Fenerbahce Sukru Saracoglu stadium guide – What to Eat & Drink in Istanbul
Turkish food is renowned as being among the great cuisines of the world. Now you all have probably had a Döner Kebab but there are probably more Kebab houses per square mile in London than Istanbul. The cuisine of Istanbul has a lot of variety and will cater for all needs whether you are a vegetarian, meat lover or seafood enthusiast. The modern football fan may appreciate good food but if you are more interested in cities drinking dens well you are spoilt for choice in Kadiköy.
The Kadiköy area is a foodies heaven with everything from fine dining to fast food and local delicacies. Mühürdar Caddesi running through the heart of Kadıköy is choked with foot traffic match days and full of bars and coffee shops.
Drinks
The national alcoholic drink of Turkey is raki. The sweet, aniseed liquor is usually mixed with water to give it a cloudy consistency and is colloquially known as lions milk. It is similar to Pernod or Absinthe and be warned it is just as lethal. Raki can be deceptive as it is easy to drink due to being sweet but if you knock back a few doubles it will catch up when you least expect it.
The Turks also have a beer called Efes with a few varieties. It is a little unknown fact that Turkey is one of the oldest wine producing regions in the world and there is a wide array of domestic brands on offer. Import drinks are also available but come at a price and will cost a lot more. You can alternatively buy duty free drinks from the airport if you want imported beverages at a cheaper price but if you really want an authentic experience try the local drinks.
The Kadıköy and area immediately around the stadium has a carnival atmosphere on match days. There are open air barbecues, lively bars, raucous fans lighting flares and making a racket.
One word of warning is that Turks do not take kindly to ‘mooning’ and find it extremely offensive to bare ones bottom in public – especially if women and kids are present. Despite their reputation you will probably find most fans are not as bad as is made out in the press and supporters often mingle with away fans on European nights.
Non-Alcoholic drinks
If you don’t fancy a tipple there are plenty of other drinks to keep you occupied. As mentioned above Ayran – the other national drink – is very popular but may be a little unusual on the palate of visitors unaccustomed to the salty, yoghurt based drink often topped off with a sprinkling of mint. Turks love their tea and you will find çay just about everywhere. Turkish tea is generally home grown from the eastern Black Sea region and drunk without milk from iconic glasses which some say resemble the figure of the perfect women.
Another national drink is Turkish coffee. The Turks introduced coffee and the coffeehouse to Europe a few centuries following their siege of Vienna. Coffee is more than just a beverage, it is a part of Turkish culture. There are poems, quotes and legends all about the nations favourite caffeine fix.
“Coffee should be black as hell, strong as death, and as sweet as love.”
“A cup of coffee will be remembered for 40 years.”
The secret to a good coffee is the foam on top. It also comes in three varieties, Az şeker (Unsweet), Orta (Mid-sweet) and Şekerli (Sweet). The drink is typically served in small – usually – ornately decorated cups and accompanied by water. Some say the water traditional dates back to the Ottoman palace. A drop of coffee would be dipped in the water, if it turned green it was poison. Once you are finished it is custom to turn the cup over, wait a few minutes, turn it back round and read your future.
If you are a fan of Breaking Bad and want to sample different coffees head down to Walter’s Coffee Roastery in Moda for a unique experience!
Turkish breakfast
The old adage ‘breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince and dine like a pauper’ is supposed to be the secret to a healthy life. If you want a breakfast fit for a sultan you are in the right city. The Turkish breakfast ceremony involved dozens of small dishes from menemen – scrambled eggs with tomato, peppers and spices – to olives, salads, jams, honey, kaymak (clotted cream), hot breads, savoury pastries such as börek and sweet pastries, pastirma (ancestor of Pastrami), soup, sahanda sucuk (sucuk with fried eggs), cheeses and a whole lot more.
Pastries
If you are in a rush and want a quick bite there are bakeries all around town. The börek is a savoury pastry resembling a pie that can be filled with vegetarian, cheese or meat options. There is also the famous simit with is round and covered in sesame seeds and literally dozens of different pastries, cookies and cakes to tuck into.
