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Posts Tagged ‘ seafood ’

Nov 01
Monday

Tarihi Karaköy Balıkçısı: Putting the “Ust” back in Usta

Filed under Reviews (Eats)


The Turkish term “usta,” which means master in the Jedi sense of the word, seems to have lost its meaning in Istanbul. Any fellow wandering the streets with a screwdriver in his pocket seems to enjoy the honorific. In the kitchen too, we’ve found, there are plenty of unchaperoned apprentices passing themselves off as the master of their domain. Thankfully, this is not the case at Tarihi Karaköy Balıkçısı (from here on out, T.K.B.)

A reliable supply of spanking-fresh fish helps, but we’ve come to appreciate the man at the helm, Muharrem Usta, as the main source of inspiration in this place. In nearly a decade of eating at this humble, laughably cramped restaurant nothing has ever been short of excellent. Incredibly, from the perfectly folded and skewered filets of sole to the way they peel the skin from the tomatoes in the salad, nothing has ever changed. The fingerprint of a real usta is in the details and it is what we come to expect at great restaurants. Continue…

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All entries filed under this archive


Hamsi: The Little Fish that Could
4 responses - Posted 10.04.10
The chill of fall is in the air in Istanbul, which also means that good stuff is happening in the waters near the city. More specifically, it means that hamsi season is about to kick off in the chilly Black Sea. Hamsi, of course, are the minuscule fish (Black Sea ...continue
İnciraltı: Meyhane Time Machine
1 response - Posted 08.30.10
We like to think of İnciraltı, a laid-back meyhane in the sleepy Bosphorus-side Beylerbeyi neighborhood, as a destination restaurant – not so much because of the food, but because of the destination itself. Not that there’s anything wrong with the food here, which is reliably well made. The meze tray at ...continue
Fish: Mmmm…Meze!
8 responses - Posted 07.09.10
“D’oh!” we said with a wince when we spotted the Ferrari parked in front of Fish, the restaurant we were heading to for dinner. It may have been the lucky day for the valet parkers who crowded around snapping pictures with their cell phones, but for us it meant certain ...continue
Istanbul Eats on the Road: Bahce Balik in Kaş
1 response - Posted 06.11.10
The sign on the glass cooler at the Kaş Fisherman’s Cooperative reads like a huge Bible passage on a billboard beside an interstate promising salvation, “Balik var!” We’ve got fish. It was a promise of false hope. Inside that glass-fronted case there were no fish. Nor were there any at the fishmonger ...continue
Kandilli Suna’nin Yeri: Port of Call
3 responses - Posted 05.14.10
Boatspotting on the Bosphorus is a favorite pastime for those lucky enough to have windows with the right view. On any given weekend afternoon on the busy straits that divide this city, the ship and boat traffic unfolds like a caravan of the flags of the lesser-known countries of the ...continue
Kalpazankaya Restaurant: Paradise Found
4 responses - Posted 05.03.10
One of the great joys of spring and summertime in Istanbul is the chance to get away for a day to one of the Princes’ Islands, the car-free and forested archipelago that is a short ferry ride away from the city. continue
Since You Asked: Istanbul’s Fish Scene?
16 responses - Posted 02.24.10
I am just back home from a cruise to Turkey, which included a short stay in Istanbul. I was pleasantly surprised to find such a strong seafood culture there. Shame on me for expecting lamb, lamb and more lamb! I indulged and managed to identify some of the fish I ...continue
48 Hours in Istanbul: An Eater’s Guide
12 responses - Posted 02.08.10
(Editor's Note: The New York Times' travel section recently ran a "36 Hours in Istanbul" feature that was low on good eating suggestions. Prompted by the Times piece, today's post is a food-centric "48 Hours in Istanbul" guide we prepared a few months ago for a local magazine.) Day One: Turkey’s ...continue
Çukur Meyhane: When Liver Met Hamsi
3 responses - Posted 01.25.10
It wasn’t quite as dramatic as Meg Ryan’s big moment at Katz’s deli in “When Harry Met Sally,” but a low-register, guttural moan of pleasure was detected from our table upon our tasting of the shredded celery root in yogurt, a house specialty meze at Beyoğlu’s Çukur Meyhane. And we ...continue
Hamsi Time
1 response - Posted 10.27.09
Istanbul Eats' Yigal Schleifer has a post on the New York Times' Globespotters blog about the start of hamsi season in Istanbul. Hamsi is the Turkish name for the finger-sized anchovy caught in the waters of the Black Sea. Though small and inexpensive, hamsi holds a sacred place in the ...continue

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