Turkish Muse

Bosphorus Brewing Company

For as many bars as there are in Istanbul, there have never been any pubs. Not until now, anyway. Now that the Bosphorus Brewing Company has opened, Istanbul has its first and very own family-owned and -run English pub, complete with homemade lagers, ales, sausages and mash, and yes, even Sunday roast.

It’s the kind of thing people in Istanbul have been waiting for for ages: a place where they can get good beer – not just Efes or Tuborg or Bomonti – accompanied by decent food with good service in a pleasant atmosphere.

It’s not a lot to ask, really, but in Istanbul – particularly in Beyoglu with its proliferation of identical bars all serving otuzluks of Efes for 9 TL – a good-quality pub has always been elusive, one step above and beyond the status quo offerings of surly barmen whose only qualification is their literal ability to draw a tap.

But the Bosphorus Brewing Company clearly had something else in mind when it opened in mid-November.

There are 5 beers currently on tap, with a stout to come (it was available at opening, but quickly sold out). My personal favorites are the Halic Gold, a lively and strong beer (7.4% alcohol) and the Beer 81.

Just last week, we celebrated a friend’s birthday there, and Jeff and I started off with the 5-beer sampler: 5, 5-cl shots of beer to get a taste of each one. While I liked the Icmedik and the Istanbul Pale Ale, both reminded me quite a bit of what is already on offer in the local beer market. I imagine both would be excellent served cold in the summer time on the pub’s terrace, but after the sampling, I immediately went for a glass of the Beer 81, followed by the Halic Gold.

The food is excellent, as well, and very English -- sausages and mash, beer-battered shrimp, lamb curry, steak in ale, chile con carne (served over rice, very strange to this American), bread pudding and sticky toffee pudding.

The pub was packed last weekend, its second after opening, which was a good sign but of course not entirely unexpected. Any new place here attracts an immediate and large crowd, which can quickly wane as the months wear on and people grow bored and search out the next new thing.

While the Bosphorus Brewing Company is a boon for expats, pub culture does not really exist in Istanbul. As foreigners were pounding back beers last weekend, a large table was crowded with Turkish people, many of them women, each of who appeared to sip one beer over several hours. Clearly, local café culture -- in which people sit for hours sipping 2-3 teas and paying 3 TL for it -- will not transition well to a British pub.

Still, the Bosphorus Brewing Company offers something no one else in the city does, and for that, it is very likely to develop a loyal and faithful crowd.

More info: Bosphorus Brewing Company website

Trabzon: Anıl Pide

It is a sad fact that not all Turkish food is good in Turkey. I'm sure it must be like that everywhere. There must be, of course, lackluster croissants in France and fair to middlin' paella in Spain. But I find it to be especially sad that one of my favorite Turkish foods -- pide -- is something I cannot seem to find in Izmir.

There used to be an amazing Konyalı pide place just by our house, but after it closed due to general incompotence, I spent months trying to find a replacement. And I never did. Most of the pide made at the places I tried in Izmir came straight out of the kitchen soggy and wet -- how do they even do that? -- and had far too much oil than necessary. 

As a result, I haven't had good pide in months and they were long, long months. And when we went to Trabzon I more than made up for that.

When we told the driver we hired for the day that we wanted to eat pide for lunch, he said he knew just where to take us. We followed his lead and he took us straight to Anıl Pide, just off Ataturk Alanı in the heart of Trabzon's centre.

I started off with the Yaprak Pide, which reminded me a lot of lahmacun (below) and Jeff ordered the kapalı kiymalı pide (closed meat pide, above middle-right). Both were excellent, though they didn't quite make up for a months-long pidesiz existence.

So in the evening -- after our driver had left us and he coudn't see our secret shame -- we scurried back to the restaurant and tried a few more options. I know it's unorthodox, but tavuklu pide (pide with chicken) is one of my favorite types of pide. Actually, it IS my favorite type of pide. It's just that it's kind of difficult to find on most menus so I normally end up going with karışık (mixed), which I always hope means I get a few obligatory tomatoes instead of a half kilo of ground meat.

