Istanbul invites me to lunch and dinner every day and I can not say NO Thanks:)

A while ago, I decided that food was not going to be important part of my life. So, I stopped cooking. Tanju did not take it seriously at first; He thought, I bet, this phase will pass too, just like drinking wheat grass and eating tofu or doing yoga 3 hours a day. I have not cooked anything in the last 3 months. Those of you wondering what we eat, Tanju eats frozen food mostly from the brand called "Lean Cuisine". They are not bad at all. I eat whatever I find around some fruit, apple sauce or at  Tanju's recommendation I eat Lean Cuisine as well. Lean Cuisine is made by Nestlé which also makes Beneful that Rusty eats. So Tanju and Rusty are both being fed by Nestlé.

When I left Istanbul in 1976, eating out meant going to kebab houses or rarely going to a fish restaurant so my parents could drink rakı and socialize with their friends. Those were not that much fun for me and my brother. We would fall a sleep on our chairs. There were also restaurants for lunch only, frequented by the area merchants and businessmen.  I remember going to one of those in Beyoğlu with my father. Chef was a big guy hold a large spoon (I had never seen such large spoon before) standing behind the casserole trays he cooked that morning. It was noisy and crowded. There were only men dressed in ties and suits. Chef handled the large pieces of lamb with his hand to split into exact portions for the patrons. It is a view that I will never forget. I am not sure I ate anything, I was very intimidated.

Well, in Istanbul I am making up for the last 3 months and also for my childhood. I am experiencing a culinary feast in Istanbul. You all know by now that I spend most of my time meeting friends and having many cups of tea and coffee with delicious pastries. Bakeries are very good and readily available almost every corner on every street. Even the chains like Coffee House does a great job. One day Ayşegül and I had pastry filled with leeks and goat cheese and seared on a pan. It was yummy. Later that week I had that infamous expensive lunch in Nişantaşı. My friends and I justified the price by saying "it tasted very good, you could actually taste each piece of fish":)
When I went to Kadıköy to visit Sevil and Şükran, I had home cooked meal by Sevil, with red lentil soup hot red pepper and butter sauce on top followed by stuffed mushrooms and chicken börek finally so sweet pumpkin desert topped with crushed walnuts. The other night, I was invited to dinner by my friend Zuhal. She is a very gracious host. The dinner was home cooking at its best. I have not had just great rice pilav with herbs for a long time. Ellerinize sağlık arkadaşlarım!

The latest trend in Istanbul is esnaf(merchant) restaurants. Those are where area merchant went to eat lunch in olden days. One can find it anywhere these days, does not have to be business area. They offer traditional dishes with a twist like pesto sauce etc. It is hard to mess up home cooking. One needs good ingredients to get the results.

One really stood out was called Subaşı in Grand Bazaar. This one is an authentic merchant restaurant the way my father visited. There is no menu, you can look and point out the dish you would like to have. I had Sebze Türlü (slow stewed mixed vegetables with rice and Manda yogurt. The other one I really enjoyed called Kantin in Nisantaşı. It is in an apartment building, menu is written on a black board. It is simple yet each dish sounds so very appetizing.   Afiyet olsun Istanbul.