Fish, Spices Delightful in Istanbul, Especially Where the Locals Go

You’re stepping off the Orient Express here, just the way you dreamed you would do one day. Just the way, in fact, Agatha Christie and Winston Churchill did. Your baggage is whisked into a cab (usually not of your choosing) and you’re off to one of the few international hotels where most foreigners generally light. But that’s not where dining is best.

The best dining in Istanbul is where the natives go. I’m talking about the handful or so fine modern-day restaurants, catering to the fun and food-loving social elite.

I’m also talking about the numerous small, out-of-town, inexpensive fish restaurants where the food is great and the fish is so fresh it fairly swims onto your plate. You’ll also find at these humble places the same artistocratic crowd, draped in Russian furs and the latest suedes from Milan. They, as we, seem to be caught up in fickle food madness, hopping from one latest restaurant to another.

Dining in Istanbul often is picturesque because so much of it is done outdoors or overlooking the incredibly beautiful waters and skyline.

Istanbul straddles two continents--Asia and Europe--separated by a narrow straight called the Bosporus, which empties at one end into the Black Sea and the Sea of Marmara via the Golden Horn.

Blue and Gold

In a way the city reminds you of a languishing female stretched out on a divan by a stream. It’s very much a feminine city, with its graceful, ancient domed and minaretted skyline winding its way around the azure blue Golden Horn and Bosporus.

Even in Turkey one can taste the affects of modern Western affluence and influence . Nouvelle cuisine, for instance, has made inroads at the Samdans, (Samdans are the upscale restaurants frequented by the aristocracy), co-owner Celal Capa expresses his sensitivity to the Western influences on the Turkish dining scene.

“If you want a true Turkish meal, go to a Turkish home. What we do here is the nouvelle idea--an interpretation, really, of Turkish and Western dishes. In Istanbul the ambiance is by far more important than the meal,” Capa said.

And after an evening at the Park Samdan, a lively spot where the modern decor and colors were so avant-garde that it shocked the locals, we saw what Capa meant. The new breed social diner would rather meet than eat.

So don’t be alarmed when you try the Park Samdan, on Mim Kemal Oke Caddesi 18; the disco restaurant Samdan Etiler, at Nispetiye Caddesi 30; the summer villa restaurant called Sabanci Korusu, at Baglar Sokak 57 Yenikoy, or the Samdan Bar at Vali Konage No. 63, behind the clothing boutique.

There you will find familiar continental items such as saumon fume , carpacio, crepes, fettuccine and frog legs. Even American iceberg lettuce, now imported from the United States and something new for Turkey, appears on the menu these days as a gober salata, which, translated, means “American green.”

Somewhere on the menu at Park Samdan you’ll find Turkish dishes such as Cerkez tavugu (chicken in walnut sauce), imam bayaldi (onion-stuffed eggplant) or doner kebap (same as shwarma), yogurtlu kebap (lamb with yogurt) or sis kebap (skewered lamb), but they will have been prepared with a slightly nouvelle twist. A home cook just might balk, in fact.

But we did have a truly authentic soup made with tripe called paca corbasi , as a late night hangover cure, much like Mexican menudo, which we were surprised to find at Park Samdan.

High-Priced Meal

A full-course meal at any of the Samdans is expensive for Istanbul--about $20 per person with beverage, usually one of the Turkish red or white wines which, I must say, weren’t all that bad, if you enjoy rough and ready wines. We thought the white Kavaklidere was finer than most.

Along the same lines are the Ziya’s, restaurants owned by a former wrestler who spent some time in New York as a maitre d’ before returning to his native Istanbul, where he opened two of the latest hot spots where the local aristocracy love to be seen.

I like the bar upstairs better than the restaurant downstairs at the Ziya at Mustafa Kemal Oke Cadessi 21. But it is certainly one of the places to keep in mind if you are in Istanbul for several days.

Another not-to-miss upscale spot claiming Turko-Franco cuisine is Divan restaurant in the Divan Hotel on Cumhuriyet Caddesi 2. We had an outstanding meal along with a trio ensemble doing a fairly good job with Strauss waltzes.

I shall go back for two things: the dried caviar that is much like beef jerky--chewy, dry and flavorfully salty, which I have yet to find in Los Angeles--and lamb stew over pureed eggplant, which I shall never forget. Both extraordinary.

At the Divan pub downstairs, a sort of cafe where the white-collar locals stop for quick lunch, there is doner kebab that matches the best, the locals tell us. Doner kebab, vertically barbecued lamb on a spit, is said to have been invented by the Turks.

A lunch of doner kebab is generally eaten with a salad, French fries and beer. Bits of lamb or beef remaining on the spit are repacked as a loaf to roast, much like the Middle Eastern shwarma or its close cousin, the Greek gyro.

