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94
—GW
my breakfast the following
morning. Van Kahvalti Evi (52a
Defterdar Yokusu, +90 212 293
6437) is something of a
phenomenon: expect quite a wait
before your patience is rewarded
with an enormous portion of
tomato, cucumber, olives, eggs,
tahini, honey, various local
cheeses and plenty of bread.
I lunch at Hayvore (4
Turnacıbaşı Sokak, +90 212 519
4922), a restaurant serving dishes
from the Laz region. I start with
lentil soup and cornbread, and
move on to stuffed vine leaves in
yoghurt and a divine hamsi pilav,
a fruity, cinnamon-laced cube of
baked rice wrapped in fresh
grilled anchovies. It’s so good I
cravemore Black Sea anchovies,
andmake repeated visits to
Furreyya Galata Balıkçısı
(2 Serdar-i EkremSokak, +90 212
252 4853) where they grill them
stuffedwithmelted cheese. I
can’t think of the last time I saw
fish on themenu of a Turkish
restaurant outside Turkey, but
here fish almost seems to
dominate. Despite plenty of
competition, my favourite
Istanbul fish dish remains the
humble balik ekmek, the grilled
mackerel sandwich found at
dozens of stalls along the harbour
of the Bosphorus near Galata
Bridge. It’s cheap, healthy and
immensely satisfying.
For the first and last word on
regional Turkish cuisine, a visit
to Çiya Sofrası (43 Güneşlibahçe,
Kadıköy, +90 216 330 3190) is a
must. Its proprietor, Musa
Daðdeviren, is arguably Turkey’s
most influential chef, andmany
consider Çiya not merely a
restaurant but a historical
archive, where regional dishes in
danger of being forgotten – the
kind of rural home-cooking
rarely found in restaurants – are
preserved and treasured. Around
1,000 such dishes are on rotation
at Çiya; a range of fantastic salads
and stews from the regions of
Antep, Siirt, Karadeniz and Bitlis
fill every inch of my table, and for
such a celebrated restaurant the
bill is surprisingly small.
I’ve discovered several new
Turkish foods but something is
troublingme. Everywhere I go I
see Turkish people standing in
line to order – shock, horror –
döner kebabs. So despitemy
prejudices, I join them.Megan
has recommendedBereket
Döner, a tiny, family-run stall in
Sultanahmet. Here, the döner is
handmade eachmorningwith
layers of fresh tomatoes, onion,
chilli peppers and chicken or
lamb. It looks different to the
limp, greasy döners I’mused to at
home, like an intricatelywoven
quilt. Themeat is sliced fromthe
rotating spit and served in a piece
of crustywhite bread. It’s crispy
andmoist in all the right places,
and full of flavour. It’s a revelation.
In its adopted home, it seems, the
döner kebab can shine.
outside the country is kokoreç.
Perhaps western Europeans
can’t get their heads round the
idea of a mixed-offal kebab –
lamb’s intestines wrapped
around veal sweetbreads (the
glands), roasted on a charcoal
fire. At Kral Kokoreç (54 Büyük
Postane Caddesi, +90 212
5136493) this intimidating
concoction is dosed in chilli and
thyme and served in a baguette
– and it’s incredibly tasty.
After pide (Turkish pizza) and
baklava, we enter the charming
interior of Vefa Bozacısı (104/1
Katip Çelebi Caddesi, +90 212 519
4922), which looks like it hasn’t
been touched since it served its
first cup of boza back in 1876. A
thick liquidmade from
fermentedmillet seeds (it’s
slightly alcoholic) and sweetened
with sugar and a pinch of
cinnamon, boza tastes unlike
anything else. This elegant and
beautifully preserved place
certainly has pedigree: on the
back wall there’s a case
containing a glass once used here
byMustafa Kemal Ataturk, the
first president of Turkey.
After a couplemore stops,
Megan’s tour concludes with a
heavy late lunch at Siirt Şeref
Büryan Kebap Salonu (4 Itfaiye
Caddesi, Fatih, +90 212 635 8085)
where the food is from south-east
Turkey, close to the Syrian
border. The speciality of the
house is büryan, a lamb slow-
cooked to perfection in a
2.5m-deep pit and servedwith
blankets of warmflatbread. I also
try their perde, a filo parcel
stuffedwith pilaf rice, black
pepper, sultanas and pine nuts.
It’s so good I decide to track down
more south-west Turkish food for
“Many consider Çiya not merely a
restaurant but a historical archive,
where endangered dishes are
preserved and treasured”
I S T A N B U L