But when Jeff ordered his pide (below) we realized the secret to the Black Sea's pide reputation: butter. Copious amounts of butter. And not just used in the actual cooking but piled in a melting spoonful on top.

I figured after all those months of not eating pide, any amount of butter I ate that day would be more than worth it.

Useful info: Anıl Pide, Ataturk Alanı No 8, Trabzon, Tel: 0462 321 05 40 / 321 05 41

Levissi Garden in Kayaköy

Lest I left you thinking that all there is to do in Kayaköy is mourn sorrowfully at the ruins, let me introduce to you today a lovely little restaurant and wine cellar that provides the perfect setting for a bit of contemplation after visiting the abandoned town.

You can sit outside on the porch and watch the tour buses and dolmuşes go by (not my cup of tea) or you can sit in a covered area on the first floor (second floor for the Americans) and look out over some of the old homes.

It wasn't long, though, before Jeff and I ventured into the restaurant's wine cellar, which holds more than 400 different types of Turkish wine, some made from locally grown grapes, some not.

Though there were wines made from grapes grown in Diyarbakır and Ankara, we always like to choose a wine that's as close to where we are as possible and so we settled on a glass (which, ahem, turned into two) of Sermessos Syrah, made from Fethiye-grown grapes and processed in Denizli (nearly all Turkish wine is processed in Denizli).

The wine was truly lovely. I don't normally go for syrahs, but this one was particularly light and fruity, the result, our waiter informed us, of the fact that the wine is only fermented once, meaning that you can still taste the grape.

As you can see, we quite enjoyed it!

Practical Info: Levissi Garden (tel: 0533 247 59 34, 0252 618 01 08) is located immediately next to the entrance to Kayaköy, right where the dolmuş drops you off. When we were there, a glass of wine ran about 8 TL and a bottle about 45 TL. We also ordered two mezes, which were 9 TL each.

Next: A recipe for strawberry shortcake (and then more Fethiye!) Previously: Louis de Bernières in Kayaköy. Also: A photo journey video through Kayaköy.

Kekik Köfte

You would absolutely be forgiven if, while wandering down Alsancak's main drag, you wondered where all those culinary delights Izmir is known for are. Where are all the mezes in olive oil, you might wonder. Where are all the famous head meat (söğüş in Turkish) places and the lokum shops?

In fact, if you walked down Kibris Şehitleri Caddesi, the main pedestrian street in Alsancak, and saw the "fried chicken" joint masquerading as a Chinese restaurant, an Applebees-wanna-be where the 7 TL hamburgers really do sound too good to be true, and several pizza places sporting names like Pizza Tomato and Stockholm Pizza (I am not making this up) and turned right back to your hotel to eat nuts from the mini-bar, I wouldn't blame you.

Yes, Coco Loco is the actual name of a restaurant. Sigh.

But if you did that, you'd miss Kekik Köfte, one of the street's food highlights, and I'd be remiss if I didn't tell you about it.

It's a pretty safe bet that if you're at a restaurant named after a particular dish, you'll probably do well to order that dish. And while Kekik Köfte certainly does offer a wide variety of classic Turkish dishes, its signature dish and namesake is most certainly what the majority of customers order and what keeps people coming back.

When Jeff and I are in Alsancak, Kekik Köfte is our lunch spot of choice these days, as we're still not tired of the classic combination of köfte, bread, tomato sauce and yogurt! But Kekik's köfte is slightly different than your average, run-of-the-mill meatball: it's moister, shaped somewhat like inegol kofte, and far tastier than izgara (grilled) köfte.

Don't the köfte look like little breakfast sausage links? Thankfully, they don't taste like breakfast sausage links; I can't stand those. When I was living part-time in Istanbul during the week for work a few months ago, I used to dream about kekik köfte while considering my dinner options. It was kind of crazy, now that I think about it, to be in Turkey's culinary capital and to pine for a food from another city! But, really, that's how good this is!

