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First Stop: Anissa Helou’s Istanbul

 

Özkonak, photo by Yigal Schleifer [1]

Editor’s note: In the latest installment of our recurring feature First Stop, we asked chef and food writer Anissa Helou [2] where she heads first for food when she arrives in Istanbul. Helou is the author of many cookbooks, including Lebanese Cuisine [3]Mediterranean Street Food [4]Savory Baking from the Mediterranean [5] and The Fifth Quarter [6] and has also written for publications such as the Observer Food Monthly, FT Weekend, the Times Magazine and Food & Wine. She has been featured on numerous radio and TV programs in the U.S. and U.K.

The first place I would go to is Özkonak [7], in Cihangir. It works for both lunch and afternoon tea, which is when I would be arriving. It has the best tavuk göğsü (chicken breast pudding) in town, at least as far as I am concerned, as well as a limited selection of delicious dishes made with seasonal ingredients. And it is next to a fabulous pickles merchant. Pickles are big in Turkey.

Read the rest of this feature at Culinary Backstreets [8].

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