Eating Istanbul part one

 

Some people go for the Blue Mosque, the Aga Sophia or a Bosphorus trip. I returned to Istanbul for the food. Particularly the mackerel sandwiches sold by the Galatea bridge, and dried flaked pepper, pul biber.

Friday morning 9.30am I’m ready and waiting in Cihangir, sitting outside a café nursing a cup of chai, watching the rain drip through the plastic awnings. I’d booked a food tour with Istanbul Eats, which organises tours for small groups of people to get a taste of the real city. The cost (it’s not cheap) and the thought the places we’d see would already be on the tourist trail had made me apprehensive. Both considerations went out the window from the word go. Meghan greets me cheerily, takes me to our first venue and disappears to round up the other guests.