Try a Doner Kabob, one of the best known Turkish snacks / intan_a

March 10 – Turkish food is one of the most complex and interesting cuisines of the world. The city of Istanbul was first Byzantium and then Constantinople, always being a bridge between Europe and Asia. Influenced by both visiting merchants and lands the Ottomans conquered, Turkish food has a little of this, a little of that, but retains its status of standing apart from the crowd.

Meals at a proper restaurant in Istanbul are often a lengthy affair meant to be savored, but grabbing a quick bite on the street is also a fun aspect of travel in Istanbul. You can go for inexpensive and filling snacks or something more involved depending on the neighborhood and your mood. Here are a few Istanbul street food items you’re likely to find as you tour this city filled with history and energy.

Should the city win the IOC nod for the 2020 Summer Games Olympic fans will be exploring all the different types of cuisine the city has to offer.

Döner kebab – Turkey’s best-known item has made its way around the world over the centuries and become a part of the street scene intact or combined with other traditions (like tacos al pastor in Mexico City). Usually you’ll get lamb roasted on a vertical spit, cut off in thin slices and stuffed into a fresh sub roll or pita bread. Sometimes you’ll see chicken or beef instead, especially in tourist areas.

Lahmacun – Usually referred to as a Turkish-style pizza, it tastes a lot different than any pizza you’ve had. It usually has a lot of minced lamb and a little minced cheese sprinkled on top a baked bread layer thin enough to roll up and eat on the go after squeezing some lemon juice on top. If you see “pide,” that’s the same bread, sometimes a bit puffier, topped with other items.

Börek – This is served in restaurants and on the street, a flaky pastry with some type of filling. The most popular kind has a salty white cheese inside, but you’ll also find them made with spinach (with or without cheese), minched meat, or potato. These are especially popular with locals for breakfast.

Balık ekmek – Think of this as the seafood eater’s döner kebab. It’s simply fresh fish grilled or fried that is stuffed into a large hunk of bread baked that day. You’ll find stands by waterfront walkways, including in Eminönü, on the shore next to the Galata Bridge in central Istanbul.

Simit – A cross between a bagel and a pretzel, this is a ring-shaped bread topped with toasted sesame seeds, You’ll often see them sold by men carrying a whole stack of them on a pole, shouting out “Simit! Simit!”

Kestane and Misur – These are two seasonal items often sold by the same vendors doing a switch-out according to the time of year. Kestane is roasted chestnuts, sold in the cold months. Misur is grilled corn with toppings, sold in corn season.

http://www.sportsfeatures.com/olympicsnews/story/50055/the-delightful-street-food-of-istanbul

The capital of Turkey is paradise for those who love budget travel and a glitzy culture. It’s also a haven for foodies with street food ruling the roost. Here’s a list of the top street food you must try in the vivid souqs and markets of Istanbul -

• Midye Dolma is mussels filled with rice, pine nuts, raisins and spices. This is had with a dash of lemon and olive oil
• Borek pies baked with a filling of local cheeses, spinach, or meat are the breakfast favorites as the locals head out to work
• Yaprak Sarma is a dish of vine leaves stiffed with rice, and herbs. It is cooked in olive oil and served with a yogurt sauce
• Doner Durum, a toasted dürüm is served with kaşar cheese and döner meat. Döner is typically lamb, chicken, or beef grilled on a vertical skewer.
• Dilli Kaşarlı is  sliced smoked tongue with kaşar.
• Lahmacun is a flatbread served with minced vegetables and minced meat
• A medley of pickled cabbage, pepper, cucumber, and other vegetables served in a spicy juice is sold from street carts across the city.
• Sucuk Ekmek is ground beef and spices served in bread as a sandwich
• Chicken and chickpeas Pilav (steamed rice)is served hot from carts at night

The luscious food culture of Tukey, Istanbul in particular, is the crown of this tourist paradise.

http://blog.mapsofworld.com/2013/01/19/worlds-top-10-cities-for-street-food-istanbul/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=worlds-top-10-cities-for-street-food-istanbul

You can judge a city by its street food. You know you are in a good place if you can just go out and have something warm and delicious in your hand for under five bucks. Unless you are in a port town and the thing in your hand is attached to a person.