The Practical Info: Kekik Köfte, Kibris Şehitleri Caddesi No. 17, Alsancak, tel: 0232 464 9594. See a map of Kekik Köfte's location here. There are actually two options when it comes to kekik köfte, one served with just bread and the other with tomato sauce and yogurt, which is absolutely the one you want. Both variations cost 9 TL and include a complimentary salad (called ikram salatası in Turkish) of lettuce, grated carrot and pickled cabbage, plus a small plate of cheese and (more!) bread.

Cerveza: Izmir's Dart Bar

It's a sad fact that in Turkey all bars are basically the same. There are no pubs here with half a dozen ales and lagers on tap, there are no dive bars where the vodka tonic is a bit too strong, and there are very far bars that make every effort differentiate themselves from any other place.

Most bars here are pretty much exactly the same: same chairs, same tables, same crappy music, same Efes beer. In fact, some bars are even called "Efes Beer Pub" just so you know what exactly is on tap. As if it's any different from the guy next door, or the guy next door to him. Maybe, if you're lucky, instead of Efes, there will be Tuborg on tap, but never at the same bar. It's either one or the other.

That's why Cerveza, a small bar in our neighborhood, is kind of refreshing. We first started going there when we moved to Izmir a year and a half ago, and to be honest, I'm not sure why exactly. It probably had something to do with the fact that the people there were nice to us instead of surly like most of the other bars in our neighborhood.

It probably helped too that the inside looked cool; with its dark green booths and wood paneling, Cerveza reminded me of a real pub, a place with character, not just the result of some guy's dream to get rich quick by selling a few pints of Efes and overpriced french fries to Izmirlis on a Friday night. It's a place where people know each other's names. And the bartender remembers that you like your Efes in a glass from the freezer.

Plus, Cerveza had a dart board, and no body else had a dart board. Back when we first moved here, there was only one dart board, affixed to one narrow wall like an afterthought almost.

But then, the one dart board became three and pretty soon an entire wall was dedicated to the dart boards. Naturally, the tables had to be rearranged. Slowly, the game began to catch on and regulars started coming back two, three, sometimes four nights a week to play against their friends.

 
And that's when Jeff started going more regularly, and I started to go too, on the weekends I was at home during those few months recently when I worked in Istanbul. Tuesday nights became practice nights and Thursday nights became league nights (the only night of the week when, if you're not part of the league, you can't play darts).

Then, last month, the bar started hosting meze and raki night on Wednesdays, another way of differentiating itself from the many other bars on the street.

And even though the dart boards are supposed to officially be closed on Wednesday nights, for those people (ahem, like myself) not too keen on darts, the boys couldn't help themselves last week.

Next time you're in Izmir, stop by one night. Maybe you'll find us there.

The Practical Info: Cerveza, Cemal Gürsel Caddesi 470, Bostanli. Tel: 0232 364 4700. To get there, walk from the Bostanli Ferry Station towards Karsiyaka. At the first light, turn left and you will a road that sort of forks to the right away from Hasan Ali Yucel Boulevard (the street you were just walking on). This street is Cemal Gürsel Caddesi. The bar is just up ahead on the right. See a map of where Cerveza is here.

Bergama (Pergamon), Turkey

Ancient temples. Hellenistic citadels. Archaeological ruins.

They're what trips in Turkey are made of, and our visit to Bergama (Pergamon) last week was no different. Jeff and I spent about 24 hours (we had intended to spend 48 but ran out of things to do) visiting Bergama's major sites: the Acropolis, Red Basilica and the Asclepion. We intended to also visit the Archaeology Museum but upon learning that only the ethnography section was open, we decided to skip it.

Unlike Selcuk, which is home to Efes (Ephesus), Bergama is a bit provincial and, seeing as how it doesn't get nearly as many tourists, also a lot quieter. What it has going for it is the ancient city of Pergamon's Acropolis and Rome's famous medical center, the Asclepion.

