How to dine on Fish in Istanbul

I realize how funny the title to this entry may read to some of my readers. You may be thinking to yourselves “with fork and knife of course” and I cannot blame you. This entry is not going to shatter your belief system either.

However, I do feel that there is a need to explain further and in more detail, how us the Turkish people like to eat fish. And, the answer to that is: With loved ones, friends and companions…

Going to a fish restaurant and going to a kebab house (a meat restaurant) are similar experiences for the Turkish. A dinner starting at 8:00 PM in a fish restaurant is meant to last for a couple of good and long hours. Rakı is meant to be drunk and a lot needs to be eaten…

When everyone is nicely seated at the table, the host of the restaurant arrives with a big tray of small dishes called the meze. Simultaneously, another waiter starts pouring three fingers thick of rakı (Turkish ouzo) into what looks like a mini-vodka glass. The mezes arriving on the tray are the cold starters. There are some generic ones that you will find in all fish restaurants; and there are some other mezes unique to certain restaurants. When you find them, do try the aubergine salad (a mash of aubergine looking like a yellow puree), octapus salad, salted bonito with a slice of raw onion, mash of fish eggs called tarama and fave (in Italian, fava in Turkish). The octapus salad, when prepared properly, tastes heavenly. However, in most places the octapi taste like chewing gum, either because they are not fresh or are not prepared properly. So, if you are at what looks like any fish restaurant, be careful with the octupi.

The Turkish usually also ask for melon and white feta cheese with their starters. It is an ages-long tradition to feast on the trilogy of rakı-feta cheese and melon. In fact, a common scene in many Turkish movies would be melancholy accompanied by this trilogy.

After the meze session is over, the Turkish take an interlude. If they are with friends and are having a cheerful conversation, they may even be ordering their second bottle of rakı. The second stage of the dinner is the hot appetizers. The host asks his customers whether they want any hot appetizers. There is almost always ne menu at fish restaurants. Therefore you need to know what you want to order. Typical hot appetizers include: grilled octupus or tiny shrimps cooked in a casserole with tomatoes, mushrooms and sometimes cheese, grilled or fried calamari looking like onion rings, fried shells, roasted angler or monk fish, fish kokoreç (fish kokoreç is different from meat kokoreç -which is grilled intestines of animals-, but fish kokoreç is roasted and spiced fish), fish croquettes and fish meatballs.

When the hot appetizers are also over, the ladies are usually full and choose not to go any further. But the men… The men order the fish that they had already reserved for in advance of the dinner. Choices for the fish are limited with which season we are in. For some, fish and kebab are seasonal within themselves: kebab for winters and fish for summers. It is kind of true that during the warmer seasons the variety of fish are more. During March and April the talbot fish is in season. It is an expensive fish, but an extremely delicious one as well. Fried talbot is more preferable. Almost in every season, one can eat seabass. Seabass is best when it is stewed. The Black Sea gem is the hamsi -Turkish anchovies grilled or fried. These little fish go like nuts and peanuts or the edamame. While these are only a few examples, you can also always consult your host on the best fish of the day.

When all is eaten, it is time for desert. No meal is ended without a desert and Turkish coffee. When the desert tray arrives, the ladies that were once full are back in for play. Baklawa is the traditional Turkish desert, but at fish restaurants people usually prefer the chocolate souffle. The chocolate souffle takes about 2 0 minutes to cook, so make sure you order in advance.

Bon appetit!