Your favorite Turkish foods
 

OK guys, I need your help with a matter of great urgency--what to eat in Turkey!! :-) Please tell me about which foods you enjoyed the most. I already know about the good Turkish coffee but beyond that I could use some suggestions.

Thanks.

The vegetables are fabulous! I couldn't get enough of them, so flavorful. Also the yogurt and dried fruits. In the markets you'll find peanuts covered with sesame seeds and I think honey.

I didn't care much for the meats in Turkey and didn't have much fish so I can't say how well they do fish.

Loved the apple tea; not the stuff in a tea bag but the powdered stuff (probably lots of chemicals but it was great). There are many fruit flavors to try but apple is the most popular and you can get it in the cafes.

Turkish coffee is usually only served after dinner so I only had it once since that's too late at night for me. I wanted it in the morning but it's not traditional to drink it then.

I LOVE Turkish food! Generally, we enjoyed everything we ate in Turkey, especially the mezes. But two dishes that were really memorable were manti and testi kebab. Manti is like little meat dumplings served in a garlicy yogurt sauce. SO good. And testi kebab is a lamb stew cooked slowly in a clay pot with tomatoes, green peppers, and onions. It came in a sealed-up pot, so part of the fun was that I got to crack open the pot myself with the back of a heavy knife. This dish was so fabulous - I think it may have been the single best dish we had in all of Turkey.

Incidentally, we had both of these dishes in Cappadocia. I'm pretty sure manti is a specialty of the area, so I don't know if it's widely available throughout Turkey. And same goes for the testi kebab - I don't remember seeing it on any menus in Istanbul (but I might have just not noticed it).

Enjoy Turkey - what a fascinating place!

Can honestly say that nothing I had in Istanbul was not good.
Kebabs are as ubiquitous as they are delicious.
Seafood was also great - Balikci Sabahattin in the Sultanahmet area is popular with tourists a white tablecloth kind of place, service is good and prices are upper moderate. Locals patronize the tavernas along Nevizade Sokak - enter Cicek Pasaji (the old flower market, entrance is about halfway up Istiklal caddesi just above Galatsaray square) go right then left to get to it. Don't be put off by the sight (and smell!) of the fish vendors when you first enter the pasaji - forge n to the tavernas.
Vegetables - I can't eat uncooked tomatoes but they sure looked delicious and were common ingredients. Eggplant in many forms was to die for.
Bread was the big surprise - I did not expect it to be so delicious.

When do you go, P_M? Have a look at http://tinyurl.com/6cetmx. I posted a trip report after my Istanbul visit but can't seem to find it using the search function.

Sounds good so far, thanks. :-)

Oh, I'm so envious...

My faves:

1. Manti -- sort of like meat-filled tortellini in a mint/garlic yogurt sauce. Completely addicting and could only find it along the Aegean, so it may be a regional dish.

2. Cacik -- a garlicky, cucumber yogurt sauce.

3. Sigara Boregi -- tasty feta filled phyllo dough cigars, served warm.

4. Tost -- basically a grilled cheese sandwich, found at roadside stands, bus stops and markets.

5. Apple Tea -- oh yeah.

Now that my mouth is watering profusely, I need to find a napkin...

Have a splendid trip, Turkey's my favorite place in the world. The sights, the landscape, the people -- loved it all and can't wait to go back!

Mmmm...now I'm getting hungry for my Turkey trip and we don't leave until February! P_M, your trip is coming up soon, correct? You'll have to share with us all the tasty things you ate. In the meantime, I'm taking notes because the items listed above sound really good.

Tracy

Cheese borek!

There are many little shops specializing in borek...truly wonderful and filling..you can have a nice slice for lunch!
Maybe one of our local Turkish posters can provide some addresses--I know there is one shop near an entrance to the Grand Bazaar..

Baklava

Yogurt with honey for breakfast

Good stuff, so much of what you all are describing sounds de-lish. Do you think I can eat all these things in only 2 weeks? :-D

I'll be there Dec 3 to Dec 16. Counting the days.

PS Seamus, most people love fresh tomatoes. I don't eat those either, although I do like cooked tomatoes. I thought I was so alone in that, it's good to know we are in the same boat. :-)

Thanks for keeping the ideas coming.

Here is a list of recommended restaurants from the website of an Istanbul cooking teacher; I ate at a couple of these during my last trip in 2005:


http://www.turkishflavours.com/turki...rants-i37.html

Hi

Don't forget to have kofta (meatballs) in Sultanahmet and kumpir (stuffed potatoes) in Ortakoy, near the mosque. I didn't try them but the fish sandwiches at Galata bridge are pretty good I hear. Turkish food is superb - enjoy :))

Yes, the fish sandwiches near the bridge are excellent! The set up is a bit...um, rustic, but just think of it as a different version of a taco stand.