Köfteciler
At first glance the köfte may look like nothing more than a grilled meatball but there is a lot more to this carnivorous treat than meets the eye. The ubiquitous Turkish dish can differ drastically in taste, shape and texture. Turks take the köfte very seriously and each district has eateries that solely specialise in the dish. The typical köfteci serves their spin on the dish and that is about it other than a side dish of piyaz (a salad of white beans and onion), bread and a hot sauce.
Kadıköy Ekspres İnegöl Köftecisi has been a favourite for 50 years and serves the İnegöl version of the dish – created by Mustafa Efendi, a Bulgarian immigrant to İnegöl in Bursa in the late 19th century – which is usually cylindrical in shape and all about the meat as it uses very few spices and herbs in the cooking process unlike other varieties. The dish is accompanied by spicy pickled peppers and piyaz. If you like dairy drinks it is worth tying the Ayran as well.
Another spin on the the köfte can be found at AKO Adapazarı Islama Köfte. Slices of village bread are dunked in kemik suyu, or homemade beef stock, and grilled alongside the meatballs. The bread could be described as being similar to a good French toast and the actual meat which has a delicious combination of herbs and spices is grilled charcoal fire.
Kebabs
Most travelling fans will be familiar with a late night Doner kebab and chips but you may be surprised to know that the dish in mention is more popular in England than it is in Turkey. In Istanbul Doner kebab is typically eaten on a bed of rice or between a half loaf of bread – or a wrap. You will find places serving Doner kebab but the locals tend to drink tripe soup after a late night drinking instead of the famous meat dish. The Doner is just one of hundreds of kebab varieties and while the likes of the Sis kebab may be familiar there are several others out there that most visiting fans would never have heard of. You will see many places serving kebab downtown but one of the locals favourites with a wide variety of choice is called Ciya.
Lahmacun
Just as competitive as the battle for the king of the Köfte, the Lahmacun wars have resulted in this round thin piece of dough topped with minced meat, vegetables, herbs and spices being developed into a delicious fast food option. There is less variety than the Köfte but true masters of the craft – called Usta’s – are difficult to find. A good Lahmacun should be wafer thin, slightly crispy along the crust, not oily and cooked in a specialised stone oven. Kadiköy has a few pretty good joints for this spicy pizza.
Pide
Pide is pizza with Turkish flair. The tomato sauce and mozzarella is replaced by peynir cheese and a choice of vegetarian and meat toppings including local spicy sausage sucuk, diced lamb and pasitrma – the ancestor of Italian pastrami. The pastry dish makes for great fast food if you are in a rush and there are a few places in Kadikoy worth trying out.
Fish & Raki
The famous author Ara Güler once wrote “Ne ağ, ne olta, balik rakiyla yakalanir.” In English, “Fish is caught, not with net or rod, but with Raki.” The English have fish and chips, the Turks have fish and raki. A traditional fish and raki night involves a group of friends at a seafood restaurant of meyhane and starts with a round of hot and cold starters known as meze. A word of warning… do not get carried away with ordering too many starters. We have all made this mistake in the past and it is easy to fill your table with these delicious dishes usually accompanied by hot bread only to get too full up for the main meal. Alternatively you could just order meze with the raki and skip the main dish all together. If you do want the fish however, Kadikoy is a great place for a pescetarian diet as there is a local fish market.
Desserts
You cannot come to Istanbul and not try the local Baklava or Turkish delight and I am not talking about the pink jelly surrounded in chocolate they sell in your local newsagent. Authentic Turkish Delight can be found at Haci Bekir who invented the sweet a few centuries back. His descendants still run the business and have expanded the sweet selection to include a wide range of delicious candies and desserts. There is a Haci Bekir store in Kadikoy are directly opposite is another treat for those with a sweet tooth in Balyan. The best baklava in town is on the European side at Gulluoglu but there are so many dessert dishes to try from Kunufe which is a sweet hot cheese pastry dish, to oven baked rice pudding with cinnamon called Sütlaç, dough balls fried in syrup with cinnamon on top called lokma and a whole lot more. There are dedicated dessert restaurants if you fancy something sweet and bakeries can be found all around town. The traditional ice-cream is called Maraş dondurma and differs from usual ice-cream in that it is eaten with a knife and fork as it does not melt.
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