Friday

Since You Asked: Jewish Istanbul?

Dear Istanbul Eats,
For an upcoming trip, I’ve been searching for Jewish restaurants in Istanbul, but without any luck. I thought I would turn to a higher authority and ask what you can suggest? Thank you,
N. Osher, Bethesda, Maryland

While Istanbul has a sizable Jewish community (perhaps some 20,000) with a long and rich history in the city, finding traditional Jewish food (kosher or not) is not so easy. Visitors to Rome, for example, can go to the city’s historic ghetto and find several restaurants and bakeries serving typical Roman Jewish food, but Istanbul doesn’t have something equivalent.

In fact, the city has only one Jewish eatery: Levi, a small restaurant tucked inside a historic han in the Eminonu district (and one of the stops along our “Culinary Secrets of the Old City” food walk). Continue…