is not known in Turkey. the concept of "halal" is very new and still not known.

There are some restaurants which could not get a liqueur permit and their numbers are increasing with the Islamic municipality.

There are very few vegetarian restaurants, but almost all will have enough choices to satisfy the most die hard vegetarian.

The tomatoes (fresh) and the eggplant (cooked any Turkish way) are among the best tasting in the world. Most local fruit are also very tasty although April will not be the best time for much except possibly oranges.

If you like milk puddings try them at Saray

For traditional baklava try the original Gulluoglu shop at Karakoy or Koskeroglu at back of same building (multi-storey car park)

Savory pastries from the simple "pogaca" to layered "borek" are decent and available at all patisseries with cheese, meat or spinach and potato filling.

Turkish white cheese, the goat and/or sheep based ones are superior to most Greek or European or American feta. Look for "Ezine" name on them, which is the best known region for this type of cheese.

In general, you will find the sea food, the starters, salads and pastry similar to Greek food. The stews are like Armenian and other Middle eastern but without many herbs and spices, the chicken like American or European, the meats like Middle Eastern but again not very spicy unless you ask for spicy hot.

Order beef steaks only at expensive meat or steak restaurants, otherwise they may be rather tough and over-cooked.

Lamb is always good and does not have the muttony smell you get in the West. Lamb shank stew with potatoes, slow roast lamb, "tandir" and lamb chops "pirzola" are recommended.

Lentil soups are excellent, Mercimek or Ezo Gelin. You may also wish to try "Tarhana" soup (google for ingredients)

Other than the standard desserts, a unique taste will be Quince Dessert "Ayva Tatlisi"

Best fish in April will be turbot, but it will be very expensive this year especially since I do not see it on the counters yet.

If you are worried about hygiene of street food, do not eat the fried or grilled mackerel in bun fish sandwiches at Eminonu near the Galata bridge. These are imported frozen Atlantic mackerel and you cannot tell when they were thawed.

Do not eat the mussels on the street or even at shops since they may have been polluted with heavy metals from industrial waste. Although a single exposure will not cause cancer, you may already have been building these metals up in your body from eating other Pacific and Atlantic fish like sword fish or other seafood known to accumulate them.

The Rick Steves guidebook for Istanbul is pretty emphatic about not drinking tap water.

Bookmarking

I had no problems with any of the street or restaurant food in Istanbul as well as other parts of Turkey and quite frankly, it was some of the most memorable food I've ever eaten.

From freshly squeezed juices (orange, lemon, lime, pomegranate) sold on street carts to kebabs, pastries, and even steamed seafood stuffed with rice.. I loved and savoured it all. Just use your common sense and eat what looks to be clean and well cooked.. you'll know it when you see it.

The sweetmeats and pastries are also interesting and delicious - try them out.

Turkish breakfasts are among my all time favourites with the range of flat breads, cheeses, condiment sauces, syrups and pastes (sweet and savoury) veggies and dried fruit and nuts (mulberries, apricots, grapes, walnuts, almonds, etc.)

Enjoy !

I don't think the tap water is especially dangerous but most people drink bottled water.

As far as street food, apart from what's already been mentioned, the mobile rice and/or chicken "pilav" carts should be avoided.

Most other stuff is fine though. You will see a lot of simit (sesame type bagel) sellers on the street, but it's a bit dry without some Turkish tea or jam/butter/cheese spread. So I would suggest going in to one of the simit places also (e.g. Simit Sarayi, Simit Salonu etc.).

Restaurants - shouldn't be a problem usually, but try exploring outside of the main tourist area for more variety.

Simit is delish! Definitely don't drink tap water.

And while I'm not a big tea drinker, I kind of got hooked on the Turkish Apple Tea. Hooked, not hookah.

Use bottled water when you brush your teeth. So easy to do, but I forgot all about it and got sick.

And if you wear contact lenses, use bottled water for cleaning them.

Many thanks for the replies. I will look at the suggested trip reports. And we do not have any religious or medical limitations...if it's good we eat it!

I would be wary of uncooked salads. I think that's what got my husband sick.

Istanbul city water is heavily chlorinated, tastes and smells rather bad if you drink it.

The 15 million inhabitants brush our teeths and wash our mouths with it and many probably drink it because they cannot afford bottled water.

There has not been any problems due to the water in Istanbul as far as I have known in my 70 years.

However, I will recommend that you use bottled water in smaller towns and villages where the water supply may come directly from underground sources and could be contaminated by pesticides, fertilizers, etc. somehow seeping through the soil.

Again, the most one can suffer from fresh green salad has been reflux due to helico bactery in Istanbul. But having fresh tomatoe and cucumber salads like Choban Salatasi, (shepherds salad) is definitely safe and recommended. Arugula and sheep's sorrel salads also taste great and we eat them frequently at restaurants but not at cheap restaurants which may not be as careful with their washing and sanitizing.

Thanks for posting here. I'm taking 20 people to Istanbul in a few months and I'm really looking forward to trying the local cuisine.