What makes an authentic Turkish restaurant? The kind of place you’d go and after dining there can safely say that you have had a real taste of the country and its food. Where I would go and conclude the same? Where a Turk who lived in Turkey all his life would eat and agree with us? I was thinking about it it all the two weeks I have recently spent eating in .. Thailand.
January 2013
My relationship with coffee is highly seasonal. Its heavy flavor comes counteractive to my idea of staying fresh and hydrated in summer. But as the days get colder I become manic about following up my every single meal - heavier and at times way too comforting - with a sip of dense strong coffee that gives me the feeling of content yet withdraws the need for a nap.
My regular choice is naturally Turkish coffee. I make coffee myself more often that I drink it outside. I have quickly mastered the tricky tricks of brewing it in cezve, a small copper bowl with a long handle. And after practicing daily in winter and tasting many (mostly unfortunate) cups outside - too watery, bowled and gone ashy, made with unpleasant Istanbul tap water - I can tell you a thing or too about good Turkish coffee. And if you really want to know the awful truth here it is: once you know what to do with your cezve brand of Turkish coffee you use does not matter so much. Even Mehmet Effendi works well - listen to me carefully - as long as it ultrafresh (roasted that very day and ground right before brewing).
It has been exactly two years since I came to Turkey to settle and start my Istanbul food tours and cooking classes. Of my 5 stays abroad this has already been the longest one with the deepest immersion into the local life. I have become a part of a Turkish family which gives me a whole different perspective on living in Turkey. Probably that is why - first time in 10 years of my life abroad - I find it difficult to relate to many foreigners living in Istanbul: I have come here by choice and have organized my life how I wanted it to be. Which gives me very little room for ranting about living in Turkey (besides the occasional attacks which some thought to be a joke anyway).
Warding you off any food tourists traps in Istanbul is almost my full-time job. I am telling you constantly that even it is your first time in Istanbul don’t be such a tourist. Get a clue! Read in! Ask for a local advice! But as I am back to the traveling mode myself (very real 2 week vacation after 2 years of none) I start thinking there is nothing wrong with being a tourist after all. I am going to the region completely foreign to me and I will inevitably end up at a few touristy places on my trip to Thailand. And that fact does not upset me: I am anticipating the thrill of being a tourist again.
