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The Food of Greece and Turkey

March 26, 2007 by Feisty Foodie 8 Comments

Hmm, looking over my pictures, I only photographed two meals in Greece.  How odd.  I guess because it was much of the same stuff, repeatedly~ kebabs, lamb, kebabs, etc.  So here’s the teaser, only one of these meals, at Smiles Restaurant somewhat near our hotel:


Lamb kebab with pita, tzatziki


Grilled octopus, with our appetizer of taramasalata in the background


Pork schnitzel

Our first meal in Turkey was soundly disappointing, but we knowingly went into a touristy place.  Ah well.


Our mezze (starter) platter – hummus-ish, horse beans, stuffed eggplant, shredded chicken salad type thing, greens, and I forget what was in the center.  We liked this compilation quite a bit actually.


LanNa’s soup


Salad


LanNa’s fish – no really, there’s a few sea bass chunks in there somewhere.  It had a LOT of bones.


Shirley’s “Turkish” dolmades (stuffed grape leaves)


My handmade pasta with lamb


Best kofte (“meatballs”) in Istanbul, according to a Turkish friend


Salad with yummy beans


Rice pilaf


Kofte!!!  Soft, delicious kofte

Worst meal overall on vacation: in Ciceki Paseji (Flower Passage, literally) in Istanbul, in the Taksim district.  We sat in this crowded hallway like place, with cats roaming up and down (they were cute, actually), and the restaurant owners would insist you look at their menu and get very aggressive.  We randomly chose a place that had people in it, because they all boasted fresh fish, but the prices were outrageous- even more outrageous was that they show you this tray of “fresh” fish (they’re all dead at that point, of course, and just lying on a tray), and when you try to order it, you find out that it’s served whole (head, tail, both on, with bones).  Call us spoiled Americans- but even so, that’s not true; I’ll eat whole fish, steamed, at home, or in restaurants even and not flinch.  Asian restaurants.  Which are much cheaper than what they wanted (it was something like 20YTL per kilo of fish, and you had to buy the whole fish, and the turbot was HUGE- 2+ kg, plus it’s so simply prepared I just didn’t feel it was worth it, and not all of us wanted fish….).


Our mezze- broccoli-ish and horse beans


another mezze- stuffed mussels.  Where are the mussels?…


Salad


LanNa’s shrimp and garlic something or other


Shirley’s kebab something or other





Why all the pictures of one dish?  Because, you see, my friends, this is me eating fried lamb brain.  I swore I’d try it since I saw it on another food blogger’s site describing Greek food, after my friends decided we were going to Greece.  I didn’t see it on any menus in Greece, so instead I tried it in Istanbul.  The verdict?  Don’t eat it with a doctor next to you telling you “Trust me, I’ve dissected enough brains, it tastes like brain.”  Seriously, though, it’s kind of mushy, with no real taste of its own.  I wouldn’t say I disliked it but I don’t see any reason to go out of my way to get it again.  Kind of like how I felt about fugu (blowfish)… people eat it just to say “I ate that.”  Though not sure about the brain, that might be a cultural thing, though it really tastes like nothing to me.


An honest-to-goodness Turkish snack: a “simit”.  Something like a pretzel, but on the inside, at this particular place, fluffy like a croissant though less buttery.  These can be found on every corner being sold from a cart, and in cafes, sometimes cut open to serve a sandwich within.  We got this one- our inaugural simit from Simit Sariya (Simit Palace), and were very pleased, but annoyed the next day when we got one from a cart to discover it was rock hard and cold, much more like a NYC street-pretzel than we’d expected.


Though I didn’t photograph the rest of our meal (very normal, dive place, no big deal, though on the Asia side of Turkey), this was the only dessert we had in Turkey.  A chocolate pudding, essentially, though the top was sprinkled with finely chopped nuts and had a layer congealed on top, the pudding itself was extremely delicious.  We concluded that anything made with milk/dairy in Turkey/Greece (or maybe all of Europe) is better because it’s richer and has no FDA to regulate the pasteurization (if any) and therefore just tastes better.

Our last meal in Turkey was in the Grand Bazaar, at Havuzlu, which is mentioned in many guidebooks and, the proprietor proudly informed us, the New York Times (I bit back telling him exactly what I thought of the NYT and their restaurant reviews).  It was a bit hard to navigate towards, and is in a strange, less traveled portion of the Bazaar, but we found it after much cursing and pushing of other tourists.


Shirley’s “steak”


Kofte – not as good as the first place

I will have more formal reviews for only two places we visited- one in Athens, and one in Istanbul… coming soon.  For now, happy eating!!!

Filed Under: Articles, Athens, Cuisine, Greece, Greek, Istanbul, Restaurants, Travels, Travels, Turkey, Turkish Tagged With: Turkey

« Athens, GR and Istanbul, TU
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Comments

  1. Swan says

    March 28, 2007 at 3:39 pm

    Half the stuff looks great… the other stuff not so much. I’m surprised there weren’t as many food pics.

    Reply
  2. Aoife says

    March 28, 2007 at 11:50 pm

    Very exciting. How is octopus? I’ve never had it. Is it like squid?

    Reply
  3. Sarah says

    March 29, 2007 at 1:29 pm

    Welcome back! Good for you for going for the lambs’ brains. I don’t think I could do it. (I bet if you want more you could track them down somewhere in Queens.)

    Reply
  4. Alma says

    April 2, 2007 at 12:55 pm

    hi there, here comes a comment from greece, athens.Saw your pictures and I definitely can tell that the places you visited in Athens were mostly touristic. it is really a pitty if you think that mediteranean cuisine is really something,especially the cretan cuisine. Next time you come try Alatsi, a cretan restaurant and there is a portal, athinorama with all restaurants in Athens, also in english try this too. The funny thing was that I recognised all these turkish meals simit is our koulouri, really delicious for breakfast with some feta cheese. Greek and turkish cuisine is so similar is really amazing.
    What a pitty that you had all these kebabs in athens, except of souvlaki greeks dont eat a lot of kebab. Anyway, I wish you next time you come you meet the real thing. so, if you celebrate easter have a nice easter with loads of lamb

    Reply
  5. Anonymous says

    April 2, 2007 at 3:52 pm

    love your food pictures, i would like to go to over to greece with a stop over istanbul sometime in oct/nov. Can you share your experiences with the traveling in between with me? how are the flights? did you book separately or a bundle kind, did you go through a travel agency or did everything on your own. I toured south american last year (brasil/argentina),i used a travel agency to get flights only. I would like to do the whole vacation on my own, no tour groups, is that what you did, if so, can you share ur experiences? email me at cliu@schlamstone.com if you feel like sharing, thanks.

    Reply
  6. Olivia Smith says

    June 21, 2010 at 10:45 pm

    I love to taste some greek foods because they are very spicy.`..

    Reply
  7. Louis Price says

    July 21, 2010 at 12:31 am

    Greek foods are like asian foods, they are both tangy and very spicy..”

    Reply
  8. Daisy Jackson says

    September 6, 2010 at 5:38 am

    Greek Foods are tasty and delicious maybe because of the spices they put in it’,:

    Reply

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