Taxis on the Galata Bridge in Istanbul. Photo by TaxiBerlin<\/p>\n
Istanbul was the climax of September\u2019s great adventure in the Balkans with the coolest cab driver in Berlin.<\/p>\n
Hungry and determined to eat well on the cheap, we went without a guidebook and found three places to eat and drink that I would recommend to anyone traveling to, or even living in, Istanbul:<\/p>\n
1. BALKAN LOKANTASI: The food at this self-service cafeteria in the Sirkeci quarter near Istanbul\u2019s main train station is cheap (spend 5 Euros and you\u2019re full), simple and good \u2013 especially the eggplant dishes and the tomato rice.<\/p>\n
If you don\u2019t recognize any of the food on offer, the guys on staff are happy to explain what everything is \u2013 and if you\u2019re as nice to them as they are to you, they\u2019ll offer you a glass of Turkish black tea on the house. (Balkan Lokantasi, Hocapasa Mah. Hocapasa Sk. No 12 \/ Sirkeci, Istanbul).<\/p>\n
2. ISKELE BALIK EVI: The fish restaurants below the Galata Bridge on the Golden Horn in Istanbul may look tempting and have great views, but they\u2019re expensive. If you love seafood and like to eat with locals, skip the fancy fish and go to the seafood bazaar at the northeast corner of the Bridge, in the Karikoy neighborhood.<\/p>\n
A few stalls past the fish vendors, you\u2019ll find two cheap restaurants that serve only fish from the market. The second of the two, Iskele Balik Evi, fries the finest, freshest salt fish filet (dil baligi) I have ever tasted \u2013 and it only costs 7 Euros. If you go after 7:30pm, the staff may be able to find some (off-menu) wine for you, but only if the police aren\u2019t around. (Iskele Balik Evi, Fish Bazaar Stall #11, Karikoy \/ Istanbul)<\/p>\n
3. TURK OCAGI CAY BAHCESI: Between the Blue Mosque and the University of Istanbul, this Turkish tea house and shisha bar sits off the street, in back of a garden that resembles a graveyard. It may not be the best place in Istanbul to drink Turkish coffee (even if you ask for low sugar, they make it very sweet), but it is my favorite place in Istanbul to drink Turkish black tea (40 Eurocents a glass) and smoke shisha (apple tobacco, 5 Euros, with free refills).<\/p>\n
Even though it\u2019s on the Lonely Planet trail (we saw quite a few foreigners there with this guidebook in hand), the place is also very popular with locals, who sit and chat and smoke for hours. Watching the staff here is like watching a Turkish version of a Henry Ford assembly line \u2013 every person does only one job (serving tea, distributing water pipes, refilling tobacco, clearing tables) and does it very well. (T\u00fcrk Ocagi Cay Bahcesi, Cemberlitas Divanyolu Cad. No 82, Eminonu \/ Istanbul)<\/p>\n
How about you? Know any good places to eat and\/or drink in Istanbul? Feel free to share your favorites!<\/p>\n
via Eating & Drinking in Istanbul: 3 Taxi Driver Tips | Taxi Gourmet.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Taxis on the Galata Bridge in Istanbul. Photo by TaxiBerlin Istanbul was the climax of September\u2019s great adventure in the Balkans with the coolest cab driver in Berlin. Hungry and determined to eat well on the cheap, we went without a guidebook and found three places to eat and drink that I would recommend to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":83,"featured_media":110506,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[89],"tags":[102,5457],"class_list":["post-45612","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-turkey","tag-istanbul","tag-turkish-food"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45612","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/83"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=45612"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45612\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/110506"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45612"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=45612"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=45612"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}