Istanbul Archive

Whether you are or not, pick up the latest editions of the Rough Guide to Turkey and Rome, two excellent travel resources to which I contributed this year. You can purchase the Rough Guide to Rome here and the Rough Guide to Turkey here.

When I go to Istanbul, I don’t mess around. I plan my meals months before my arrival and try to work in at least four a day. On a recent trip, I did some serious damage. I hit up some old favorites and found some new ones. Here is a recap of some (more…)

When my friend Can heard I was going to Istanbul, he insisted I check out Kazan Antebi in Caddebostan. He spoke of the place with an urgency that suggested if I missed it, I would be committing a culinary crime more heinous than (more…)

My last day in Istanbul was a bit packed with work, so I couldn’t go far for my final meal. Between writing assignments, I made the 10 minute stroll from my friends’ house in Baltalimanı to Iskele Restaurant in Rumelihisarı. I put away quite (more…)

Zeytinyağlı is a style of preparation in Turkish cuisine in which vegetables or legumes are cooked in olive oil. Zeytinyağlı taze fasulye are flat green beans (they are called fagioli a corallo in Italian, I have no idea what the English equivalent is) (more…)

After being stuck in Istanbul’s interminable Saturday night traffic for more than two hours, I finally made it to Selin‘s house in Nişantaşı. A feast of typical Turkish dishes awaited, and at the end came a Selin original: marinated apricots filled with kaymak.

On Sunday I grabbed brunch with my friend Şemsa Denizsel at Van Kahvaltı Evi (there are several locations but we met at Defterdar Yokuşu in Cihangir). Within minutes of being seated at an outside table, there was barely room (more…)

Slow Food Türkiye and TÜDAV (the Turkish Marine Research Foundation) are calling on restaurants in Istanbul to save lüfer, the local bluefish. It is in serious danger of extinction, as it is being fished before it reaches full maturity (24-26 cm) (more…)

Otlu peyniri is a cheese from Van, a city in eastern Anatolia set on a lake of the same name. It is pungent and super salty and the herbs mixed into it add a garlicky flavor. I had a big helping of it this morning at Van Kahvaltı Evi in Cihangir where (more…)

Clothing shops display their wares in illuminated window displays. Why should butcher’s storefronts be any different. At this butcher in Istanbul’s Tophane quarter, you always know what offal is on offer, whether it is tripe, hearts, liver, (more…)