Saturday 17 September 2022 • Promotional Content A taste of Turkey


From cosmopolitan Istanbul to rural Anatolia, Turkish cuisine is fresh, seasonal and abundant. Food writer Ghillie Başan shares some of the highlights


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sk a Turkish person about their favourite dishes, and they’ll chat animatedly for hours on end, describing


flavour-packed crunchy salads scented with fresh herbs; gloriously garlicky yogurt dips; vegetables stuffed with aromatic minced lamb and pine nuts; meat balls and kebabs; breads and savoury pastries; and sumptuous milk puddings and pastries packed with irresistible ingredients. Hungry yet? Indeed, wherever you go in Turkey,


there’s always something delicious to eat. Whether you’re in Istanbul, in a small village in Anatolia, on the slopes above Bursa or in a tourist resort in the Mediterranean, the aroma of grilling, baking and spices fills the air. You can try Ottoman puddings in Istanbul, apricots stuffed with rice in Cappadocia, anchovy pilaf on the Black Sea coast, fiery kebabs served on a sword in Adana, and honey in Kars, Eastern Anatolia. Every town and city has a market


where you’ll find a wealth of fresh, seasonal produce, such as olives and pickles, juicy figs, ruby-red pomegranates, ripe melons, strings of dried red chillies and leafy herbs. Te beauty of Turkish food is that it’s seasonal and abundant. Traditional recipes have been handed down from


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When it comes to breakfast, few destinations serve up delicious morning meals quite like Turkey. We travelled to a beloved culinary hotspot in the heart of Istanbul to help you get your day off to a magical start. Words: Jennifer Hattam


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n a cloistered corner of central Istanbul, two small lanes wind together, so narrow that the awnings and bay


windows of facing buildings nearly touch each other across the stone pavements. Hardly anyone uses, or even knows, the names of these lanes; instead, they’re collectively referred to as ‘Breakfast-makers’ Street’. “It’s the only place like this in


Istanbul: there are more than 20 establishments here, all serving breakfast all day,” says Cengiz Demir, manager of Çakmak Kahvaltı Salonu. Breakfast (kahvaltı) is a big deal


in Turkey, and Çakmak is where the breakfast explosion in Istanbul’s Besiktas district began. Before it opened in 2002, the only restaurant in the area serving morning meals was Pando Kaymak, a tiny shop whose late owner, Pandelli Sestakof, taught his trade to the members of the Çakmak family that worked alongside him. Hearty meals at reasonable prices


brought in students from the city’s universities, and Çakmak’s booming success attracted imitators, until Breakfast-makers’ Street became a destination dining spot for people from across Istanbul and beyond. Among the most popular dishes are


kavurmalı yumurta (eggs with braised meat) and menemen (eggs cooked with tomatoes and green peppers) — both served in the scorching-hot metal pans in which they’re cooked — as well as the classic Turkish breakfast plate, an assortment of sweet and savoury bites. Te latter is Cengiz’s pick, and he likes to keep it simple: “Cheese, tomatoes, olives, an egg on the side, maybe some honey and cream,” he says. More and more restaurants have


opened here over the past seven or eight years, with Cafe Faruk and Pisi among the other now-established favourites. Some newcomers have added chequered tablecloths, fairy lights and other decorative flourishes, or expanded their menus to include hamburgers and chocolate crepes, in attempts to distinguish themselves,


“It’s the only place like this in Istanbul:


there are more than 20 establishments here, all serving delicious


breakfast dishes all day”


The ingredient Pul biber: is a moderately hot, fruity, finely chopped dried chilli. It’s found in every kitchen and often placed on the table as a condiment for soups, köfte and kebabs.


The Turkish Cookbook, by Ghillie Başan


generation to generation and modern chefs add their own twists. To get a taste of Turkey, head to


Istanbul. People have migrated here from the far-flung corners of Anatolia (the Asian part of Turkey), Europe, the Middle East and the Black Sea countries, bringing with them their own culinary traditions and flavours. Te ‘Egyptian Bazaar’, the city’s famous spice market, is where you’ll find Jewish köfte, Arab kebabs and Lebanese kibbeh, Circassian chicken and Russian salad, sautéed liver from Albania and spicy dumplings from Mongolia. Tis unique city never fails to surprise and tantalise the taste buds (and the adventurous spirit). Here’s an edited extract from Te


Turkish Cookbook, by Ghillie Basan, published by Lorenz Books (£20) to whet your appetite even further.


Must-try dishes Kuru patlican dolmasi: just about anything that can be stuffed with aromatic rice and minced beef or lamb can become a dolma — think peppers, tomatoes, and even apples, mussels and squid. However, kuru patlican dolmasi (spicy stuffed dried aubergines) are rather exceptional.


Manti: Anatolian manti dumplings are stuffed noodle dough that’s been boiled or baked. Spicy, meat-filled manti are best served with garlic yoghurt and topped with melted butter, pul biber, and dried mint.


Tavuk gögsu kazandibi: for a surprising dessert, try this classic Ottoman milk pudding, prepared with very fine threads of burnt chicken breast (it’s used for texture rather than flavour).


First published in the November 2021 issue of National Geographic Traveller (UK). Read the feature in full at nationalgeographic.co.uk/travel


Te Travel Guide 5


Ubiquitous chilli-based condiment pul biber


but the classic Turkish breakfast dishes remain the lanes’ raison d’être. Tis type of clustering harks back to the guild system of the Ottoman Empire, when practitioners of the same trade would be located in the same market or on the same street. Even in today’s Istanbul, there’s still a ‘music street’ lined with instrument-sellers in the Beyoslu district, and a nearby area that’s packed with purveyors of lights and lighting fixtures of all kinds.


Hungry diners comr to ‘Breakfast-makers Street’ in Besiktas, Istanbul PHOTOGRAPH: ALAMY With similar offerings all along


the street, quality of ingredients separates the outstanding spots from those that simply soak up the overspill when the weekend queues become too long. At Çakmak, the tulum peyniri (a pungent, crumbly white cheese traditionally aged in a goatskin casing) comes from the eastern province of Erzincan, 600 miles from Istanbul. Te restaurant’s honey hails from the same place, while its kasar, a mild


yellow cheese, comes from Kars, near the Turkish-Armenian border. “We buy from the same places every year, so the quality stays the same,” Cengiz says with pride. And in fast-changing Istanbul, that’s as comforting as a good breakfast.


First published in the February 2021 issue of National Geographic Traveller Food (UK). Read the feature in full at nationalgeographic.co.uk/travel


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