- All right, check it out, guys.
This is Trevor James. We are in Istanbul, Turkey.
Right outside the beautiful Grand Bazaar.
It's another beautiful day and I'm super hungry.
We're meeting up with our friends at Culinary Backstreets
and their wonderful guide, Ben Watt,
Who's gonna to take us for a full-on street food tour of the
Grand Bazaar. Let's check it out guys.
(cheerful music)
- This is it, the Grand Bazaar of Istanbul,
where you can find hundreds of stores and restaurants,
all serving incredibly delicious Turkish street food,
right before your eyes.
Today, Culinary Backstreets is bringing us full on
to a bunch of their favorite spots.
Let's check it out.
- Hi Ben Watt. - Hello, how are you?
- Nice to see you.
- Yes.
- Another day.
- Yes, and we are doing the Grand Bazaar today,
the hidden gems of the Grand Bazaar.
- Awesome, so check it out. - Let's check it out.
- Oh, and what's this here?
- This is the old. - Hello.
- [Old Man] He is from Mardin.
- [Male Voice] Nice to meet you.
- And the other chef. - [Male Voice] Hello.
- He will maybe show us
how this is working.
- Nice to me you.
- [Male Voice] Okay, making kabob, right? kabob.
- Making kabob, yeah.
- So, this is Mardin.
- One of the oldest cities in the world, you see?
- [Male Voice] And he's making the Mardin kabob.
- [Old Man] He will be making it.
Now they are cleaning the meat, the lamb.
- [Male Voice] Oh, it's gonna be good.
- [Old Man] And the name of this place is Shagmus Kabob.
- [Male Voice] Shagmus Kabob.
- And they had the speciality of Shagmus kabob
in which they add some pistachio
- Add pistachio in the kabob. - in the kabob.
- [Young Male Voice] And you can he's a master
of removing the bones.
Like everything is just so precise.
- [Old Man] So this is beef. - [Young Man Voice] Beef.
Oh, adding the pepper in and then
- [Old Man] (mumbles) fat
- [Young Man Voice] (mumbles) fat. The lamb fat.
Here we go. Wow! look at the blade.
Look at the size of that! It's huge!
There it is. And this is the traditional way?
- [Older man] Yes.
- [Young Male Voice] Wow. It's getting fine really quickly.
It's very efficient.
Oh, okay. And then
just mixing it up and going even more.
- They've been here for 45 years.
- [Young Male Voice] Forty-five years.
- Yeah, yeah.
- [Young Male Voice] Wow. It's an old, it's a classic joint.
- Yeah, yeah, classic joint.
- [Young Male Voice] Beautiful. So he just added in
that fat and salt mix. This is awesome.
So they've got the kabob station here, and then they've got
a wood fired oven in the back, and that's for
the breads, right?
- [Blonde man] Yes, for the breads.
- [Young Male Voice] Ooooh, what's this?
- [Blonde Man] Kadai.
- [Young Male Voice] Wow! It's a giant kadai.
Oh, and this is the syrup?
- [Blonde Man] Yeah.
- [Young Male Voice] Oh, and it's gonna saturate in there.
Wow!
Nuts...Walnut, pistachio.
Wow. Okay. It looks amazing.
- [Blonde Man] So this is what we call Güveç.
It's like a sort of stew.
- Wow!
- [Young Male Voice] Wow! Tomato. eggplant, pepper.
- Yeah.
- Okay, so I think we're going to get a bunch
of varieties of kabobs,
and he's just going to put some eggplant kabob on for his
giant eggplant kabob.
Okay, so this is a start of lahmacun.
- [Blonde Man] Exactly.
- Famous Turkish flat bread.
- Yeah.
- [Young Male Voice] So he's just ruling it out flat.
This is the ground meat for lahmacun.
- [Blonde Man] Yes. Yeah.
- [Young Male Voice] Oh, look at that spice meat.
Here we go.
Oh oh oh! Nice!
Oh, looking good, Turkish lahmacun.
- [Blonde Man] What a team! Incredible team!
- [Young Male Voice] Turkish pizza.
- So, the different versions of lahmacun.
Some of them have garlic, others don't,
but here they like it with onions.
- And we're going in.
Thank you, chef.
Okay. Let's pull the lahmacun out.
Here it is, Turkish lahmacun.
Look at that. Oh, parsley.
The onion with sumac, a little lemon.
And then Ben Watt just brought me some chili.
Oh, and some chai. Thank you.
Let's try it out.
- Speaks in Turkish.
Oh. Got that spiced meat, onion aroma to it.
And the toasted smokiness from that oak wood oven.
Wow, that's really getting fine now.
