According to Forbes.com Istanbul is number 7 of the World's top 10 cities for street food.But who cares!Every mother thinks her own gosling is a swan.I love Ottoman-Turkish Cuisine with it's richness and it's number 1 for me.You will find the most popular street food of Istanbul on this article.
Since the tastes differ, you will only find the top 10 street food in Istanbul to eat on the go. If you would like to see the rest of the popular street food of Istanbul, go to best street food of Istanbul page.
So here is number 1 on our list;
1. Doner Kebap
World wide famous doner kebab is usually Chicken,lamb or beef grilled on a skewer (mostly vertically) and served in bread, pita bread or tortilla (so called lavash in Turkey).
As the German-Turks say "doner macht schoener" which means "Doner makes you nice(r)" :)
2. Simit bread
Who could resist the smell of fresh baked simit bread with some toasted sesame seeds on it? This 100 grams of round shaped child friendly bread is called "chicken with sesame" by the university students because of it's smokey taste and keeps the stomach stuffed for hours and of course it's very cheap.Best friend of simit bread is a cup of Turkish tea.
3. Balik-ekmek (fish sandwich)
If you walk anywhere close to Karakoy-Eminonu area,it's impossible to ignore the smell of grilled fish.It will pull you to the left side of Galata Bridge where you will find the cooks grilling fish on their fancy decorated boats.Give a break to your feet before you start to explore the Egyptian (spice) Bazaar and taste it.
4. Midye Dolma
It's nothing more than a mussel filled with spicy rice.The trick is to eat it after you go out of a night club in Taksim area.If you think it's late hour and you can't find anybody selling midye dolma, i would say wait until you go out. You can also buy it and eat at your hotel room with a couple of beer while watching Galatasaray football game.Yeah I'm Galatasaray fan and i hate Fenerbahce :)
5.Kumpir
Main ingredients of this ultimate sized potato are butter,salt and kashar cheese.The rest is upto your imagination and creativity.You will find 10's of different things to include to your kumpir.It's always popular to eat kumpir in Ortakoy area while watching the cruises passing by under the Bosphorus bridge.Don't blame me because of traffic if you go there on Friday or Saturday evenings.
6. Kokorec
It sure will not be everyones taste or favourite but i would say it deserves a try.It's made of sheep's intestines and dressed with a lot of chilli spices,thyme and tomato.It tastes like something between lamb chops and overcooked beef in oven.If your stomach can't handle the fat inside of kokorec,the risk of diarrhea is high.
7. Tavuk-pilav
If you are in hurry,out of budget or starving and it seems like there won't be any break soon,this simple meal will save your life.It's a combination of boiled rice and baked chicken in oven.And do not underestimate this simple meal.It's lunch of some big number of people, more than you’d imagine.It's even a perfect meal for a bodybuilder with it's 20-30 grams of protein and 60-80 grams of carbs.
But i assume you are more of a food lover than a body builder if you read this article about street food,right? :)
8. Kestane kebab
It's actually a snack rather than meal.The trick is to scratch the shell of chestnut ,not to cut and then roast on a pan.
9. Misir
There are 2 different kinds of way to cook corn on the streets of Istanbul.Boiled or grilled.It's very popular to eat it on historical part even for the locals.
10. Lokma
This traditional Ottoman Palace dessert is the only sweet of our list among all the other food like lahmacun or cig kofte (go to best street food of Istanbul page to see other street food of Istanbul) beause of it's popularity.
Lokma dessert is originaly called as Izmir (another big city on Aegean part of Turkey) lokma since it's invented there.Dough will be fried in a huge deep pan full of vegetable oil and poured into cold syrup while it's still hot.There are two variations of this sweet.Small round balls and round with hole in the middle.
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Since the tastes differ, you will only find the top 10 street food in Istanbul to eat on the go. If you would like to see the rest of the popular street food of Istanbul, go to best street food of Istanbul page.
