The best meal we had was at a seafood restaurant in Istanbul, the Ahirkapi Balikcisi, where the staff were very grand, but where cats still ranged around underneath the tables, where there was a range of patrons - tourists and locals, old money and new. Fasinating. We weren't really sure when we went how the system worked but gradually learned as the meal went on.
We wanted to order appetisers and they brought round atray to choose from. We had marinated calamari
sauted sea samphire
a capsicum and chilli paste in olive oil to have with our bread.
They were all very good, but only the latter was strong in taste.
In Turkey, as in Europe, the salad is eaten before the main course. Ours had pickles around the outside.
The fish are all on display in a refrigerated display case and we chose snapper
and bluefish. both very fresh and grilled very simply.
We didn't need to order dessert. It came round anyway and was delicious. Semolina pudding and icecream
Fresh watermelon
Poached figs and icecream
We missed out on the fresh green almonds but we were so very full so it wasn't a problem. The whole meal came to much less than the meal at the horrible seaside town and was served with far more style and tasted better. I would say that this is the only meal that has been five star so far on our tour.
In Selcuk, we visited the local farmers market. The fruit and vegetables are straight off the farm and apparently they use saved local seed rather than commercial varieties. As a result, the tomatoes really taste like tomatoes, the fruit have blotches but taste strongly as they should. How I wished I had a kitchen. We bought a kilogram of cherries, some green plums and apricots. So good!
We also saw stalls selling the local cheeses. Goat is very popular in this area and the nanny's wear little bags over their udders to stop the kids from taking all the milk. Apart from cheese, there are fresh breads, halva, sweets, cakes, biscuits, nuts and dried fruit. We also saw dried herbs for teas and flavourings
dried capsicums
and an amazing assortment of seasonings and spices, considering that the food does not taste particularly spicy. In fact it can be fairly bland. They must not use as large amounts in their cooking as I do.
and grilled spicy meatball kebabs
Both were very good. the rice was mildly buttered.
In a very dark, very dingy looking restaurant, we discovered that he didn't take visa. We tried to leave but he told us to eat what we wanted and pay him the next day! Amazing trust! We had one of the area's very good red wines and a mixed mezze of cold stewed vegetables and dill flavoured yoghurt which were apparently cooked in the old Roman style.
local cheese in filo pastry:
and fried cheese.
This was all beautifully cooked by an old bloke in the simplest of kitchens, who kept racing out the front between preparations for a fag. He was amazing because an American tour group, three locals, 6 bemused looking Chinese tourists, another American and some German tourists turned up. They rang for a friend to help him chop up vegetables, and a young man turned up with more supplies, but he basically did all the cooking and the washing up by himself, while mein host rushed around looking flustered and trying to dust down tables as the unexpected guests arrived.
For another meal, we popped into a local diner for a meal like the locals ordered. You choose three dished from a bain marie and we added a salad. We had the salad
a pea stew
stuffed capsicums
a lamb stew which tasted just like one my mum used to make and call Irish stew
and the usual gratis bread
By the way, we are often offered food as a free part of a meal. Sometimes it is halva, sometimes biscuits, sometimes olives, sometimes Turkish delight, once we had ammaretto!
In Sirence, we had freshly squeezed orange juice and these little biscuits which were soaked in a very light honey. Delicious again!
the grilled mushrooms had rubbery cheese and more chips.
the sardines were overcooked.
Only the gratis halva was any good.