There's a lot of kabob meat here.
Oh, and he's making the kabob here.
- [Background Voice] Playing kabob.
- [Young Male Voice] Playing kabob. So, it's super fresh.
It goes from being minced to kabob to grill.
- So it's the same type as adana.
The difference is this is flat
and this is sort of more round.
- [Young Male Voice] Oh, it's the shape.
- So, it is the shape of the skewer.
- [Young Male Voice] Oh, and this is shagmus.
- Yeah.
So, he's making patties and then loading it with tomato.
Ooh, and double wrap.
- [Blonde Man] This is the pistachio. It's pistachio.
- [Young male Voice] Oh, pistachio in the kabob patty.
- [Blonde Man] Yeah, in the kabob.
- [Young Male Voice] So, there's two varieties here.
The pistachio and the tomato version. Right?
- Yeah.
- Looking good.
And here's ours. This is the pistachio one, right?
- [Blonde Man] Yeah, exactly.
- [Young Male Voice] Oh. And then some variety.
Oh, and then pepper.
Wow. And there it is.
Beautiful.
Thank you! It's, like, super unique, that pistachio kabob.
And then we've got some lahmacun with the pepper paste,
the tomato, the onion. They're using the onion here, right?
- [Blonde Man] Yeah, instead of the garlic, yes.
- [Young Male Voice] And then we got the bulgur.
And that's cooked in, like a tomato sauce, or?
- [Blonde Man] Yeah, exactly.
- [Young Male Voice] And then some mezes.
- [Grey Hair Man] Mezes. And here we have the stew.
That we've seen in a big pot earlier on.
- Look at that! That's eggplant, tomato, pepper,
cooked in meat stew.
- Yeah, and the beef.
- But I think what we have to try first
is the pistachio.
- The shagmus. Yeah, yeah.
- Shagmus, right?!
- Wow! Loaded with pistachio.
- Pistachio. Yes, yes.
- And you can see it's, like, mixed with the chili
and the pepper and the regular spices.
There it is. Look at that. Try it out.
That's it, the pistachio.
(cheerful music)
The Pistachio is giving a little bit of a nuttiness.
- Yeah.
- And then it's spicy at the same time.
You wouldn't think that would work, but it does.
Mmm, next up maybe we should try this.
- Exactly.
- The, what's this called?
- Güveç.
- Güveç, güveç stew.
- Güveç.
- Pepper.
- It's cooked in the oven with eggplant,
pepper, tomatoes and beef.
- Try it out.
(cheerful music)
Mmm. Oh. Yeah.
It tastes like a tomato soup.
Okay. So we're going to keep eating and then Ben Watt
is bringing us further in to the old market and we're
going to see what we can find.
- Exactly.
Great. Thank you!
That was delicious! The best!
Thank you, Ebrahim. Thank you.
See you again. Thank you so much!
And just look at how beautiful
these old alleyways of Istanbul is.
The Grand Bazaar is just up ahead, right?
- Yeah, it's just on the left
of this building, and
- Look at this, what's this here?
- Beyond this, it's a mosque.
- Mosque?
- A mosque of the 18th century.
- Just love this country and this city!
Turkey is incredible.
Let's go see what else we're going to have.
What's this?
- Yes, they are from Kemaliye., Kemaliye.
- Hello.
- Kemaliye. They are great people, fantastic.
- [Young Male Voice] Oh, kokorec.
- [Grey Hair Man] They have all the best
kokorec in Istanbul.
- Kokorec.
- Yeah. Incredible kokorec here.
- Oh, kokorec.
- Kokorec.
- [Young Male Voice] Wow. So this is the baby lamb intestine
wrapped around a skewer
and loaded with spices
and then putting a sandwich, right?
- [Gray Hair Man] Exactly. Exactly.
And with different spices.
- [Young Male Voice] So, a a little chili,
a little oregano.
- Oregano.
- Oregano and sauce?
- [Gray Hair Man] And some secrets,
- OH.
- Would you like to eat that?
- Okay, the kokorec.
- Kokorec.
♪ Kokorech. Kokorec. ♪
- Okay, a little chili, a little...
- No. No, no, no. (mumbles)
- Oh, little salt on there.
Thank you.
Oh, right after grill. Let's try it out.
Mmm. Wow!
Oh, he's making a sandwich.
And look at all the bread he just pulled out.
Wow! You can get a giant kokorec sandwich.
Wow. It's got that smokey, juicy smell.
Smells amazing! Like caramelized meat
with lots of fatty goodness.
Oregano, chili, salt and ready to enjoy.
Okay, and there's the kokorec sandwich.
Thank you.
- Thank you.