First on our list of things to do was the Acropolis (the citadel of Pergamon). We had to take a cable car ride to the top of a very steep hill. The good part of the ride was that since we were ascending parallel to the hill the entire time, there was never a great distance between us and the ground. The bad part of the ride was that we had chosen a particularly windy (and cold!) day to go to Bergama and so the car rocked back and forth like crazy.

I do love trekking around archaeological sites, but I will be the first to admit that I am not very good at photographing them. I'm never sure what exactly I am looking at (unless there's a sign nearby) and I usually come home with hundreds of photos of piles of rocks.

But every now and again, I am moved by a particular scene, and it's quite easy to snap a photo, like this view of the defensive walls and parts of the theatre.

The theatre carved into the hillside at Pergamon is really cool, mainly because it is one of the steepest of all Hellenistic theatres. Usually Hellenistic theatres (like the one at Efes) are wider and rounder, but this one is quite vertical. It is probably the only theatre I've visited where I couldn't sit down on the steps because I couldn't figure out how to get down to them!

The acropolis of Pergamon was modelled after the one in Athens so if you've been there, you'll notice some similarities between the one in Greece and the one here, though there isn't as much left of Pergamon's.

After taking the cable car back down and walking about a kilometre or so, past lots of old Greek houses that would be so beautiful with a bit of restoration, we inadvertently passed the Red Basilica, originally built as a temple to several Egyptian gods. Christians then built a basilica inside it, and now a small tower is used as a mosque.

It's interesting to see if only because it is one of the Seven Churches of the Revelation (or the Apocalypse) and St John of Patmos signalled this church out as the throne of the devil, which Jeff is quite adept at demonstrating here.

The next day, we headed over to the Asclepion, the ancient medical center where sick people were "cured" of their illnesses via massage, mudbaths, drinking sacred water and dream analysis. It sounds silly today, but Galen, who is considered the world's greatest early physician, did work here that was the basis for medicine into the 16th century.

There's a Roman bazaar street, once lined with shops, that led to the Ascleption's entrance. Inside, there are fine, upright columns of a long-gone library, a temple and a theatre.

But I think my favorite part of the Asclepion was venturing into an underground tunnel to the area of the medical center where people slept overnight and received their prognosis via dream analysis.

It was said that in these rooms, patients dreamt and received prognoses through Asclepios, the god of medicine. I imagined people laying fitfully in bed, waiting to fall asleep, hoping that when they woke up they would be cured.

It had been a long time that Jeff and I had been wanting to visit Bergama, and I'm so glad we finally did it! I wouldn't say that it is an essential part of a tour of Turkey, but I think if you're interested in Greek and Roman history, or like archaeological sites, Bergama is a neat place to spend a day.

Practical Information: The cable car ride to the top of the Acropolis costs 8 TL per person, roundtrip. Admittance to the Acropolis itself is 20 TL. Entry to the Red Basilica will cost you 5 TL, so decide for yourself if you want to poke around inside or just admire the building from the sidewalk (I would recommend the latter as you can't actually go inside the basilica for safety reasons). Admittance to the Asclepion is 15 TL.

We stayed the night at the Akropolis Guest House, a lovely little place in old Bergama set amidst Greek houses. It was low season while we were there and they were clearly doing some renovation and decorating for the start of spring, so I didn't take any photos. A double room cost us 70 TL and included a lovely breakfast.

For lunch, definitely try the famous Bergama köfte, which you can find all over town. For dinner, head up to the Bergama Ticaret Odası Sosyal Tesisleri (the Bergama Municipal Restaurant), which serves great meze, kebaps and organic wine for quite reasonable prices.

To get to Bergama from Izmir, take a Metro bus from the otogar (they leave every 30 minutes), which will cost you 8 TL and take about 1.5 hours.

