Oh my god, this is amazing...
The best way to really see local Istanbul, is on a street and fast food tour we're going
to show you 12 local real Istanbul fast foods and street foods that Istanbulites actually eat
Here you go, brother. Can you give me 1 simit? Here you, go. Thank you. Have a good day.
Just like bagel in America, in Turkey, Turkish people
start their day with turkish bagel which is simit. There's a lot of sesame seeds around it
and it is so crunchy and so delicious and I can't wait to eat it right now do you want some Steve?
Of ccourse. Do you like simit? Just a little bit just a little bit. He likes it a lot actually
Still got a very good crunch to it, of course when it's hot it's a little bit more soft
but, I'm probably going to get in trouble for this, I love American bagels, but
i think i like simit, just a little bit more... just a little bit.
Its a little bit sunny over there so we came over here to try out street food
number two and it's kestane, roasted chestnuts that's Gokce's favorite.
Got my chestnuts and I can't wait to try it they just roast it in front of you, which is pretty cool actually
It has a very sweet taste as well which is so satisfying. In America I actually buy a
bag of chestnuts all the time because of this addiction.
So, Besiktas was our first stop on the European side and there's a ton of stuff to do there, but we came all the way to Ortakoy
for our third food because there's two things in Ortakoy to see, the first is the food, the loaded baked potato
and then there's also the Ortokoy mosque which is one of the most famous mosque in all of Istanbul.
If you're visiting Istanbul, you have to make it stop in Ortakoy because you will get the best baked
potato ever here, this is called kumpir and they put a lot of different ingredients in it there's
so many nice kumpir places lined up next to each other, but we just came to our favorite place today
The only problem here is you can't actually have a seat here, so you have to find a nice coffee or tea place upstairs,
or around here. Or, you can go by the water and have your kumpir there and enjoy the beautiful scenery.
We we're gonna go down by the mosque right now to eat it but it's actually
jam-packed right there because it's a beautiful day out here in Istanbul in November so we're
gonna go a little bit later as the crowds disperse and just enjoy this beautiful kumpir right now.
Delicious, we got a whole host of toppings sausage,
cheese, hot peppers, pickles, you name it they'll put it on there for you it's all so fresh and so good.
It's actually very crowded right now, but I've never seen Ortakoy be not crowded.
When you're coming to Istanbul you absolutely have to come to Taksim Square, it's a historical square
but first, you have to stop by for an islak hamburger or wet burger, it's kind of a burger
inside of an entire bun came to Kizilkayalar, because that is Gokce's favorite spot from university.
so the wet hamburger is engulfed in the bun and the juices are all compressed
inside and when you bite into it they kind of all come out and it's
really a delicious hamburger. Honestly, better than a lot that you get in the U.S., that's for sure.
After eating a lot of food so far, I am no longer hungry, so Steve is eating the burger
Probably i'm gonna just have one bite, maybe now, is it okay, okay, just one bite nothing more.
probably I'm gonna regret not having my own burger, but I'm really really full.
Yeah, I wish I had my own burger, it's actually only
six liras, I can't beleive it so good can i have one more bite, Steve hates me now.
Our last stop on the day for the European side is at the famous Istanbul Galata Bridge right
down underneath, where they're catching fresh fish up top and they're bringing
that fresh fish caught straight down to these restaurants underneath the bridge (not really)
and they're giving us balak ekmek which is a fish sandwich, along with as Gokce told me, you need a
beer with that fish sandwich pretty awesome way to end our date on the European side, serefe!
This is actually Steve's first experience eating here on the Galata Bridge, there are so many
fish restaurants lined up next to each other on both sides,
we choose to sit towards the historical old town... Istanbul is so beautiful.
there's really a lot of fish in the sandwich for 15 liras, so it's go time Im gonna finally try my fish sandwich.
The fish is very delicious... so this might not be one of the most fancy dinners that you could
possibly have here in Istanbul, but it's pretty damn good and the most amazing thing to me is
you couldn't get scenery like this for this cheap in any other major city and it makes Istanbul feel
much more affordable, much more within reach for a lot of people.
So, we are starting our second day here in Kadikoy, in Durumcu Emmi and yes that is durum,
a Turkish wrap, but we are here actually not for wraps but for one special thing
called beyran soup. So, Beyran soup, is actually from Gaziantep, and it's one of two hangover cure
soups here in Turkey. Beyran is made of lamb and also rice so it's actually a very filling food
of course that's why it's probably substituting a whole meal of a breakfast, but it just tastes
you have to like a little bit of spicy, but Steven and I were kind of crazy,
we add more spice in it.
We squeeze our lemon into our soup and we have our Ayran, of course,
because what Turkish meal would be complete without Ayran... Time to dig in, wow!
The lamb is so nice and tender and it definitely has that Gaziantep spice to it
also we have two icli kofte; the outside of the icli kofte is made of mix of bulgur (wheat), potato and some eggs
and inside is ground meat. It's just one of the most common and well-known Turkish food, so here you go!
