Best of the Turkish Cuisine

Turkish cuisine is a cuisine with unique Ottoman cuisine and unique tastes from the mix of Asia and Europe. Its main flavors are kebab, lahmacun, doner, meatballs, stuffed baklava and grains.

During the time you stay in Istanbul you should definitely taste the following delicacies.

Kebaps

Kebap, etin bir şişenin etrafına kaplandığı ve kömür ateşinin üzerinde pişirildiği bir yemeğin ortak adıdır. Acılı biberli olana Adana Kebab, normaline Urfa Kebab denir.

Doner

The meat is beef pieces that are cooked with local herbs and spices, poked and vertically grilled. The finely cut doner is a great flavor.

Kofte

The kofte basics are ground meat (usually lamb or mutton) mixed with crumbled bread, minced onions and spices. The most common dish is Izgara Köfte, where the meat mixture is grilled and served with grilled green peppers, chopped parsley, crumbled dried red peppers and rice on the side.

Manti

You can think of Mantı as a kind of meatball. This excellent Turkish dish has two main components: dough and filling, grounded beef or lamb, onion, salt and pepper. Kayseri is famous with the province.

Lahmacun

A pizza like dish with a topping of finely minced meat and onions with spices on flaky thin dough. It is served with tomatoes, lettuce, parsley or rocket and most people prefer to squeeze lemon on it and roll to eat easier like tacos.

Kurufasulye

Beans, Turks just love it. It can be cooked with or without meat or even with dried spiced thin slices of beef called pastırma. Served with sade pilav (plain rice) and turşu (pickles and sauerkraut). The restaurants across Süleymaniye Mosque are the masters of this dish.

Grains

Grilled Aubergine with garlic sauce, Grilled Red Paper in olive oli, Artichoke in olive oil, Purslane with strained youghurth and garlic, Fried Zuccihini and Aubergine, Spice Chilli Papper, Mashed Chick peas, Stuffed grape Leaves in olive oil

Cağ Kebab

Cag kebab is a kebab Erzurum species originating in Turkey. A unique flavor is achieved by cooking the marinated meats horizontally and by being cooked in wood fire.

Baklava

You must taste baklava during your stay in Istanbul. The recipe may sound too easy to be true: chopped nuts are spread in between the phyllo (yufka) layers, dressed with butter, baked and sweetened with syrup or honey. But the excellence depends on the quality of the flour, the thinness of the dough and the proportion of the syrup.