Kadikoy Restaurant Tips by mindcrime

Fazil Bey’in Turk Kahvesi: Fezil Bey’in Turk Kahvesi

This a tiny café that serves original Turkish coffee, they also sell freshly roasted genuine Turkish coffee.
Turkish coffee costs 4,50YTR, cappuccino 7YTR, tea 2,50YTR, ginger lemonade 5YTR (that was tasty too). We enjoyed our coffee on a rainy morning when people were passing by rushing to get to their homes. The coffee was served with a lokum, how traditional this was!

there’s a sister café at Bagdat Cad 350 e Saskinbakkal, Kadikoy

Address: Serasker Cad No 3, Old Kadikoy Bazaar

Comparison: about average

Phone: +90-2164502870

Price: less than US$10

Rating: 4

Theme: Coffeehouse

Website: http://www.fazilbey.com

Mercan Kokorec: Mercan Kokorec

When we asked our local friend for a kokoretsi he suggested Mercan restaurant(pic 1). I have to admit that we got a bit disappointed of the small portion and the different style of the food (it was chopped in small pieces while we are used in big pieces of it).

Kokoretsi (kokorec in turkish) in turkish) is a common dish in Balkan countries, in Greece we usually eat it on easter Sunday when we roasted on horizontal skewers over charcoal. The roots of food and its name comes from Albania(kukurec). European Union tried to ban this food but people in Balkan countries still like to eat it. In case you don’t know it its consisting of intestines of suckling lamb, usually wrapped with offal and kidneys.

At Mercan restaurant the portion was small (pic 2) but tasty and as usual seasoned with lemon juice, salt/pepper, olive oil and oregano, I also took a sandwich with kokorec(pic 3, weird to see a sandwich like that) which was a bit spicy due to the peppers. We washed them down with beer

The service was quick and friendly, we didn’t really tried something else here but they also serve a lot of fishes (8-20YTR), midye (mussels) in portion(7YTR) or with sandwich, midye dolma(3YTR). There are some small dishes (meze), most of them cost 5YTR (beyaz peynir, kavun, hamsi marin, levrek sarma, potato salad etc)

Address: Yasa Cad. No 48, Kadikoy

Comparison: less expensive than average

Phone: (0216)3466656

Price: US$11-20

Rating: 3

Theme: Local

Website: http://www.mercankokorec.com

Halil Lahmacun: Halil Lahmacun

The best place to try Lahmacun in Kadikoy is Halil Lahmacun. In some other place is too oily but here is dry enough and I prefer it this way.

Lahmacun (which is very popular all over Middle East) is a round thin soft piece of dough topped with spicy sauce and minced meat and parsley. It is sprinkled with lenon juice and wrapped with pickles, tomatoes, peppers and onions.

You can sit there and enjoy your lahmacun while they prepare them but you can also take them out (the rain had just stopped so we preferred not to stay inside).

One lahmacun costs 3YTR. You can also try Peynirli Pide (pie with cheese) and wash them down with Cola, Linonata, Ayran (2YTR), soda (1YTR), water (1YTR).

The also serve the famous Turkish dessert Künefe for 5YTR but we didn’t try it here.

Address: Güneşlibahçe Sokak 26, Kadikoy

Comparison: less expensive than average

Phone: 0216-3370123

Price: less than US$10

Rating: 4

Theme: Local

Website: http://www.halillahmacun.com