Çengelköy, Istanbul

We're having a bit of a cold snap here in Izmir, and from what I can tell from my friends' Facebook feeds, Istanbul's having one too. I don't mind it though because I know that in no time the heat will descend upon us here on the Aegean and I will be whining and whinging about how hot it is.

But the chill coming off the water these days does remind me of a lovely trip I took a while back with a good friend of mine in Istanbul. It was late summer, the heat was stifling and we escaped it by heading north to Çengelköy, a laid-back suburb on the city’s northern Asian shore.

Çengelköy is not the Istanbul most tourists know. There is no hustle here, no pushy salesmen, no “Yes, please, do you want to buy carpet?”. This is a place where locals come to escape the city’s oppressive summer heat or celebrate the start of spring and unwind before the start of another busy week.

Just getting to Çengelköy is half the fun: Board a ferry at either Arnvavutköy or Bebek and drink in the view of Istanbul from the Bosphorus. (On Sundays, take a ferry from Beşiktaş to Üsküdar, then a taxi or bus.) When you disembark, stroll through the small streets, taking in the local butchers, sweet shops and used bookstores.

But undoubtedly what everyone comes to Çengelköy for is its famous café -- the Tarihi Cinaralti Aile Cay Bahcesi -- that allows you to bring your own breakfast while waiters scurry around in figure eights, skillfully doling out tulip-shaped glasses of Turkish tea from heavy silver trays.

There’s not a tourist in sight in the entire tea garden, just Turkish families, young couples, and groups of friends enjoying the Bosphorus breeze on a steamy August morning. Some people lay out red-and-white checkered tablecloths and open plastic containers of cheese, olives and sliced tomatoes. But many more will load up on savory pastries and sımıt, a sesame-seed bread ring, at Çengelköy’s fine bakeries to have with their tea.

For something truly special, visit Seval Pastanesi, Çengelköy’s oldest bakery, which specializes in French-style macaroons and savory petit fores. Don’t leave without trying the salty corn, feta cheese and dill pastry (called mısır petit fore in Turkish).

I won't be back in Istanbul again until next month, and I am afraid there won't be any time for a leisurely trip north, but I've already got my eye on Çengelköy for the summer, for one Sunday morning when I get a hankering for some cool Bosphorus air and a macaroon.

Eskişehir

Last weekend was the first time since early November that Jeff and I took a trip and by the time Friday night rolled around I was chomping at the bit to get to Eskişehir -- of all places! -- and have a look around at someplace new.

Known in Turkey mostly as a university town on account of it being home to Anadolu University and Ozmangazı University and for the Venetian-like canals that run through it, Eskişehir has never really been on my list of must-see places in Turkey. And, truth be told, now that I have been there, it still isn't. However, I would say that if you found yourself in the city for a couple of days there is indeed plenty to do and lots of locally-made handicrafts to purchase.

We actually went to Eskişehir for a Dart in Turkey Championship and since Jeff plays on the Izmir league -- or did anyway -- we both got to go and have a bit of trip while Jeff played darts. Well, let's just say he played darts a little bit. There was a bit of a kerfuffle with his dart license.

Yup, you read that right. You have to get a license to play darts competitively in Turkey. What? Did you think Ankara was just going to let you show up somewhere, drink a few Efes and throw some darts? Not if it's a competitive game, they won't. And they'll be happy to take 10 TL from you too.

Except if you're a foreigner, they'll want to take 250 TL from you. Why? No one is really sure, not even the people in Ankara, who couldn't explain to us what exactly the 250 TL went towards or what is essentially different about an American and a Turk playing darts in Turkey.

Jeff tried to fight the cost and for several hours we went around and around with the guys from Ankara, to no avail because at the end, they took Jeff's dart license away.

But who wants to play darts competitively anyway, right, when you can still play at the local bar with all your friends?

As Jeff was attempting to sort this out, I managed to do some damage to my wallet by buying some lovely handicrafts from the area. Eskişehir's major claim to world fame is that it is the sole source for meerschaum, the soft white clay used to make pipes. It's also used to make carved animal figurines such as turtles (which symbolize a long life) and elephants (for luck).

