Eating and drinking on the way

If you are tired of shopping and wandering around and get suddenly hungry you will ask yourself: "What and where shall we eat?" I'd like to give you some general hints regarding food to make your decision easier.

Breakfast

The Turkish breakfast (Kahvalti) usually consists of bread, pita, jam, honey, butter, feta, olives and tomatoes. Sometimes (if you order it) there are also eggs and omelet. For breakfast you drink black tea or coffee which mostly is "Nescafe"!

Snacks

In contrary to the food we are used to (McDonalds, Pizza-, Kebab- and French Fries-shops) there are other possibilities of eating on your way. The first thing I'd like to mention is the "Sandavic". You can get it at the typical "Büfe´s"! It's a sandwich with cheese, "Sucuk" (a sausage with garlic) or mixed. If it is mixed it can also be with "Salam" or "Sosis". On top of it you can have mayonnaise, ketchup, tomatoes and gherkin. You could call this "monster" Turkish Whopper.
Well known is the sesame cringle, called "Simit" or "Gevrek". You can get it on the street or at the "Fırıncı", the "baker!
Mussles (Midye), which you can usually buy on the street, should up to my opinion be taken with a pinch of salt. They are sold "pure" with lemon or filled with rice. They way they are prepared is not always the same. You could also have some sand between the rice filling. I personal do not eat it but there is also a way of preparation I like them very much. It is called "Midye tava" (mussle pan). They are turned around in flour and deep-fried. They are put into a half or a quarter of (Turkish) bread and sold.
Kokoreç is something very "special"! It nearly looks like horizontal döner kebab but is the bowel of a lamb. The bowel is (hopefully) good washed, wrapped around a spit and good grilled. I would not buy this from street sales. Here, too, I must confess that I do not eat it!
Gözleme looks like a pizza dough, pita or "yufka". You can get it pure or filled e.g. with feta, minced meat and potatoes. You won't get it often in cities but everywhere on the countryside. My advice: Really really good!
I need not tell much regarding kebab, need I? Just eat it on your way or while sitting comfortable at a grill-restaurant (see lunch).

Lunch

For lunch you are spoilt for choice. As restaurants (lokanta or restoran) in overcrowded areas are very near to each other there is quite a competition. So it can happen that the guys fall on your nerves just to get a guest's attention. Dont't let yourself being talked into a restaurant if you feel that it might be the wrong decision. Well, it depends on what you would like to eat.
In principle on the one hand you have the possibility of eating at a kebab or izgara salonu (grill restaurant) where you can get different grill meals like döner-kebab, adana-kebab (the longish, hot kebab-variety), iskender-kebab (picture), döner on pita with rice or bulgur with yoghurt and a bit oil on it. Of course you can also get it as a mixed variety (karisik)! That's often my choice. Did you know that a certain cook from Bursa, called Iskender, invented döner kebab about 30 years ago?
On the other hand you have the possibility of eating at a "wet-restaurant" (that's the name I gave it). You can get a lot of "wet food" there like soups and casseroles like at home when mama's cooking. What I did not mention is the well-known "kuru fasulye" (soup of white beans). It's some kind of national dish. This plain fare is usually served with rice or as a side dish. Of course there is always bread on the table.
Another possibility is the "pide salonu"! First I'd like to mention that there are two different kinds of pide. One is the pide you get at the pide-salonu the other is plain pita like you can get it in Germany. At the pide-salonu you usually get pides and lahmacuns! Pide looks like small boats, with minced meat, feta, egg, sucuk or mixed ingredients on it. Lahmacun is well known: Turkish pizza. I like this, too!
Still another possibility is the "Corbaci" (soups): It's very popular early in the morning, e.g. after a night full of party! But I also want to say that it might not be favored by everybody. Here you can get the famous "Iskembe corbasi" (rumina soup) but also other kinds of soups like "mercimek corbasi" (lentil soup)

Dessert

If you like sweets it's your "duty" to go to a "pastane"! The Turkish people love sweets. Milk pudding and pastries are eaten at nearly every time of the day. The selection is very big. I should mention the famous "Baklava", a invention of the former palace cook. It is very thin dough with nuts (in several layers) and covered with syrup. Other sweets: Kadaıf, Hanım göbeği, Şekerpare, Revani, Keşkül, Ispangile, Sütlaç, Tulumba, Aşüre, Kazandibi and many many more. There is some other special thing: Turkish ice cream. The outstanding attribute is its very tough consistence which comes from the "mastika".

Drinks
See “Türkische Küche”.

Other
Up to the season there are often sold boiled or grilled corncobs on the street. In winter time you can also get boiled or grilled chestnuts on the streets.

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