The Turkish cuisine – fish restaurant

A typical Turkish mean at a fish restaurant would be as follows:

Cold ”meze”
You start the meal by ordering cold starters or cold ”meze”. This might be small vegetables dishes served in small plates. The meze plates are served at middle of the table and everybody can taste a bit of everything. Order as many meze as you feel like or as many as you want to try. In many restaurants the waiters come to the table with a tray filled with meze, and you can just point out the ones that you want to order. In other restaurants the meze are found behind a glass counter, you go to the counter and find the ones you want to order.



Meze (som examples):
- ”Haydari” (garlic yoghurt with mint, similar to the greek tzaziki)
- ”Patlican salatasi” (aubergin salad, sometimes served as a puré – tastes best when slightly ”smoked”)
- ”Fava” (puré from white beans)
- ”Barbuni” (white beans in mild tomato saus)
- ”Saksuka” (pronounced ”shakshoka”, fried augbergin-dices in mild tomato saus)
- ”Rus salatasi” / ”Amerikan salatasi” (this dish is called Russian salad or American salad; contains potatoes, carrots, peas and egg in a majonaise mixture)
- ”Acili antep” (spicy mix of chopped tomatoes, onions, chili pepper, mint with olive oil)
- ”Midye dolmasi” (large Blue mussels filled with a special rice mixture)
- ”Ahtapot salatasi” (Octopus salad)

Sometimes you can start and end the meal just eating meze, and forget all about the main course and dessert. Turkish meze is typical “accessories” with the Turkish national drink “raki” (an anison spirit very similar to Ouzo), it is usual to sit and drink raki and eat meze whole evening. The restaurants which are called”meyhane” are made just for this purpose, after a while the live traditional Turkish music starts, and later on the people on the table’s starts singing along…

Drinks with the meal
Except from raki, the local beer ”Efes” is nice to drink with the meal. Most foreigners like it. White and red wines of good table wine quality are found. My favourite white wine is ”Sarafin” or the cheaper ”Cankaya”, a good red wine to my taste is ”Yakut”.

Warm meze (Pronounced "Arasidjak")
After the cold mezes it is time to eat some warm meze (can be ordered together with the cold ones at the start). Try for example ”sigara börek” (cigarette börek); a warm deep-fried roll of pastry filled with feta cheese and parsley. Or what about deep fried squid rings,”kalamari”. My absolute favourite is fried shrimps in butter and garlic (”tereyagli sarmisakli karides”), some places they also add a touch of chilli on the shrimps… yummie! Recommended!

Main course
The main course at a fish restaurant is usually fish, and there are many types depending of the day’s catch, season and supply. By the Mediterranean and Aegean sea I recommend especially a fish called ”levrek” (related to cod) or try ”cipura” (a white fish, a bit rounder shape than levrek). Have it grilled, and do not worry that it is served complete with head, skin, bones and tail; the waiters are great and speedy ”bone cleansers”, if you do not want to do it yourself. Remember to order your salad as a side order, try the”coban salatasi” (Shepherds salad). The Turks eats the fish and salad with bread at the side, but are dependant of having some potatoes, it is possible to order French fries as a side order

If you are in the Istanbul area, try a fish called ”lüfer” (or in smaller version; ”cinekop”). It almost looks like a herring, it has a very thin skin and it is incredibly juicy and delicious.

Alternative main courses might be grilled "jumbo karides" (Scampi / King prawns), some places serve lobster or languster (common spring lobster) (usually very cheap compared to Western European restaurants), and if one of you do not like sea food most fish restaurants have meat alternatives, for example ”köfte” (Turkish meatballs). However, the meat that are offered in fish restaurants are often very boring, the sea food is recommended!

Dessert
After sitting a few hours enjoying cold and warm meze, and fish with salad and bread, the time has come for the dessert. The Turks love very sweet puddings and cakes, like ”baklava”, small squares of puff pastry, drowned in sirip and sprinkled with chopped pistachio nuts. When the season is right you can find ”kabak tatlisi” (baked sweet pumpkin) or ”ayva” (quinze) served with cream and icing sugar. Many fish restaurants also serve a kind warm chocolate soufflé, very heavy but the sweet lovers love it. Personally my favourite is a plate of mixed fruits of the season after the meal; I have never tastes sweeter watermelon, peach or grapes as I have in Turkey!

Turkish coffee
End the meal with a cup of Turkish coffee in small cups. The Turks never drink coffee with the dessert, but always afterwards. The coffee might be served with a small glass of local liqueur like Mint liqueur or Bitter almond liqueur (tastes like Amaretto).



When you order Turkish coffee, say”sade” (no sugar), ”orta” (medium sweet) or ”shekerli” (sweet). The most usual to drink is the medium, “orta”. Remember not to drink the whole cup; the last ¼ of the content is fine grounded coffee. And if you think that the coffee is too foamy or granular, note that it is supposed to be like that. This is not espresso! They say that a really well made Turkish coffee should be so foamy that a camel can step on it!

Afiyet olsun!
(Bon apetite, in Turkish)