So here is number 1 on our list;
1. Doner Kebap
World wide famous doner kebab is usually Chicken,lamb or beef grilled on a skewer (mostly vertically) and served in bread, pita bread or tortilla (so called lavash in Turkey).
As the German-Turks say "doner macht schoener" which means "Doner makes you nice(r)" :)
2. Simit bread
Who could resist the smell of fresh baked simit bread with some toasted sesame seeds on it? This 100 grams of round shaped child friendly bread is called "chicken with sesame" by the university students because of it's smokey taste and keeps the stomach stuffed for hours and of course it's very cheap.Best friend of simit bread is a cup of Turkish tea.
If you walk anywhere close to Karakoy-Eminonu area,it's impossible to ignore the smell of grilled fish.It will pull you to the left side of Galata Bridge where you will find the cooks grilling fish on their fancy decorated boats.Give a break to your feet before you start to explore the Egyptian (spice) Bazaar and taste it.
4. Midye Dolma
It's nothing more than a mussel filled with spicy rice.The trick is to eat it after you go out of a night club in Taksim area.If you think it's late hour and you can't find anybody selling midye dolma, i would say wait until you go out. You can also buy it and eat at your hotel room with a couple of beer while watching Galatasaray football game.Yeah I'm Galatasaray fan and i hate Fenerbahce :)
5.Kumpir
Main ingredients of this ultimate sized potato are butter,salt and kashar cheese.The rest is upto your imagination and creativity.You will find 10's of different things to include to your kumpir.It's always popular to eat kumpir in Ortakoy area while watching the cruises passing by under the Bosphorus bridge.Don't blame me because of traffic if you go there on Friday or Saturday evenings.
6. Kokorec
It sure will not be everyones taste or favourite but i would say it deserves a try.It's made of sheep's intestines and dressed with a lot of chilli spices,thyme and tomato.It tastes like something between lamb chops and overcooked beef in oven.If your stomach can't handle the fat inside of kokorec,the risk of diarrhea is high.
7. Tavuk-pilav
If you are in hurry,out of budget or starving and it seems like there won't be any break soon,this simple meal will save your life.It's a combination of boiled rice and baked chicken in oven.And do not underestimate this simple meal.It's lunch of some big number of people, more than you’d imagine.It's even a perfect meal for a bodybuilder with it's 20-30 grams of protein and 60-80 grams of carbs.
But i assume you are more of a food lover than a body builder if you read this article about street food,right? :)
8. Kestane kebab
It's actually a snack rather than meal.The trick is to scratch the shell of chestnut ,not to cut and then roast on a pan.
9. Misir
There are 2 different kinds of way to cook corn on the streets of Istanbul.Boiled or grilled.It's very popular to eat it on historical part even for the locals.
10. Lokma
This traditional Ottoman Palace dessert is the only sweet of our list among all the other food like lahmacun or cig kofte (go to best street food of Istanbul page to see other street food of Istanbul) beause of it's popularity.
Lokma dessert is originaly called as Izmir (another big city on Aegean part of Turkey) lokma since it's invented there.Dough will be fried in a huge deep pan full of vegetable oil and poured into cold syrup while it's still hot.There are two variations of this sweet.Small round balls and round with hole in the middle.
Look at the size of that meat on the first photo!What's the best place to eat it?
ReplyDeleteMerhaba,
DeleteThank you very much for commenting.
Actually i can not tell you the best since the tastes differ.Some restaurants use lamb to prepare doner while the others use beef.Most preferred doner is 80% beef %20 lamb (fatty lamb meat tastes better) mixed ones.
If you are somewhere around Istiklal Street at Taksim,you will find many restaurants with good doner.If you need a specific name,you can find KONAK next to Galatasaray High School.They offer big portions with local prices.
I personally tasted many Restaurants around Sultanahmet and could notfind any good taste doner.They are mostly very touristic in my humble opinion.
But there are nice kebab restaurants around old city such as Hamdi or Buhara.
Regards.