Monday

Kral Kokoreç: In the Court of the Intestine King

(Editor’s Note: This guest post comes courtesy of Salih Seckin Sevinc, author of the great Turkish-language food blog Harbi Yiyorum (loosely translated as “Eating, For Real”).)

Although this review is of Sirkeci’s Kral Kokoreç, it is first and foremost a tribute to Vahap Usta, Turkey’s original king of kokoreç.

The second half of the 1980’s: I remember me and my mom heading to the street of the “Big Post Office” in Sirkeci during her lunch break. In my mind, the street of the Buyuk Postane is the best place to reflect on the spirit and history of the Sirkeci neighborhood. On this street, I would always see a big crowd standing in front of a small shop on a corner opposite the Ziraat Bank (which still exists in the same place). I can remember that inside that shop there was a guy suited up and wearing a bow-tie working in front of a giant kokoreç cart, passing one half sandwich of kokoreç (grilled lamb intestines) after another to the people waiting in line.

This guy was the legendary Vahap Usta, who singlehandedly made kokoreç famous in Turkey. Continue…