A list of what to definitely taste in Istanbul

Yes! We are going beyond kebab… Below is a list of unique Turkish tastes -along with where to eat them

1. Simit with cream cheese and tea.
Lucky you this trilogy can be found anywhere. Street vendors sell loads of Turkish bagels in portable, wheeled carriers. Most of them also sell cream cheese (Karper) as well. For tea, walk in the nearest artisan cafe.

2. Mantı -the Turkish ravioli with minced meat is how we often describe it, but it is a little more than that. The little raviolis actually taste more like steamed dumplings with minced meat inside and are meant to be consumed with garlic, yogurt and a special butter sauce with a little bit of hot pepper sprinkled over the dish. Emek Mantı, Hala, Çimdik Mantı, Bodrum Mantı and Fes Cafe are recommended by this blogger. Mind that just like every chef cooks risotto in his own special way, so would there be tiny differences in how mantı is cooked at these different restaurants. Especially at Bodrum Mantı, you may be amazed by the long list of different versions of mantı: fried, with spinach, with and without yogurt etc.

Topik

3. Topik: this you may not find easily anywhere… It is a typical Armenian dish that is also cooked and consumed as meze in the Turkish kitchen. Topik is a round mash of chickpeas, potato, onion and tahini. Best examples of it are found at Hamov and Cibalıkapı Balıkçısı.

4. Acılı ezme and / or Girit ezmesi: The two things are radically different in taste, but share the name since both are prepared from a mash of various ingredients. Acılı ezme is hot, spicy and is prepared from mashed tomatoes, onions, sometimes garlic and hot peppers. It goes pretty well with full-body, dry red wines. Girit ezmesi is another mash that is prepared from crunched feta cheese, smashed walnuts, peanuts, chili powder, thyme, garlic, virgin olive oil and green olives… It is much less spicy when compared to the acılı version. Both dishes are must-haves as cold starters on a night out of what the Turks call “rakı-meze” (in which the Turks eat rather slowly and gradually small dishes of Turkish tapas with the Turkish ouzo).
5. Kısır: A raw food salad that uses cracked wheat as its main ingredient. Cracked wheat is left for waiting in water for a couple of hours to soften and is then mixed with anything that comes yo mind. The simplest version has fresh onions as the second main ingredient. Kısır can be found almost in any supermarket and/or charcuteries, such as Şütte.

6. Stuffed vine / grape leaves: Extremely delicious! There are different varieties of these stuffed delicacies. Most of the time, they are prepared as cold dishes in virgin olive oil; but as a home-cooked meal, it can also be consumed hot with yogurt. Correctly spelled as yaprak sarma in Turkish and read as it is written.

7. Menemen is a unique egg dish that is cooked as mashed together with fresh tomatoes, feta cheese, butter and pepper. I had written about menemen earlier in one of my other entries as well. Many buffets and restaurants serving breakfast will be cooking menemen for sure. I would recommend Assk Cafe -which has different varieties of menemen with black and/or green olives as well as the classic version with feta cheese- or Kale Cafe & Patisserie that does it the traditional way.

8. Poğaça: is another tea-time or breakfast favorite. Pastry heavy on the flour side, extremely delicious. Once again Assk Cafe has the best “giant” poğaças. Any other patisserie will have regular sizes. These may be filled with anything from potatoes to cheese.

[Images my own]