Street food in Turkey
 

My wife and I have planned to be in Istanbul this summer and we were wondering what other travelers' experience has been with the street food there. We anticipate it to be very interesting and tasty but we were wondering how safe it is. I had a good experience in Morocco but any input would be appreciated.

When I was in Istanbul, it was Ramadhan, when the streets and green spaces absolutely turn into gastronomic circuses at sunset, and the food was delicious, safe and very satisfying. I ate with no hesitation nor regret. I imagine that at other times of the year, it may be less plentiful (though still plenty) and just as delicious.
Use common sense as far as food safety goes, eat in well populated areas of Taksim and Sultanhamet and you shouldn't have any problems. You'll see lots of people lining up so just join the queue.
The fresh squeezed juices (oranges, pomegranates, limes, lemons and whatever is in season) are especially wonderful. The steamed mussels and clams (as big as my palm) were stuffed to bursting with rice in a tomato broth and were absolutely delicious, eaten streetside as a homeward snack, with other commuters getting off the train from work. I remember buying two for about $1.00 each
You can also find grilled meats on sticks, as well as kebabs on an open fired grill.

OMG that sounds absolutely delicious! Can't wait to go!

If you wander down to Eminonu by the water at the Galata Bridge you get a huge and delicious fish sandwich from wildly garbed gentlemen from a wildly rocking little boat for small change.

There's a lot lot of it.
I am a vegetarian,so my options are ofcourse limited,but I still managed to eat different things everyday.
Apart from street food,there are a lot of these "lokantas" or cafetarias or "pidesci"(pide places) or boreksci's or koftesci's and ofcourse sweet shops.
And there are kumpir shops, go to Ortakoy in Istanbul for them.
I also had great gozlemes at a roadside stall near the Emirgan Park(along the Bosporus).
You can see more listings and details here:
http://ashwinbahulkar.wordpress.com/...ocia-and-urfa/

Have a look at http://sirkecirestaurants.com/ too.

All of these, pide,gozleme,kofte,kumpir are turkish/mediterranean dishes.

I believe Istanbul Eats has a street food tour which people have enjoyed a great deal in the past.

istanbul is an excellent city for street food, but knowing where to sample what makes it a world leader.

Doner (gyro) = try hole in the wall "Sahin" next to grand bazaar
order 1.5 or double in half bread rather than
pita.

Adana and/or Shish Kebap = try "Durumcu Mehmet" on same narrow street as Sahin, further away from the Bazaar. Order one adana and half shish, hold the greens, add onions, be very careful of hot peppers.

Kokorec : Only eat at "Sampiyon", at Balik Pazari entrance just off istiklal Street, somewhat across from the imposing gates of Galatasaray high school. OR thir branch down from W Hotel on main street on your left at Besiktas, somewhat across from Shangri La Hotel.

Simit : Almost anywhere, but the best are at Nisantasi at two street stalls or around Taksim square. Goes very well with Turkish white (feta) cheese or aged kasar (eski kasar) and fresh tomatoes.

Fish Sandwich : Eat the grilled and not the fried kind.

Gozleme : prefer the cheese, potato, spinach, other greens or combination types and not meat.

Tost = grilled cheese sandwich. try combination with "sucuk" or double cheese.

Pogaca = Savory breakfast biscuit. Great when hot out of oven. can be with cheese, potato, meat.

Borek = Savory layer pie, "Su boregi" is light, "kol boregi" is
full of carbs but tasty. Comes with cheese or meat filling.
Street stall borek is not tasty. Try at restaurants, special borek shops more expensive pastry shops or sweet shops like Konyali, Seba borek, Gulluoglu, etc.

http://www.culinarybackstreets.com/culinary-walks/

I HIGHLY recommend taking one or more of the walking tours offered by this website/company. My husband and I took one last spring when we visited Istanbul and it was one of the highlights of our trip. It appears expensive, but really is worth every Turkish lira as you get breakfast and lunch and so much in between that you'll not want much dinner. Our guide Angelo was fabulous and took us (we were a small group of two couples, we are American and they were Danish) to all kinds of off the beaten path places - markets, carts, small shops and restaurants- that really were outstanding examples for whatever kind of food they specialized in. If you look on TA you will see they get rated very highly, and if you google them you can see where they've been written up in the media.
You will learn the best places to return to for street food and Turkish food in general. Wish we could go back right now!

Istanbul Eats, recommended earlier, is the same outfit that I recommended under their overall name of Culinary Backstreets (they also have tours in Shanghai and a few other spots).

This thread gets better and better, and should be put in the next Fodor's guide book on Turkey!

Third vote for Istanbul Eats/Culinary Backstreets. American outfit. Fun!

I ate everything I could get my hands on and loved it all!

You can really eat inexpensively in Turkey and Istanbul.....and it's delicious.

Lots of posts with so many restaurant recommendations, too.

This is such a tantalizing thread ! We are so eager to try the foods and places described above (thank you all for the leads) that our mouths are already watering :-)

We have heard that there are very few good restaurants (cafes) in Sultanahmet - that is, those that are not Tourist/Tourist with mediocre food and high prices....Can someone suggest any good, local eats in that area ? We will be staying at the Deersadet Hotel.

Many thanks.

Do not get the wrong idea that the restaurants in Sultanahmet area are expensive. they are not. Do not forget that there is a large turnover of local people who work in the area and eat at those restaurants.

a good way of finding the better ones for a quick lunch or dinner is to ask shopkeepers who appear to you as people who should know those things. They will try different restaurants and have their favorites since they eat lunch there every working day.

There are also a few special restaurants in the area which are decent and expensive. "Sarnic" is one and "Giritli" is another.
Further down, on the coast near the Spice bazar, "Hamdi" stands out with a terrific view and decent food.

Thank you so much, OC. We will surely follow these suggestions.

Bookmarking for my upcoming trip.

We also stayed at the Dersaadet (and quite liked it- great location) last April and enjoyed eating twice at Khorasani which is an easy walk not far from the tram stop, Blue Mosque, etc., although it was a little tricky to find the first time (it is down a little lane lined with restaurants, the furthest back on the left as I recall). Have the hotel make a reservation as it is popular and deservedly so. We also ate at the aforementioned Hamdi and were quite disappointed.
If you take one of the Istanbul eats walking tours they give you a copy of their book on eating in Istanbul and it has a lot of good recommendations, most of which are not touristy at all in our experience.

There's nothing to worry about at all, the street food is safe and super delicious, from the kebab which is the best to the oysters with lemon sold at almost every corner in the center. Regarding the small restaurants and taverns, it's enough to just take a look inside for a few seconds and the waiters will be ready to take you in from the sidewalk.

michaelmorrison, I am glad you enjoyed the street food in istanbul.

One warning though : Those are not oysters but mussels (filled with rice and sometimes currants and pine nuts) and although they are delicious, there is a high possibility that they are contaminated with heavier metals and possibly other things which may cause damage (usually over a period of time).

I buy mine, commercially produced in Izmir-cesme-Ilica-Alacati areas where the mussels are smaller and the filling is somewhat different but still delicious and the risk of contamination is lower.

Regarding waiters trying to pull you in to their restaurants, my evaluation of that is that those restaurants are not good enough to attract enough local business and need the patronage of tourists who are not expected to come back in any case.

Look at what my question started. Fantastic guys. All of you have been so positive and helpful. We have already arranged to have dinner with a Turkish family - a tour which I think my wife purchased from Viator.
All this exciting information is causing me great regret that we are only visiting for two days but it would appear that we will have to make a more extensive visit to that country later. I will have to keep a permanent copy of this thread.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank.

That is awesome, do let us know how it went.