The dart tournament was held at the Haller Gençlik Merkezi, a youth center with shops, bars and cafes for students to hang out in and a first floor with space available to rent out. That's where I picked up an adorable hand-carved meerschaum elephant, which I am going to use to officially start my elephant collection, something I've wanted to do for ages.

At the shop, ZEA Hediyelik Eşya, I learned the difference between hand-carved meerschaum and machine made. The bright white meerschaum is machine made while the more mottled, slightly cream-colored meerchaum is hand-carved. Note the difference in color between these handcarved elephants:

And these machine-carved ones, which also lack the individuality of the handcarved ones:

Or this pipe also carved by hand:

Eskişehir is also known for its handblown glass, and there is a museum dedicated to the art in town. I decided to skip the museum itself and instead on Sunday we ventured to the Historic Odunpazarı Evleri and the Atlıhan El Sanatları Çarşısı (Handicraft Center), where local craftsmen are still making glass art and selling them at the Somer Sanat Evi.

Jeff and I immediately fell in love with a couple of gorgeous pitchers intricately painted with orange flowers and a set of bookends covered in finely painted flower details. But since both of those things were out of our price range, we instead opted to pick up this cute candle holder. You put a tealight in the bottom and some perfume oil and water in the top to add fragrance to a room. Cool, huh?

Lunch directly across the street at Köfteci Ahmet was fabulous. We went in and were wondering what kind of kofte to get when the waiter asked us if we wanted our lunch with yogurt or without. That sure made ordering easy as there was only one dish served!

After lunch, we strolled among the historic Odunpazarı Evleri (Odunpazarı Houses) and came across this craftsman carving out some meerschaum for pipes.

We walked among gorgeously restored Ottoman-era houses:

Some of the houses are still waiting to be restored, like this one on the right:

Our trip was short, so we didn't see much else. I wouldn't mind going back to Eskişehir when it's warmer and taking a gondola trip along the canals, which I imagine would be great fun. For such an out of the way city, Eskişehir actually does have quite a bit going for it.

Useful Info:

ZEA Hediyelik Eşya
Haller Gençlik Merkezi No 26
Tel: 0222 330 96 90

Antep Sofrası (for an awesome dinner)
Cengiz Topel Cad No 57
Tel: 0222 231 31 26

Atlıhan El Sanatları Çarşısı
Paşa Mh. Pazaroğlu Sk
Odunpazarı

Somer Sanat Evi
Necil Somer (owner)
Atlıhan El Sanatları Çarşısı No. 22
Tel: 0554 928 9109

Köfteci Ahmet
Paşa Mh. Pazaroğlu Sk No. 1/B (Odunpazarı Meydanı)
Tel: 0222 234 5179

To get there: Flights available on Turkish Airlines from Istanbul and Ankara. Or take the train via TCDD.

Where to stay: Grand Namlı Hotel (warning: annoying music plays), Eskibağlar Mh. Üniversite Cad. No 14, Tel: 0222 322 1515. 90 TL for a single, 110 for a double. Great breakfast buffet with filter coffee!

 

Sevilen Vineyards

While Izmir lacks many counterparts to Istanbul's more cosmopolitan and international offerings, it does have one thing that makes it truly great: the world-class restaurant of Turkey's best winemaker, Sevilen.

Just one stop from the airport on the train is Sevilen's piéce de résistance, the Isa Bey restaurant where Sevilen shows off its wines with some stellar food.

We visited the vineyards and restaurant a couple of weeks ago one sunny Saturday afternoon with a few friends of ours who had called ahead to arrange a short tour of the vineyards. The guide was remarkably knowledgeable about Sevilen and its history.

At the 40-plus acres of vineyards in Izmir, Sevilen grows mostly sauvignon blanc and merlot, both of which thrive in Izmir's hot summer climate.