By the way, I don't like fresh tomatoes either. I can eat them cooked, and I love sundried tomatoes, but don't touch the fresh ones. I thought I was the only "weird" one!

Tracy

OMG, I forgot about those fish sandwiches!

I have a picture of the scraggly looking fisherman in his little boat, handing a sandwich over to a customer, as the barrel of fire burned next to him.

What a scene.

mucver - zuchini pancakes yum
dolma - grape leaves
yogurt w/ cucumber (cacik)
borek - cheese borek yum
simit (bagel)
chocolate covered baklava
stuffed figs

I am vegetarian and they have wonderful vegetable meze's...
fava beans, potatoes, eggplant, hummus

The food is divine

After you have been there for a while and want a change of pace try their
pizza......the crust is the especially good.

Oops...that should read the crust is especially good.

Wonderful, just the info I needed. I'm getting hungry already. ;-)

All food in Turkey is fantastic! The Best bread and beautiful rice! You must have a testi kebab as suggested earlier.

I'm not a seafood eater so can't help you there. But I was very worried about what I was going to be able to eat in Turkey and the answer - Everything!!!

I'm not sure if the gozleme has been suggested yet but it is delicious - along the lines of a large crepe and filled with cheese or potato etc.

You have nothing to worry about as there is plenty to keep all tastes satisfied.

Iskender kebab was by far my favorite food in turkey.

Just my opinion but the manti did nothing for me. It was served barely lukewarm and as much as I love garlic this dish was so garlicy it lost any other flavor.

We loved the testi kbap. A sort of chunky stew cooked in a terracotta pot.

Apple tea.

Olives!

Would it be difficult for people with nut allergies. My travel companion has severe nut allergies and I wonder if a lot of dishes contain nuts.

In Istanbul, we ate most of the time in restaurants which resembled a buffet - one stands in front of a counter full with dishes and can point to attractive ones. The mutton with cooked eggplants was out of this world (In turkish the name sound close to Koyun eti + Patlijan). Also very good is the eggplant dish called Imam bayaldi. Actually, everything else was very good too :-)

This is copied from my 2001 trip report:

Favorite food discoveries:

Lahmacun, a flat, thin bread with ground meat on it. Try it in the modest cafe/restaurant outside the entrance to the Sirkeci Train Station.

Lokum (turkish delight); zillions of flavors, and most are good. Of course, drink LOTS of cay (tea) and elma cayi (apple tea).

I also liked visne (sour cherry juice) very much.

The rice and the yogurt are wonderfully flavorful, and kebabs of all kinds, and eggplant dishes (imam bayaldi!), and the cheeses....well, you’ll all find your favorite flavors, but these are a few of ours.

Hope this is helpful!
Paule

Another cooking school and restaurant recommended on these boards is http://www.cookingalaturka.com/.

I won't be able to provide actual experience with it until August.

Okay - not a food, but still an integral part of a meal......

Efes beer!

If you want truly authentic Turkish traditional food, ask where there are "Tribe Soup Shops". You will be amazed at the variety and complexity of the dishes.

Jeff801, I posted about Cooking Alaturka on the Europe board a few months ago and nobody responded. Have you found somebody who has been? I'm dying for some information from someone who has been. The menus sound superb.

We are really thinking about doing one of the cooking classes at Cooking Alaturka. Only problem is we only have 3 days planned for Istanbul and I'm trying to decide if going to a 4 hour cooking class will be the best use of our time.

Tracy

Tracy,

I found several positive reviews when I googled them. We have spent about 10 days in Istanbul and have fit them into our schedule for a 4 day stay this summer. OTOH, our traveling companions, who have never been there, are more than willing to fit them in.

IMHO, a cooking lesson is a very good way to learn about a culture and its traditions. I think we would have fit it in even had we not been in Istanbul before. For example,the best day we ever had in Italy was a rainy Sunday in which we started cooking at 9:00 a.m. and sat down to eat at 2:00 p.m. And, we have been in Italy a lot, but, of course, not enough.

BTW, the restaurant and school is in the heart of Sultanahmet. You could easily walk from there to many of the places you will want to visit.

What ever you eat, don't miss out on the amazing Turkish Apple Tea.

UPDATE:

I'm back and here are a few of my faves:

Yogurt with most any fruit mix.

Sour cherry jam, especially when it's mixed w/yogurt.

Yogurt kebabs

Tangerines. (I know that's not uniquely Turkish but they do grow some good ones)

Roasted chestnuts from street vendors.

Turkish coffee.

Cucumbers. I don't usually like those but the Turkish ones are quite good, especially w/a yogurt dressing.

Most any Turkish cheese.

Olives

Bread

Apple tea

Thanks again for all of your help, it was a great trip. :-)

Welcome back, P_M! Can't wait to hear about your trip.