- Wow! So, it's essentially the baby lamb intestine, right?
- [Gray Hair Man] Exactly.
- Wrapped around.
- [Gray Hair Man] Well, it's a sweet bread
wrapped with intestines to keep it all together
and roasted for about two hours on the charcoal.
- Roasted over the charcoal. And you can see they've
got them just right over the charcoals here.
And then they hollow out the bread.
Like we just watched and load it with spices.
And that's a sweet bread.
It doesn't have the organ odor.
Like, it's just kind of like a seasoned sweetbread.
Thank you very much.
- Thank you.
- It's delicious.
Let's keep exploring.
Thank you. See you. Bye bye. Thank you.
That was delicious!
And there's lots more spots up here, right?
- Okay. Yeah.
- Let's go check it out.
Lots more spots, lots of donor,
lots of shops selling all sorts of stuff here.
Oh, and what's this?
- A very nice kpop joint.
- Oh, look at this.
- [Young Male] Hello.
- Oh my goodness. It's like a non-stop kabob station.
- [Gray Hair Man] He's the usta and his name is Raiff.
- Raiff.
- [Gray Hair Man] And the name of the restaurant
is Raiff Usta.
- Raiff Usta.
- The name of the restaurant.
- And they just come right out
from this massive fridge of kabob.
Look at that!
And it's a full kabob grill, like non-stop.
So we got the sheesh. We got the adana,
ooh, and the liver.
The liver going right on.
It's all here.
Wow, look at the size.
Oh, right on the bread.
So, it's just like the kabob platter?
- [Gray Hair Man] Yeah, yeah, yeah.
- Wow, it's just absolutely crazy that,
the kabob speed that's happening here, guys.
Watch this.
You can get the wraps or
you can get the kabob platter. Right?
- [Gray Hair Man] Yeah, exactly.
- Oh, and they're just making it right here. Look.
(people laughing)
- Mmm. Oh, wow! It's so, so soft! Mmm.
We ordered a lamb. Whole lamb kabob platter.
They're going to make it right now.
Let's see how it's done.
Here comes the kabobs.
Look at that. Look at that. Still sizzling.
With salad. Oh. We got chicken, liver,
adana, tomato. Oh, it's just crazy!
And here's the spices:
tumac, chili, cumin.
- Yes.
- Chili. Oh, and then some pepper.
And there it is, look at that!
- Yeah. Great, great, great, great!
- That's the workman's kabob platter!
And I love the peppers on there.
You're saying these are really spicy, right?
- Extremely spicy.
- Really?
- Yeah, yeah, yeah.
- Let's go try them out.
- Yeah, yeah.
- So, here you make your own sandwich.
You can be totally messy, and you choose whatever you want.
And if you like it with spices.
- These are called duram, right?
- Yeah, duram. So, like this.
Let's start with a small piece.
- Okay.
So, some madana, some sheesh.
- Oh, yeah, exactly.
- Or you just want one side, you
- Mix it.
- Liver here, there's a bit of liver.
- Oh, look at that.
- Then, parsley and onions would go well with it.
- And tomato.
- Yeah, yeah.
- Parsley, onion.
- Okay.
- And then you finish with, uh.
- One of these death level chili.
- Yeah.
- (both men laughing)
- Look at that, that's real spice.
- And that's spices.
- Oh, Okay.
- On top of it.
- So, a little cumin.
- Cumin.
- Tumac.
- And flake pepper.
- And then dried chili, okay.
- Yeah, I think you can close it already.
- Oh, and the pepper is just bulging there.
That's going to bring it to spice. Try it out.
- Okay, let's try it out.
- Oh. Mmm. Oh, I ate the whole pepper there. Oh. Mmm.
The mixture of the salad and the tomato and the juicy kabob.
And in that pepper, I think it's pretty spicy, yeah.
But not, like, too bad, yet.
The adana is fantastic.
- Yeah.
- When you season it with the cumin and the tumac.
- I actually like the liver.
Did you try the liver?
- That is my favorite! They're so good!
They're so juicy and fatty.
Really, like you don't even need the bread.
Maybe just sprinkle a little cumin on it.
Can you do that?
- Of course, yeah; it's the best way.
- And then just go in for the kill. It's just like pure joy.
- It's another one. This is for the invited, for us,
for the tourists. This is for the locals (mumbles).
- Looking good, kabob heaven.
Look at that.
- Thank you, Raiff.
- Thank you
- Thank you.
- Thank you, see you. Bye bye.
Wow! That was amazing!
- Fantastic.
- And now we're back on the streets in the back alley.
Keep going.
Okay. And Ben Watt's taking us for more.
What's up next, Bet Watt?
