Istanbul - The Foods!

In Istanbul, we don't have to worry much. Abundance of halal food.

We were staying at the Hotel Peninsula at the Sultanahmet area. The hotel we were staying in was very nice, comfy, and the staffs there are very friendly and helpful. It was a good stay and I would not hesitate to stay there again.

Every morning for breakfast at the hotel we were served with this :

The breakfast is the same every morning, basic fare with fresh fruits, jams, juices and hot drinks. I like tomatoes enough, but over there, the tomatoes was incredibly juicy and succulent that I have to have it every day. The other thing I love is the yogurt eaten with the rose syrup that have little bit of petals in it ( pic : top right ). I love it so so much. I could have the yogurt and with various thing put in it day by day. It just settles the stomach you know.

During the first day, when we were walking around, we walked past the shops that have these such sumptuous delights:

and these: (which I unfortunately do not have the time nor perut to eat )

and more of these:

We bought some, but not from this shop.

On the first day for lunch, I was tired and hungry and cold so I ordered a Turkish coffee and my husband the orange juice:

The Turkish coffee tasted a little chocolatey. The orange juice, well is a juice. 

I was also a bit irritated and just pick anything that is easy which turns out as a good choice. It was quite good.

In the menu it looks quite small. But when I got it, it was huge.

My husband kebab and fries is quite nice too. For dinner that day, we opted for a light fare as the lunch we had above was quite late. I think we had lunch at almost 4 pm.

I can't remembered what it is called, but it is kinda like murtabak Johor/Singapore (wherever suits you ), but lagi nipis. The tea that I ordered is the traditional Turkish tea. I didn't ordered it again because the tea I drank adalah sangat pekat. I sangat takut jika tidak boleh berak nanti. Tak best travel and you sembelit ok :D . 

During this dinner which we had at the Arasta Bazaar, there was a dance performance, which is the Sufi dance/whirl ( I think ). Luckily we sat right in front of the dancer ( or whirler more like it)

Looking at it too long can make you dizzy. 

It was interesting to see his feet. Kinda like watching a ballerina feet when they twirl, and that is kinda like how they do it. When he was whirling he closes his eyes, so I guess it lessen the dizziness perhaps. There was no other moves. For 5 or 10 mins, he whirls and whirls and whirls in the same spot. I guess it is kinda trancing, both for the them and the audience. 

After a walk around town after dinner, we stopped by for this drink. I mistakenly thought it as coffee at first and when the seller mentioned its as not. It was.... something else more like it. It is kinda like condensed milk and vanilla. At the top is shaven cinnamon. It was piping hot and a very sluggish feeling liquid (which is why susu pekat comes to mind. Incredibly sweet too, but not susu pekat sweetness). Nighttime in Istanbul is quite cold, so the drink does have its merit. It is meant to be drink when the night is cold and the drink is piping hot. Otherwise I would imagine it as undrinkable. 

For lunch the next day, we didn't have any because we are too busy traipsing through all those historic places. Instead we settle only for the pretzel like bagel ( I think it is called Turkish Pretzel ) and the cinnamon filled bread.  This is sold at the carts situated everywhere there.

I like the pretzel and my husband like the cinnamon once.

The pretzel is very chewy but I love hard and chewy bread while the cinnamon one is quite crumbly, tasted a bit like cake, but not at all sweet. There is nothing like it in Malaysia I could compare it with.

Then I also had the most liat aiskrim ever. The Turkish Ice Cream.

Also the most expensive ice cream ever paid. This ice cream lagi mahal dari gelato yang mahal dekat Trevi Fountain, Rome okeh. Mencik.

I don't quite like the taste. I am not a big fan of ice cream and this one, is very filling and like I said kinda like chewy. Not a fan of the Turkish Ice Cream. Tapi kenapa the one at the Bukit Bintang Plaza lain dan sedap? Perhaps yang di BB Plaza sudah ditukar taste untuk catered for Malaysian crowds kut.

Tada! The dinner.

The above is a good dining experience. It is one of the traditional Turkish food. I think it may have the a little bit of Greek influence in it. The left pic, is my food which was couscous with mushroom and carrots and kebab beef meat. The couscous was incredibly awesome and the meat is niceee. The mushroom and carrots is ok enough. The right one was my husband where he ordered the rice. Their rice is something like pulut, which I don't like so I never ordered there. The lauk is chicken kebab and the grilled eggplants and tomatoes I think. The grilled eggplants was very good. Love it. 

The last days, there was a lot of things consumed. Like:

The bread we bought from the usual carts. This one is not so nice. But we were hungry after our cruise, so we finished it. I think. It tasted more like crumbly cookies. We had a hard time finishing it. The filling is cinnamon, but not like filling, more like bake along with cinnamon mixed together I believed. But hey, tidak cuba tidak tahu ape yang kite suka and tidak right. 

We also finished the baklava we bought at the shop during our first or second night there. It was AWESOME. It have just the right amount of sweetness and rempah to not let it be overbearing to your tastebud. Aku boleh guling-guling bile teringat the taste. We finished two before I remembered to take a pic. It is a small delicacies, but I believe it is not meant to be eaten in large amounts. The sweetness remembered. Maybe that is why their tea is so pekat. 

We also tried out this. Kinda like glazed donuts, but pretzel like! Kinda crispy in a nice kinda way. It is very nice, not recommended for everyday gluttony though. Boleh diabetic.

This is our lunch for that day. Very late lunch I'll say. Shared the kebab and drink. The drink is pomegranate juice. Sangat masam. Pelik pulak husband yang tak suke masam would like this drink. These juices is awesome and is a must have however, so we have to try it. 

This is our dinner that last night. The top is my kebab with fries. I ordered the extra yogurt with spinach to be eaten with bread, but I rolled all of my dish together. Lagi cepat habis. The bottom is my husband kebab which was Iskandar Kebab with yogurt. It was quite nice.

So that's that on our food adventure in Istanbul. We were more adventurous here because we can. So in our next destination you'll see the same food, kinda. But hey, I'll still blog it. Because I can.