As you’ll remember from our street food post, fish is regularly available in Istanbul, and for not much money. Yes, you can go to a fancy restaurant and introduce yourself to your dinner before you eat it (see above). But you can also stand, eating a large fish sandwich with onions and lemon on crusty bread, for astonishingly little money (see below). We love that about living here! And we’ve taken ample advantage of all kinds of fish and seafood during our stay.
For instance, we did finally try those mussels (but not on the street). They always come steamed, and always stuffed with rice. We’re not bragging, but we estimate we could eat a hundred of them. Not, you understand, because we are greedy but because they are that good (especially the spicy ones!). And we’ve eaten lots of shrimp, mostly small ones, usually smothered in butter and tomato sauce, sometimes with cheese, baked in a casserole. Another treat, at least if you like ’em, is anchovies and mackerel. They’re now out of season, but we had our fill before they disappeared, once in a quiche-like dish that was a bit much for us. Calamari are still around, and we’ve been enjoying them fried and grilled.
And finally, there are regular old white fish. Though they are anything but ordinary! They go by a variety of names here, and come in a variety of styles, including, fresh off the boat slapped into a roll. The one we eat most often is just above, lightly browned and served with greens, lemon, and onion. It comes from our favourite fish joint in Aksaray. We also have a lot to say about fish soup, as you may remember from our fish-eating in Oslo. But we’ll save that for another day…
