Thursday
Reviews (Eats)Kelle: Face Off
Don’t people just love to fight about food? Punch-ups over which city makes the best pizza, brawls about what’s the right way to barbecue. Louis and Ella nearly called the whole thing off over the pronunciation of the word “tomato.”
In this pugilistic spirit, we took our place at a couple of stools at our favorite back of the fish market corner bar, Asmaaltı, from which to call one of the great barroom debates of these parts: Is a sheep’s head, or kelle, more tasty when boiled and served chilled or roasted and served hot?
Round one. Ding.
Based on looks alone, Muammer Usta’s söğüş kelle – head boiled and served cold – was decidedly the underdog. A bit gaunt and ashen, this skull looked a bit past its prime, a dud with a glass jaw. But lay down a fiver and watch this Cinderella story unfold. Muammer Usta went to work with a sharp knife, transforming that sheep’s skull into a beautiful plate of thinly sliced meat dusted with salt, onions and parsley.
Read the rest of the review at Culinary Backstreets.
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Post Tags: Beyoğlu, kelle, street food, traditional foods
