Istanbul fish restaurants

They have hearty meals in Istanbul. During centuries, while people lived on the shores of the Bosphorus, dozens of world cuisines have met here. Greek olive oil and Roman baking, Slavic honey and Arabic sweets, Persian cheese, Seljuk meat products and Ottoman snacks! This mix gave indeed dazzling, magnificent and one of the three best in the world cuisines - Turkish cuisine. It is famous for its fish dishes. It is not surprising - after all Istanbul is located right close to the sea... Today there are several hundreds of fish restaurants in Istanbul.

Byzantine motifs

Today at the waterfronts of Istanbul one can see braziers on which sellers in the national costumes prepare fresh fish caught from the Bosphorus. Two minutes on each side, a huge fillet is put in a huge loaf of fresh white bread, flavored with lemon juice; then add a few leaves of lettuce, slices of onions and tomatoes, and that’s all! Fish kebab is ready. This is the Byzantine fast food: contemporaries recall that this was the way of cooking fish in the city, when it was called Constantinople. By the way, this is a very useful fast food. They also sell mussels with lemon juice in Istanbul. This kind of pleasure costs no more than two lire (about $ 1,5). Fish kebab costs from four to five lire (depending on how many vegetables they will put in a loaf with fish).

Ottoman fish

Turks paid great attention to food: even the Janissaries’ titles (Guard of the Sultans) derived from the cooking. For example, the foreman was called “the owner of a large spoon”, and a camp kettle was drawn at the coat of arms... The Turks, who came to Asia Minor from Siberia, were not familiar with the fish. Therefore, at first they did not pay much attention to fisheries. But for tens of years everything has changed, and from then the sultans at Topkapi Palace enjoyed the fish from the Bosphorus. The Turks had their own way of cooking fish. Like all nomads, they preferred to cook in the open air. Therefore, since the Ottoman Empire, the most common way of cooking fish in Turkey is roasting using wood or charcoal. The fish is cooked with a light smoke. Very tasty!

Restaurants

The main feature of a fish restaurant in Istanbul is the fact they prepare the fish before your very eyes. It swims in a special pool (trout, for example) or lies alive on the ice at the entrance of the restaurant. You choose the fish and they clean it and cook right before your eyes.

Where to find

Most fish restaurants in Istanbul are situated along the wharf of the Bosphorus. The Turks like to eat and believe that the beautiful view is a part of their meal. Kumkapi is another district full of fish restaurants. Finally, just a few meters from Istiklal (a pedestrian street in Taksim) the famous fish market is located. It is surrounded by fish restaurants offering all possible kinds of fish, oysters, shrimps, octopus, sea urchins and other sea delicacies.

Price

Everything depends on the restaurant you prefer. Dinner for two in a fish restaurant in Taksim will cost $ 40-50; in a pretentious restaurant overlooking the Bosphorus - up to $ 400. As you can see, the choice is very large - it all depends on your willingness and means...