Join our mailing list!
Email :  


Posts Tagged ‘ pilav ’

Sep 18
Friday

Bus Fare: A Transit Terminal’s Food to Go

Filed under Reviews (Eats)

A chicken and rice vendor at the Yenibosna bus station, photo by Paul Osterlund

The Yenibosna bus station sits at the intersection of numerous transit routes, where passengers can embark on journeys to the furthest corners of the city as well as to its beating heart.

Close to Istanbul’s main airport, and wedged in beneath several high-rise towers that seem to have ascended from the ground overnight, the bus station sits adjacent to a major metro line and below the main E-5 highway, with the grubby, crowded neighborhood of Yenibosna to the north.

As thousands of people crisscross through the terminal daily, naturally there are a handful of places to grab a quick bite. And in keeping with the theme of transit, the top culinary delights of the drab station happen to be sold out of the back of vehicles.

Brothers Kamuran and İbo sell small plastic containers of delicious butter-laden rice topped with chicken and chickpeas directly out of a Mitsubishi minivan to hungry passengers and drivers alike. These brothers – who hail from the southern province of Adana, better known for its kebab – are seasoned veterans, as they have been making and selling rice since they were children, a profession inherited from their father. “I’ve been doing this for 13 years, and I’m 20 years old,” İbo said.

Read the rest of the review at Culinary Backstreets.

Culinary Backstreets
In case you didn’t know, Istanbul Eats now lives over at Culinary Backstreets. Same great culinary walks, same great culinary writing. You’ll be redirected there in a few seconds!

All entries filed under this archive


Meşhur Tarihi Kalkanoğlu Pilavcısı: Smell Business Owners
no responses - Posted 10.15.14
The brothers Altu and Erol Aslan, who operate the Yeni Melek corner store on Ayhan Işık Sokak in Istanbul’s Beyoglu neighborhood, have a legitimate complaint against their next-door neighbor, Tarihi Kalkanoğlu Pilavcısı. The shop – morning, noon and night – really does reek of butter. For those unfamiliar with the ...continue
Özbek Sofrası: A Higher Plov
no responses - Posted 07.11.13
In the former Soviet Central Asian republics, the boilerplate restaurant menu consists of plov, lagman, shashlik and samsa. Tired-looking Uzbek, Kyrgyz, Kazakh and Tajik establishments all serve up the same limp noodles and oily rice with a shrug – it’s their job. In the markets of Samarkand, Osh and Almaty, ...continue
Meşhur Unkapanı İMÇ Pilavcısı: The (Rice) Freaks Come Out at Night
4 responses - Posted 08.24.09
One recent late night, zipping down a busy Istanbul thoroughfare in a taxi on our way home from the airport, we passed by an intriguing scene. Huddled around a brightly lit food cart was a large group of men stuffing their faces in a kind of zombie-like frenzy. It almost ...continue

© Copyright by Istanbul Eats 2009 - 2024 Istanbul Eats | Original theme by Zidalgo.