Like any good city, Istanbul has plenty of great street eats. Like any good food lover we tried to sample as many as we could! This is all we could manage:
Lahmacun – Also known as the “Turkish pizza”. This delicious treat is thinly rolled out dough topped with tomato paste, ground meat (usually lamb) and sweet peppers. Once pulled from the wood burning oven it is topped with a squeeze of fresh lemon juice, a little bit of cilantro and some onion slices. I LOVED THIS! I couldn’t get enough and almost didn’t have room for other street eats.
Durum – Also known as a Turkish burrito, this delicious flatbread (lavas) is wrapped around your choice of chicken, lamb or beef which has been freshly bbq’d over red hot coals. It’s a quick eat you can grab and eat on the go. Durumzade is worth tracking down as they have superior durum.
Doner – This is what we would call a gyro at home. Meat is sliced from a giant vertical rotisserie, placed inside lavas, and topped with tomatoes and cucumbers.
Simit – Little carts all over the streets of Istanbul sell these little pastries which resemble a bagel. It’s what you would expect from an untoasted bagel sans cream cheese, peanut butter, or jelly.
Midye Dolma – These stuffed mussels are sold on the street from large round containers. You pay for what you eat once you have chowed. The mussels are mixed with rice and some other spices that I didn’t find to my liking, but worth a try.
Kokorec – If you see a horizontal rotisserie in Istanbul, this typically means the meat is sheep intestine. This is sliced much like a doner and then stuffed inside bread. A common streat eat after you leave the bars late at night.
Kumpir – By far my favorite post bar snack. Little shops all over Istanbul have somewhere between 30 and 50 ingredients you can choose from to top your baked potato. Why don’t we have these here?
Tavuk Pilav – Little carts line the streets at night selling chicken & rice. Just chicken and rice which are perfectly seasoned and a warm treat on a cold night. You can also find this simple but satisfying dish in cafes around Istanbul.
Wet Hamburger – We didn’t try this, we just couldn’t do it. These litereally look like a sopping wet hamburger and just didn’t hold any appeal. If you have tried these, please let us know, did it taste just like a hamburger in a soggy bun?
