Monday

Klemuri: Black Sea Lazmatazz

1 Comment October 22, 2012 – 8:10 am | Permalink |  Print This Post |

Like Clark Kent hiding his Superman tights beneath a brown suit and glasses, Klemuri maintains the appearance of a predictable Beyoğlu café – wooden tables, shelves loaded with knickknacks, Buena Vista Social Club on the stereo, spinach crepes and a crispy chicken salad on the menu. But down in the kitchen, out of public view, Klemuri’s alter ego – a spry Laz cook – is waiting to save you from another boring “café” lunch.

Turkish stereotypes like to portray the Laz – an ethnic group from Turkey’s Northeast Black Sea region – as amusing, ignorant mountain folk, who talk with an odd accent and dance a wild jig; they are also the beloved butt of many a one-liner. Thankfully, there is more to the Laz than the caricatures of Dursun and Temel and their redneck adventures. There is the food.

The rest of this updated review can be found on CulinaryBackstreets.com, here.

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!

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