Tuesday
Durumzade: Wrap Artists (and Television Stars)

(Editor’s Note: This review first appeared back in April of 2009. Turns out the “wrap stars” at Durumzade were among the stars of last night’s episode of Anthony Bourdain’s “No Reservations” show, which recently visited Istanbul. In honor of Durumzade’s new found television success, we decided to offer this “rerun” of our original writeup.)
Istanbul’s after midnight dining options tend to be of the offal variety – tripe soup, chopped lamb’s intestines – thought to be curatives after a night of hard drinking. Luckily, not all late night eats in the city involve innards. At Durumzade – a grill joint positioned right on the fringe of the rowdy, bar-lined streets of the Beyoglu’s fish market – we’ve found a durum, or Turkish wrap, that’s equally satisfying at 2am or 2pm. Continue…
All entries filed under this archive
2 responses - Posted 11.22.09
EatingAsia, a marvelous blog that (mostly) covers Asian food and culinary traditions, recently caught up with chef Musa Dagdeviren, creator of Istanbul's Ciya restaurant. A kind of culinary anthropologist, Dagdeviren has helped introduce Istanbulites and visitors to the city to traditional recipes and ingredients from across Turkey that are even ...continue
no responses - Posted 10.12.09
It may not quite be up there with Japan’s fugu, blowfish meat that if prepared incorrectly can lead to death, but Turkey’s çiğ köfte is one of those foods that carries with it a certain frisson of danger. Literally translated as “raw meatballs,” the dish is made out of uncooked ...continue
2 responses - Posted 07.15.09
We like to think of Istanbul’s Grand Bazaar – open since 1461 – as the world’s oldest shopping mall. If that’s the case, shouldn’t the Grand Bazaar be home to the world’s oldest food court? That may be taking the analogy too far, but for us, the Grand Bazaar can ...continue
2 responses - Posted 06.22.09
The Kadinlar Pazari – a very pleasant, pedestrian-only square in Istanbul’s Fatih neighborhood – is the closest the city has to having a “Little Kurdistan.” The surrounding area is populated by migrants from Turkey’s predominantly-Kurdish southeast, and small markets and butcher shops selling honey, cheeses, spices and other goodies from ...continue
no responses - Posted 06.01.09
In eastern Turkey, a lamb is consumed literally from head to tail, with hardly any part of the animal going uncooked. One of the specialties from the region, particularly in the area around the picturesque city of Mardin, is kaburga – breast of lamb – a cut akin to short ...continue
1 response - Posted 05.25.09
Today's Zaman has a review of Kiva Han, a restaurant near the Galata Tower that tries to be a Beyoglu version of Asian Side favorite Çiya. It's not a favorable review: All in all, our experience at the new Galata Kiva Han was extremely disappointing, and on second thought, I should have ...continue
6 responses - Posted 05.06.09
For us, one of the highlights of spring in Istanbul is a visit to Çiya Sofrası, the Asian-side eatery that is very likely the best restaurant in Istanbul. It’s certainly not the fanciest or most cutting-edge place in town, but we rarely leave Çiya without having a profoundly new and ...continue
6 responses - Posted 04.20.09
The only positive thing about the torturous annual visit we make to Istanbul’s main police station in order to renew our residence permit is the chance to drive through the low-rent Aksaray neighborhood, home to dozens of intriguing off-the-beaten path restaurants, most of them opened by migrants from other parts ...continue

