Next, we take a seat at Gurenc Konyali, a restaurant famous for its wedding soup from the city of Konya, and we sample a bowl of the rich, lemony tomato soup with dried okra and lamb.
A quick dash through a covered street and we join a few others having breakfast at long tables under the shadow of seagulls hovering for food scraps. The restaurant Sehzade Cag Kebap is the only place in town to do cag kebab correctly, according to Esin.
The buzz of the bazaar.Credit: Culinary Backstreets
The lamb is roasted over coals, then sliced and grilled, served with lavash bread and ayran, a salty yoghurt drink. There’s dessert too – crunchy kadayif dolmasi, a shredded, walnut pastry doused in sugar syrup.
We briefly stop at the family-run Meshur Cig Kofteci where chef Ali Usta is a master of raw meat kofta. The kofta we sample is made from bulghur wheat and spices, which Ali liberally douses with lemon juice.
Manning the grill.Credit: Culinary Backstreets
As if we haven’t had enough to eat, the next stop is a tiny little grocery store, where we taste Murat’s crispy grilled cheese sandwich with sausage. He’s been making these since 1990.
We have coffee, before visiting brothers Yakup and Kenan who are known for their wood-fired pide.
Yakup makes the dough each day and Kenan looks after the fire. The pides are incredibly tasty and pillowy, and I wish I had more capacity to eat it all.
As a break from eating, we explore more hans, meeting artisans such as Sabri, a master of copper who uses old school equipment to make parts for hookahs and bowls.
Tasty pastry.
We sample some chicken and rice from a street cart before venturing to the edge of the Grand Bazaar and trying some kebabs from Mustafa, the “No.1 maestro” of kokorecci-style kebabs, which are roasted and chopped and formed with pepper, tomato and thyme. They’re spicy, salty and utterly delicious.
But wait, there’s more. We join the throng inside Durumcu clamouring for durum, a spit-roasted kebab served in big rounds of bread made by master wrap-maker Raif, and liberally garnished with fresh herbs.
Finally, we sit in the shade of a mosque and eat bena, the chewy Turkish ice-cream made from salep, wild orchid root.
In a few short hours we’ve met artists and tea makers, store holders, chefs and bakers, and discovered places we’d never found if left to our own devices and maps.
THE DETAILS
TOUR
Culinary Backstreets of the Bazaar Quarter costs from $US135 ($203). See culinarybackstreets.com
STAY
The Four Seasons Hotel Istanbul at Sultanahmet is a short walk from Istanbul’s historic attractions and from the meeting point for this tour. From €750 ($1224) a night, low season. https://www.fourseasons.com/istanbul
The writer was a guest of Culinary Backstreets.
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