Today we are going to put two street food staples to the test. Tantuni has the upper hand, nominally by not containing innards, and it probably would get the nod from most late night food consumers who are into keeping a gutful of piss down. Kokerec, on the other hand, looks like The Giant Amazonian Pus Maggot being turned on a spit.

But the numbers don’t lie. Far more kokereç sandwiches are downed every Friday night than tantunis. So let’s match them up.

Photo taken from http://istanbuleats.com

For the untested, kokereç is intestines and tripe all tightly wound into the aforementioned maggot-shaped tube. It is the spitted and cooked slowly over glowing hot coals. When you order, an end will be sliced off and the resulting disk will be placed on a flat grill and chopped until it is finely diced. Then it is transferred to a white bread roll. Chili flakes, salt and oregano are added, the master then twists some paper around it and you are ready to dine. Sounds good? F**k yeah. It is good. Great on a cold night, possibly walking to a football match.

Tantuni features double cooked meat rolled in flat bread. Hailing from Mersin in the south-east, this delicious snack is only authentic if it is cooked in cotton seed oil, cotton being the main trade good from down there. The meat is cooked in large batches and then it sits on the counter waiting for someone brave and hungry enough to eat meat that has been sitting out all day. It claims to be beef, but, come on, do the math (or maths if you prefer). Beef is through the roof expensive, whereas seagull and cat are pretty much free. Yes? Do you see it now? Anyway, when you order a tantuni, a portion of the meat is swept into a big cooking thing like a wok. More cotton-seed oil, sumac, chili powder and salt are added, and the flat bread is draped over the whole pan to prevent any grease not being left out of your tantuni. Then it is rolled up and placed on a plastic plate.

Photo taken from http://istanbuleats.com

Both are delicious needless to say. So now the breakdown:

Bread: The traditional white roll of the kokereç makes eating this easy, and they are more filling, given the quantity of bread. It soaks up the juices as well. 4/5

The flat bread of the tantuni is soft too but the thinness makes it unstable and only the best roller can stop this from breaking up under the wetness of the meat. 3/5

Filling: The meat of the kokereç is so shrouded in other spices that I suspect that they are there in “masking” quantities. I have heard of no one eating kokerec plain. 3/5

The “beef” in the tantuni, at its best, is succulent and savoury. Such is the quantity of oil that you rarely get chewy meat. But then there are the abiding suspicions…4/5

Spices: Kokereç goes for simple but effective: chili and oregano.  They are perfect complement to the meat. 5/5

Tantuni feels like it is just a touch too sexy and exotic for it’s own good. No one flavor can be enjoyed as they all compete for your attention like traders in a bazaar. 4/5

Grease: Yes, your secret weapon when fighting a pre-emptive war against a hangover. The kokerec grease comes in the form of straight up and down nastyass white fat. It is good, but you can actually hear it adhering to your arteries. 2/5

Tantuni, done in cotton seed oil, has to be better for you. Right? It certainly slips down your throat with a lot more vim, and doesn’t coat the inside of your mouth like the kokereç version. 5/5

Overall: With 16 out of 20, it seems that the tantuni is the Istanbulletin’s street food of choice. Overall, it appears that it edges kokerec (on 14) by virtue of being slightly less nasty. I mean, kokerec is guts after all.

But why does the kokerec outsell tantuni in such quantities? It is another Istanbul mystery.

To find the best of both, head to Besiktas. The Kartal Kokereç Cafe has the freshest bread and the most succulent kokerec, while just around the corner Suat 33 Mersin tantuni delivers the real deal.

http://theistanbulletin.com/tag/street-food/