The Street Food Experience in The Istanbulian Alleys

Street food refers to joy, excitement, and a cultural trip involving many tasty flavors and uncountable calories. While we're talking about street food, we must pass by the Turkish popular food culture, that world widely famous for being such a mouthwatering, delicious experience to explore; you'll be able to come across it while exploring the narrow Turkish alleys, So we guarantee that you'll return to Turkey at least twice a year to have Kebab, Cig kofte, or maybe a massive sandwich of spicy Kokorec.


Here's our recommendation of top dishes of popular Turkish street food:

1- Çiğ köfte:
The Çiğ köfte is not simple street food; it's a historical dish formerly known as an affordable meal during the Ottoman Empire era; that consists of raw meat, bulgur, tomato paste, chopped onion, pepper, ground walnut, and too many hotty spices. However, lately, the vegetarian phenomenon worldwide has spread, so raw meat was removed from the plate meanwhile became way cheaper.
How to eat it and where to eat it?
HOW? The most delicious way to eat it is by rolling it like a sandwich with Turkish bread (Lavaş Ekmek); add lettuce leaves, cucumber pickles, pomegranate molasses, tomato slices, and a squeeze of lemon juice
WHERE? While the Çiğköfte is very famous street food, you'll find a Çiğköfte restaurant in each Istanbulian corner and alley. Still, here is our suggestion for you: Çiğköfteci Ali Usta is the best option we can offer you, located in Istanbul, specifically in Eminioun. Ali Usta himself is a very generous guy who adores performing the ottoman style of hospitality; however, a piece of advice: Cover your face, cus actually, Ali Usta is a man full of enthusiasm.


2- Midye Dolma (stuffed mussels): 

Stuffed mussels are also a traditional dish in Turkey; The food became famously spread due to Turkey's geographical location on many water bodies and the climate that helps to provide large quantities of mussels in the waters of the gulfs, meanwhile mussel collection has become a famous profession in all Turkish cities.

Mussels cooked by steaming after cleaning and soaking in salty water for a while, after that stuffed with spiced rice, then steamed again for 3 hours.

You can find the stuffed muscle in the popular alleys of the Turkish cities; you should not eat it before lemon is squeezed on it, then eaten directly from the shell of the oyster.

 

We must warn you that this kind of street food is addictive; you can start by ordering 5 grains of Midye Dolma and end up eating an open number of delicious spicy mussels.

There is a place where all Turks agree on his love; he's the King of Mussels Midyce Ahmet. Don't be surprised if you go to Besiktas and find a long waiting line, longer than what we see at the doors of Apple stores, to buy media from Medici Ahmed anyway it deserves your time.     
 

3- Balik Ekmek (Fish Sandwish):

The grilled fish sandwich in Eminou is the experience we recommend to you the most, for two reasons; first, the sense of adventure you get eating the fresh fish in the heart of the old city of Istanbul. Secondly, the test of grilled salty fresh fish with onion and squeeze of lemon, around there're many pickles carts; actually, the glass of pickles you buy in Eminou is a lively cup of bacteria, a dose of probiotics; however, we strongly advise you to ask whether pickles are spicy or not, Turks love spicy hot foods, they're earnest about it, anyway just ask: turşu acı mı??



4- Kumpir (Grilled stuffed Potatoes):

Ortakoy is a Crowded area with street vendors selling grilled, mouthwatering Kumpir potatoes. The best part is that it's customized upon your order; the filling of your choice will remind you of the Subway orders, but instead of fresh bread, Grilled potatoes.

We recommend you to spend your whole day in Ortakoy for various reasons, first the Kumpir grilled potato stalls, secondly the historical spots, mosques around, the popular market which is known as the bazaar in Turkish, where you can get a customized souvenir from Istanbul, in addition, there is a port dedicated for Bosphorus tours Starting from Ortakoy, in fact, the area is very suitable for couples, especially in winter, the romantic photos that you take on the coast of Ortakoy are admirable, immortalized in your photo album, eventually we sharply notify you of the importance of protecting your wallet or money, because beggars are unnumbered, just be careful, and enjoy your time.



5- Kokoreç (Stuffed and grilled lamb intestines):

lamb intestines might look odd and disgusting or nasty at the beginning, but trust us, it's not, but first, let's clarify how possibly lamb intestines could be a yummy meal??

In Turkey, we admire eating lambs, not only its meat but the whole creature, in-outside, so we use the intestine in various meals, but the most popular one is the Kokoreç, which is made from lamb intestines soaked in saltwater with vinegar after it's cleaned very well, and then we stuff it with spiced meat pieces, and wrap it around a skewer of fresh lamb fat, and roast it over charcoal for a while; also we grill vegetables such as colored peppers, tomatoes, and onion, chopped to make a mouthwatering sandwich full of delicious fat and smoked vegetables. However, we strongly recommend you drink a giant cup of Ayran yogurt with the Kokoreç sandwich and then a lot of warm green tea directly in order to help you digest the enormous amount of fat in the Kokoreç sandwich.



And for the most OK place to eat Kokorich, we recommend you to go to the Anatolian section of Istanbul, to Cengelkoy municipality, where you can find the oldest branch of Midyeci Ahmet, the king of sea mussels and Kokorec in Istanbul. The restaurant is situated on the Bosphorus shore meanwhile the view is terrific, but if you want to go on the weekend, you will look for long hours; we recommend you go early.

Attention: don't dare eat a whole sandwich on an empty stomach; we warned you.

Ultimately, we must draw your stomach's attention, pardon your concerns that our company has a highly professional team, which is fully prepared to deliver its expertise in many fields; go ahead and send us an email or text us via WhatsApp, and our team will equip you with the necessary knowledge about real estate in Istanbul, whether a luxury villa by the sea, with private garage for your new Turkish car, or any other concerns about life in Turkey, Nature in Turkey, regulations, and laws of Turkey, yummy food in Istanbul,  we're here to assist you the way you deserve.