The Turkish Lunch (And sometimes Dinner)

The Turks have a huge breakfast (I believe the phrase on eating breakfast like a king would have been inspired from an Ottoman ruler, and passed on the proletariat through the Chesnidjibashi (royal taster of food, for taste and poison)), but if you think that it stops there you are mistaken.

Giant potatoes stuffed with goodness - A snack or a meal in itself?

Roam any of the bylanes of Istanbul as an example, the omnipresent cafes with patrons are testimony to the fact that the day has just begun. Even before we had the opportunity to peruse the menu, we found ourselves breaking the bread and sampling it with the Cacik (A yoghurt-based dip infused with herbs)

The complimentary Bread with Cacik

We sampled a vegetarian version of the Pide (another East-Meets-West dish), a cross between a Pizza and a stuffed Parantha (It was about as tasty as it sounds). 

On another occasion, we had the chance to try Mixed vegetables in a Casserole (Sounds familiar, right?). 

Where's my dish??

It turned out to be the most unique experience. The vegetables cooked with gravy were kept in an enclosed earthen pot, which is broken right before serving, and the fragrant curry just oozes out.

So, the taste of the clay becomes more and more pronounced as you go further into the dish like the Christoffel Bier, which gets more and more bitter as you get into the drink, but that is for another day 😉 Of course, if you cannot decide what to eat and want to go for a melange of tastes, go for the Mezze platter and wash it down with the homemade Limonita (Lemonade) or Ayran (A yum sour drink)

The ubiquitous Mezze Platter

No restaurant gets it wrong in Turkey, believe me! From the hummus, to the Muhammara, to the Ezme, or the Babaganoush, if you like the cuisine you will love it. There are a lot of innovative cooking methods like food cooked in salt which is baked to form an outer layer. It is fascinating to see how the dish unlayers itself! If you do not like the cuisine, you will still love it, especially with the complimentary tea/ coffee which follows a meal.

Life is Full of Difficult Decisions

We had kept a list of Italian/ Indian options in Turkey as we felt we would need that for variety, you know, with us being vegetarians, there was only that much before it got boring and repetitive. On our second day in Istanbul, after eating to our heart’s content, we tore that list. It was a decision we would never regret as we walked down the road to Hafiz Mustafa 1864 for a sweet ending.