I love the fact that they actually put sometimes pistachios, sometimes walnuts
some pines in it, then they're mixing it with the ground meat inside
Thank you so much!
we just got to Kadim, they have a lot of Turkish traditional food,
but more importantly, I'm very excited about this next soup option,
Iskembe Corbasi; it's actually a tripe soup, tripe is the stomach lining of a cow(or calf).
We actually drink the soup very commonly in Turkey, but it's also commonly consumed after midnight!
So the Iskembe is cut very tiny little pieces and then we also got Sirdan, on a thicker outer lining of the stomach
I actually have never had Sirdan, this is going to be my first time...
This is actually really good!
Should I feed you? Hold on, wait a second! I'm gonna switch the camera, let's do it real time!
Okay, ready for that Steve?
Maybe! Perfect... There you go!
You know what, I like the Sirdan better!
All right, cig kofte time! Cigkofte is actually a vegetarian kofte, don't let the kofte name fool you!
Cigkofte is made of bulgur wheat, it's a special kind of wheat,
it is mixed with olive oil, hot pepper, garlic, all the good stuff and most importantly and
my favorite ingredient is walnut in it.
This is actually the traditional way of serving it but we also got two durum
durum is a wrap! I don't know how we're gonna finish all this food obviously, probably we're gonna take some home
really good?
Very delicious, seriously!
and we have Ayran on here, of course, but we have to shake it first, you shake it... I'm not gonna do it Steve.
Each place in Turkey has their own unique food and
cigkofte is no different, it's actually from Adiyaman, I'm hoping I'm pronouncing that correctly
Adiyaman is correct!
In the southeast of Turkey, so that way with the south of Turkey you can know where this
little bit of spice is coming from because it definitely has a nice little kick to it!
Speechless
We walked around a little bit to burn all the calories that we just consumed this morning,
but then it started raining so we're like "Oh well, you know, we have to continue eating today"
so now we're at a tantuni place, tantuni is a very popular food from Mersin, it's a city
in the southern part of Turkey and what makes this dish very special is the red pepper, the flavor that it has...
even these Tantuni places in istanbul are bringing that sauce from Mersin especially and
this also has to be made fresh so you can't just make it and contain it for days
they actually make it in front of you and it looks so delicious
and today Steve and I were sharing yogurt for a portion a half and we have a wrap here
we definitely suggested to have the meat instead of chicken because it's more traditional way to do it
and we have a Salgam suyu today, Salgam suyu is a fermented hot black carrot juice &( turnip & pepper)
and Ayran is the yogurt drink as you've been seeing us drink it all day!
So I'm just gonna start with this amazing dish
if Steve otherwise once to take the first dip.
Enjoy!
Thank you!
Wow, I really miss it!
so the durum is left up to me now...
That's some good meat!
Oh my God, it stopped raining, now we're gonna go have some Kokorec and don't please
question us how we eat so much we know how to burn it
We saved the two best Istanbul street foods for last we are talking about, of course, Kokorec
which is lamb intestines and midye dolma which is stuffed mussels with rice,
of course we've already tried those in other parts of Turkey, but when you're here in Istanbul
doing Istanbul street food, you absolutely have to have Kokorec as well as Midye Dolma
it's so good now
now I'm so excited to try this, this is actually our second time here
and we came back because it's delicious taste, i love it! Kokorec, never gets old!
All right, it's go time on the Kokorec, bit spice in there very similar consistency to just kind of regular meet the lamb intestine.
and you get the big chunks in there they really don't shy away from providing a good amount of meat
lamb intestine in there, really delicious highly recommend coming to Reks Kokorec (in Kadikoy)
So they actually invited us up to show us how the Midye Dolma is actually made they make it above the street level
because of course they only have the Kokorec stuff down there,
it's called Midye Dolma, and the way that you eat it you squeeze some lemon and then
by using the other shell you're spooning it
wow this is probably the best one I've ever had before!
All right, your turn my life.
I always screw it up to shelling it out but
yeah oh come on Steve, you can do it!
it's so nice when they're fresh like that,
coming out of the pot the muscle is nice and large they don't skip at all and the rice is just perfect with it
Can we ask for a check?
This place called Super Mario, the only reason why I know about this place is because because
Steven and Gokce told me about this place and
why you guys know this place?
we have a Turkish friend, she was like you have to have to go to Super Mario... they don't do just...
say they have to have to one more time... They have to have to
Have to, have to!
The regular tradition is you go to the Galata Bridge and there are so many
restaurants underneath the bridge based on the regular tradition
you have fish bread, but this place is special because they actually make
fish wrap, not just bread, and she said "don't leave Istanbul without trying this"
Oh my god, I can't wait to try this
You have to,
so exciting!
it's so good
Wow! They weren't kidding! So good!
Have a nice time, maybe, maybe we want to open a new restaurant in Thailand :)