- So, there's a joint I would like to show you
where they have a mixture of lung, liver,
And then we also go to the Denakiva.
- Okay. And we are in the Bizaar now.
- This is the real Grand Bazaar,
where the tourists don't, you don't see
tourists here.
- This is the real Grand Bizaar.
- Yeah, yeah.
- All the gold and diamonds shops.
- Oh. Hello.
- Wow! You can see the charcoal on the inside.
So, that's going to give it a different aroma, right?
- Exactly. Exactly.
- Amazing. And you can see the coal, like right beside it.
They've stacked it vertically.
And look at that. The tail feathers unthaw.
So, the juices from this are going to
drift down into the meat.
And you can see the layers
of the tail fat inside there.
The claw fat as well.
Oh, so he's just gonna weigh it on the old style scale.
- Yeah, exactly.
- Oh, and look, he's just heating up
the bread with the coal.
Okay. Here's the start of a sandwich.
So we got tomato, pickle. Oh, yeah. Look at that.
Weighing it out.
We're going to get 80 grams. Eighty grams, right?
Oh yeah, there it is.
So, we got the 80 grams.
- Yes, 80 grams.
We got the tomato, pickle, and it's all wrapped up.
Thank you. That was beautiful.
Take it!
Okay. Let's just split it.
Oh, look at that.
Charcoal roasted doner.
Charcoal roasted doner. Okay.
Let's try it out.
This is a charcoal flavor! Really juicy!
- Yeah.
- All the meat in Turkey is juicy.
At least the ones you brought us to.
- Yeah.
- Thank you so much.
Wow. That was an awesome, three kabob joints.
- Yes.
- And I think we need a dessert now.
- Yeah, exactly. And some ice cream on top.
- Let's go.
- Okay. We're just walking through the Grand Bazaar.
And we're going for a ice cream dessert.
- Yeah. There's a famous ice cream shop
and people are queuing up generally here.
- Oh, right here.
- And they have an interesting dessert.
It's a tense interpretation of the tres leches
which is a Mexican dessert.
And it came all the way from Mexico.
And so Turkish people adapted it to their own tastes.
- Okay.
- And so this is one of the speciality.
- Okay, here we go.
Let's see how it's done. So, oh, so this is the,
Künefe. Künefe.
- Künefe.
- Oh, the vermicelli, Turkish vermicelli soaked in syrup.
- And pistachio. Yeah.
Oh, and then he just weighs it out.
And then vanilla ice cream?
- Yeah. Vanilla ice cream. That special Turkish
also vanilla.
- Oh, and here's our, what's the name of this?
- Turlishe. Turlishe. It's a Turkish
interpretation on the translations on Mexico.
- Oh. So, it's like a pudding.
- Yeah, it's a pudding.
- Okay.
And let's take these.
- Yeah.
- And go try them.
Thank you.
- Thank you.
Oh, it's so beautiful here, like.
- Take by the core.
- Okay. Let's do that.
Okay. And here we are.
So we got the cadyce.
- Cadyce.
- Which is the vermicelli noodles soaked with syrup.
And then
- Pistachio.
- Pistachio ice cream. No, no, pistachio.
- Yeah. Pistachio.
- And then with the ice cream.
- With the ice cream. The special.
Don't do much Turkish ice creams.
- And then look at this. Oh.
- So, they use three different milks.
Oh, is that like a wheat in there?
A wheat? What is that?
- Well, it's a little bit like biscuits, biscuits.
- Oh, and then eat it with the ice cream?
- Yeah, exactly. Together.
- So, it's like Turkish transliches.
- Yeah.
- Oh. Okay. Let's try it out.
Mmm. Oh, yeah, caramel.
- Mmm hmm.
- And, like, something fruity in there.
- Good by itself, yeah?
- Oh, yeah. It's really delicious with that
milky, caramel, almost tastes fruity.
And then the ice cream.
- The ice cream. Yeah.
- Very caramelly and soft and spongy.
- So, ice cream goes really well together with
Turkish, traditional desserts.
- It's like a caramel spongecake.
- Yeah. And it's very soft, right?
- Mmm. Very soft and fluffy and airy.
- Yeah, after all those kabobs.
Turkey's a food heaven!
- Yeah.
Oh, wow!
What an awesome time with Culinary Backstreets.
You guys can check out the link in the description below.
They're offering 10% off for any of their locations
around the world
if you use the coupon code food ranger 10.
I personally really enjoyed all of the tours we did
with Ben watt, and I'm really excited to try more.
It's an awesome company and they bring you in deep.
Thanks for watching, guys.
We'd love to hear from you in the comments below. Thanks.