Simple Dish

I’ve also had the meat on a pita spread with yogurt in a dish called Iskender kebabi , which I rather liked and have already duplicated at home. All you do is layer thinly sliced shwarma or roast beef over pita bread spread with seasoned yogurt. Drizzle with butter melted and browned. This dish is eaten with a knife and fork.

You will probably be urged by the locals to try Revan, the rooftop restaurant at the Istanbul-Sheraton Hotel and Tower at Taksim Park, which overlooks the Bosporus. The restaurant, a pink tent in silk, has been decorated to resemble the exquisite domed salon at the Dolmabache Palace, where sultans held forth until this century. A gurgling marble fountain, cut crystal chandelier and mirrored mosaic tiles also are replicas found in the palace.

Attempts also were made to duplicate the service and cuisine of the opulent Ottoman past. Research, we are informed on the menu, was exhaustive. Ottoman banquets may contain 25 to 100 dishes and Revan does its best to approach 25. If not 25 courses, there will certainly be far more courses than you can possibly eat comfortably, including a few things not on the menu, which the chef thinks you should try.

The dips, taramosalata (made with caviar), hummus (garbanzo beans) and cacik (sliced cucumber and yogurt) were among the starters. You don’t want to miss any of the borek (meat, chicken, cheese, vegetable or rice-filled filo pastries), in which the Turks excel.

Borek and baklava, probably a Byzantine invention, is sold by street vendors throughout Istanbul. It also enjoys an honored place as a staple of a banquet menu, because it is made easily by the dozens, even hundreds, has a safe and long shelf life and can be eaten out of hand.

The asure , the traditional dessert eaten as a fasting day dish, was the best tasted so far. The dish is a wheat pudding chockful of garbanzo beans, walnuts, dried fruit and nuts.

Turkish Tradition

Revan is worth at least one meal in Istanbul, if only for the covered plate service, the color and festivity of it all--and the marvelous view that sweeps across to the Golden Horn.

Among the inexpensive but very good fish places you’ll want to try, especially if you like fish done to perfection, is the Balikcilar Lokantasi in a small village outside of Istanbul. It’s a 35-minute drive at best, but it will be worth it. Try a Sunday evening when families and friends gather for their Sunday meal if you want to take in the color of life in Turkey, as well. Taxi drivers know it well.

And do order freely from the fresh fish tanks. The fish is cheap and terrific. I had some of the best lobster and shrimp--more of it than I could possibly eat--for a few dollars.

The lobster arrived chilled as a salad with tomatoes and cucumbers with a mustardy oil and lemon juice dressing on the side. A salt-cured tuna called lekarda was served as an open-face appetizer on toast. Mullet (marmara) and silver fish were fried. Bonito (palamut) and prawns were grilled and served with lemon.

Turkish bread is one of the best in the world and at fish restaurants it is served toasted, probably to make sopping up juices more practical.

There was even a terrific dessert of poached quince stuffed with candied pear and topped with kaymak (a cream similar to Devonshire cream). Heaven.

We had a similar seafood meal at Urcan Balik Lokantasi in Sariyer, one of the last village stops along the sea, where the Bosporus empties into the Black Sea.

Lamb Specialty

There are several lamb restaurants and one of the best is Beyti Orman S., No. 33 Florya, also a bit of a drive outside Istanbul. All taxi drivers know about Beyti. In fact they are usually well versed about restaurants throughout Istanbul and environs. Taxi prices are low and government-regulated.

Beyti offers the familiar lamb dishes done to perfection-- doner kebap, sis kebap, huynkar kebasb (lamb with mashed eggplant) and kuzu guveci, pieces of lamb with pepper, tomatoes, potatoes all cooked in an earthenware pot. You can’t go wrong.

For the pleasure of it, try Yesil Ev restaurant in the Yesil Ev hotel, which is part of a group of buildings dating back 100 years, under restoration by the Touring and Automobile Club of Turkey. The hotel itself, between the Blue Mosque and Saint Sophia, was an old Turkish mansion and contains a garden, a pool of porphyry marble and summerhouse where teas and snacks are also served.

Its garden and summerhouse were enchanting places for lunch and the food was surprisingly good. Rooms, if you would like to lodge there, also are available. We had a wonderful salad of green beans, a meatball dish with salad and quince dessert for less than $5.

Another must is the Abdullah, outside of Istanbul at Koru Cadessi No. 2 in Emirgan, a lovely 35-minute drive through the countryside. It was at Abdullah, in the past visited by kings and queens, where we were served at least 20 appetizers by a chef inspired by our oohs and aahs. He did not stop until we fell over our chairs with gastronomic fatigue.

It was all wonderful and we’d do it again, particularly for the fried eggplant with yogurt and the glorious imam bayidi , which, literally, means fainting priest. An imam allegedly fainted away while dining on eggplant stuffed with onions and tomato when his wife admitted that she broke the family bank, or some other such tale.

Turkish cuisine abounds in legends as only a place that has weathered so many centuries can do.