Baklava can be called the most exquisite sweet Turkish dish. This is the perfect union of delicate thin dough and honey-nut filling. Dessert is quite high-calorie, and you need very little to feel full. This makes it very difficult to try all the different flavors of baklava at once.
Rahat-Lukum
What you can buy in Russia is far from real Locum. Even those who think they don’t really like Turkish Delight find themselves pleasantly surprised when they visit Turkey and try real Turkish Delight.
Turkish delight (or “locum” as the locals call it) comes in a wide variety of flavors, from chopped pistachios to fragrant roses.
Kokorech
If I think something unusual to try in Turkey, then we recommend this dish. Kokorech in cafes and simple restaurants you will not order. Turks usually don’t tell what this dish consists of until you try it. It looks like meat with vegetables or meat on bread. After you eat this generously spiced dish, you don’t understand what the catch is. Locals, watching how you reacted to the taste of kokorech, report that you just ate the internal organs of a lamb.
The dish consists of lamb kidneys, lungs and heart of a young lamb, which are cooked on the fire, chopped, added greens, vegetables and many spices, and placed in the intestine. It is nutritious and spicy food, it is common in Turkey as fast food and goes well with foamy drinks.
Simit
Simit is a bagel that is known all over the world. In Ankara, they prepare thin and crispy simit, in Istanbul pastry shops you will be offered it with more magnificent forms, and in Antalya, simit will be soft and airy.
Nevertheless, all over the country, regardless of the region and city, this pastry is very fond of. They sell simit directly from carts on the street, and if you watch passers-by while walking, you can see this fragrant bagel in the hands of many. It is delicious both on its own with sweet tea, and with various additives: jam, nut butter, cream cheese and butter.
Fish-bread
Locals, first of all, will advise you to go where there are a lot of fishermen to taste “balky”, which means “fish”. This is a general name, not a specific species. It is better to start acquaintance with balyk-ekmek where they directly fish. In Istanbul, it could be the Galata Bridge.
Freshly caught fish is sent to the grill, sprinkled with lemon juice and served on a platter with vegetables or bread. It’s just a gastronomic delight! In the future, you can taste “balky”, as well as seafood cooked in pots, in restaurants and cafes everywhere. However, in establishments near the sea, the choice will be more diverse.
Dodoma
Buying ice cream in Turkey, you automatically become a participant in a street show. It all starts with the phrase “birr doldrums, lute!”, which in Turkish means “one ice cream, please.” During the preparation of doldrums, the dexterous Turk performs tricks that only experienced circus performers and bartenders can do. In skillful hands, the glass takes off into the air, flies around the ice cream man, approaches your hands and slips away at the last moment.
The Turk shouts merrily, teases you with his own ice cream, makes you reach for him, gives you a chance to finally grab the coveted cone, but he will never give it to you the first time. Such a game with the buyer is an obligatory part of the sale of doldrums.
Cherkasy
The leader among the first courses in Turkey is cream soups. There are so many varieties that you can eat cream soup every day and never repeat it. This tender, nutritious dish is served in every restaurant and café.
To say with confidence that you ate Turkish choirboys, you need to try at least three of the most striking types: tarhana – prepared from dried, ground vegetables, with the addition of flour and yeast, soup with lentils and small noodles and offal soup.
The Sultan fell in love with the burnt mess, and so the cauldron dib was born.
Coffee
Coffee in Turkey is given special attention. Its unique rich taste, sweet-spicy aroma and thick foam are the pride of Turkish culinary culture. Coffee is served in beautiful cups, half of which is coffee grounds. Sugar is added during cooking, so when ordering, you will be asked what degree of sweetness you prefer.
As a gift to their loved ones or a reminder of a wonderful vacation, tourists bring Mehmed Efendi coffee with them to their homeland, which is valued by both travelers and Turks. A distinctive feature of this coffee is its excellent aroma, the secret of which is the addition of cardamom.
It’s too loose
Kofta is a particularly popular type of kebab that deserves a separate story about it. Kofta is boiled, fried, baked, or cooked on fire. Very tasty “chi kofta”. Once upon a time, these were raw meat cutlets with vegetables, but then Turkey imposed a ban on meat dishes that had not undergone heat treatment. And now “chi kofta” is a vegetarian version of kebab.
Spicy bean cakes sprinkled with lemon juice and served wrapped in lettuce leaves and pita bread. What non-wealthy students eat in Turkey turns into something that attracts the interest of visiting hunters for exotic foreign dishes. To taste a truly traditional meat “chi kofta” you need to go away from the center and from tourist places where the supervision of food in public catering is not so strict.
