Culinary Experiences Istanbul
Duration You can book this tour for a full day or half day.
As well as offering the best of Istanbul's tastes and delicacies, this tour will take you on an impressive tour of the city's surroundings, telling you some of the stories and legends that will make for a truly unforgettable day.
The Tour Options
1. Flavours of the backstreets
Options: Su boregi, Kol boregi aubergine kebab, cag kebab, tantuni, shobiyet, baklava, lahmacun, kokorech, pickles (and great veggie options for vegans and vegetarians), ocra soup, siveydiz or stinging nettle soup depending on the season, Konya Mevlana Pidesi, Turkish coffee, Turkish black tea, premium Turkish delight and more. (Please note that not all are included, some of the listed courses are optional)
2. 18 course tasting menu including some selected delicacies and courses from the background below entitled, Notes on the Origins of Turkish Gastronomy and Culinary Experience in Istanbul.
3. A tasting menu of Ottoman Palace cuisine.
The first option above is a 6 hour tour. The others are 2-3 hour experiences.
Sampling options include Suboregi, Baklava, Sobiyet, Cag kebab, Eggplant kebab, Saksuka, Swiss chard with almonds, Humus, Semsekli pide, Mini Lahmacun of Gaziantep, Infidel's Mountain Salad, Sogan kebab (18 course impressive tasting menu also available).
This culinary experience is definitely a great way to explore the multi-cultural assets of Istanbul. Istanbul, as the capital of the Roman, Byzantine and Ottoman Empires, inherits and shares an unprecedented multi-culturally segmented culinary experience. Your introduction to Turkish, Ottoman, Mediterranean, Anatolian and Eastern Turkish cuisine. Some great delicacies indigenous to this part of the world according to your choice (kibbe - icli kofte, infidel's mountain salad, shobiyet, baklava, kunefe, burma kadayif) will also be included.
This tour also crosses over to Asian Istanbul in search of some special tastes. The meals and delicacies come with some stories, legends and background. A cultural experience. The best baklava of your life and a great kebab is the oath of the tour. Perfect veggie specials are also available for our vegan or vegetarian guests. Turkish cuisine excels in vegetables cooked in olive oil, with the addition of sauces making them even more delicious.
The tour also passes through neighbourhoods not covered by mainstream tours, adding more Istanbul sightseeing to the tour while enjoying an authentic gastronomic experience.
Notes on Turkish Cuisine and Culinary Experience in Istanbul
Ottoman Empire Imperial cuisine 15th to 19th centuries through various sources originating from the palace made it to our day and it is served in some fine-dining restaurants, one of which is just listed by Michelin this year, in 2022.
The palace cuisine is famous for combining dried fruits and nuts with beef or lamb cooked together in broth. There are also some great options for vegetarians, as described below.
The Mediterranean cuisine is perfectly suited to a vegetarian or vegan diet. Centuries-old traditional herb and vegetable dishes cooked in olive oil, preferably with freshly baked flatbreads called pide, tırnaklı or lavaş, sprinkled with sesame and or nigella seeds, and the steam that carries the delicious aroma is an experience not to be missed.
Humus, fried aubergines in tomato or yoghurt sauce, chard with almonds cooked medium rare in olive oil, purslane with thick homemade yoghurt, spiced rice wrapped in grape leaves with currants and sour cherries in one version (pine nuts in the original recipe) are among the delicate options you will try. Homemade yoghurt, used as a sauce with or without garlic in some of these vegetable dishes, is a far cry from the industrial yoghurt of the western world and makes a huge difference to the taste, especially if it is made from ox or goat milk.
Muhammara - Walnut, pepper paste, dried and ground bread, herbs and olive oil.
Hibesh - Crushed chickpeas seasoned with cumin, garlic, tahini, chilli and lemon juice.
Vişneli Yaprak Sarma - Stuffed grape leaves with sour cherries, rice and spices.
Babbaganush - Baked and peeled eggplant and green pepper with garlic and yoghurt
The island of Crete is part of the Mediterranean cuisine and as well as being a Greek island, it is also a former Ottoman island. In fact, after the First World War, during the population exchange between Greece and Turkey, some of the islanders had to emigrate to Turkey, which explains the Cretan origin or the name of the restaurant called "Giritli" in a number of coastal towns in Turkey, which immediately raises the expectation of carefully cooked seafood or herbs, weeds, vegetables.
The inhabitants of the Black Sea region and the Turkish interior also have their great recipes, but the following background emphasises the Aegean and Mediterranean origins, which may give a clue as to why in Istanbul, or along the Aegean or Mediterranean coasts, there are exceptionally successful, truly delicious vegetable dishes:
On the island of Crete, a natural member of the Mediterranean cuisine, as well as along the Aegean coast, it is a well-known fact that they said they could eat almost any vegetable, herb or weed that a goat could eat. They loved their vegetables, herbs and weeds so much. They could sauté the veggie - herb rare in olive oil, add a yoghurt sauce, tomato sauce or just squeeze lemon and olive oil. The following story may serve as an example of the Mediterranean people's devotion to vegetarian cuisine: One day a boy saw a goat and a man picking herbs in their field. He walked a short distance home and asked what he should do, to which the answer was, "Son, let the goat nibble, when it feels full it will go away anyway, but just get the man out!
Baklava Some of the best baklava in the world comes from Istanbul. In the imperial cuisine of the Ottoman Empire, baklava was as important as meat and rice. Baklava is the desert of days of importance such as celebrations, important Islamic feasts, engagements. The desert to share the mood of happiness in the form of a bite. "Aşure" and akide şekeri (sweets of commitment), which we will also taste, are similar, but baklava is above all others. In the records of Matbah-ı Amire of Topkapı Palace, the ingredients of the baklava made for the palace residents include walnut, honey and sadeyağ (purified butter), while the commonly used phyllo dough is not mentioned.
Not only the best ingredients, the best pistachio, the best purified butter and a superior chef with a whole life dedicated to baklava making, but also you should serve your baklava on the same day of making, preferably within the first few hours is even more impressive taste.