After a quick tour of the vineyards, we settled in for for the real reason we had come: tasting the wine! We tried three of Sevilen's red wines: kalecik karası, boğazkere/öküzgözü, and merlot. Kalecik karası is one of Turkey's most famous grapes for wine making and is grown in and around the Ankara region. It's often a fruity and light red wine, and Sevilen's was no exception to the rule.

Boğazkere is not one of my favorite Turkish wines: it's dark, rich and strong, and goes well with red meat. Often, it's paired with öküzgözü which tempers some of boğazkere's richness. But Sevilen's pairing of the two didn't impress me: the wine had a metallic finish that left a bitter taste in my mouth.

Oh, but the merlot. The merlot was where I thought Sevilen hit its stride. The wine's complex chocolately and fruity aroma had me right away, and its long finish would be great paired with meze and cheeses.

After the tasting, we moved onto the Isa Bey restaurant, ordered a bottle of the sauvignon blanc and a large cheese plate that included huge wedges of blue cheese, gouda, carlsberg, kaşar and tulum.

 
Round two included a bottle of merlot to go with our grilled hellim cheese and stewed tomatoes. Fried hellim cheese is often served on top of salad in these parts, but goodness did it ever taste good served with sweet tomatoes that had been stewed so long all the sugars had been released. The tomatoes' sweetness paired with the salty hellim was, frankly, amazing. In fact, I think that's what I'm having for dinner tonight.

Sevilen isn't just known in Turkey for its wines: two of its wines -- Centum (a syrah) and Fume Blanc (a sauvignon blanc) -- are served in two of the world's best restaurants: the Fat Duck in the UK serves the Centum and the el Bulli in Spain serves one or the other or both, but their website is such a pain in the ass I couldn't learn which one they served.

And, as a matter of fact, because my husband rocks, he bought us a bottle of the Fume Blanc (it's not as expensive as you might think -- only 55 TL!) to celebrate my departure to Istanbul to start a new job the following day. Pretty sweet of him, huh?

The best part about Sevilen -- apart from its wine and the great food, so let's say the third best part about Sevilen -- is that's not located too far away from the central city. In fact, it's only one stop on the train from the airport.

If you go: Take the train from the Alsancak train station to Cumaovası, which is the train's last stop. Upon departing, you'll find that the sidewalk ends and you're faced with a dirt clearing next to a house. Walk past the house and turn left and you'll see the restaurant straight ahead. Find more information about Sevilen at their website.

Karaköy Güllüoğlu

I'm an avid lover of most Turkish foods. I can get behind tomato and cucumber salads ("What? No ranch dressing?" says my husband), bread without butter, french fries served with my omlettes, but there is one area of Turkish cuisine that simply doesn't suit me and that's dessert.

I couldn't care any less about künefe or kadayif or, dare I say it?, baklava any more than I already do. I will happily, gleefully choose apple pie or cheesecake or chocolate cake with peanut butter frosting or oatmeal-raisin cookies or peach cobbler -- I could go on here, but I think you get the idea -- before choosing a Turkish dessert. Except pistachio ice cream. I do make exceptions for that.

Which is a really long-winded way of saying that until just a couple of weeks ago, I had never been to Istanbul's most famous baklava restaurant, Karaköy Güllüoğlu. I'd eaten baklava a few times, sure, but I hadn't yet gone to the mecca of all Turkish baklava joints, the one place where everyone says you simply must go in order to taste truly divine baklava. (Other than Syria, of course.)

That place would be Karaköy Güllüoğlu in, where else, Karaköy. Confusingly, there are other shops in Istanbul with the same name, but this shop has been in the same location near the seafront since 1949 and it has no other branches anywhere else in the city.

Not being a connoisseur of baklava myself, I do feel somewhat irresponsible judging whether or not Karaköy Güllüoğlu's Antepli baklava is indeed better than anyone else's, but I will say that I like it, that it somehow does taste more refined than most other baklava I've had, less like many disparate sheets of phyllo dough covered in syrup and more like a single melted sweet soaked in syrup.

I'm not saying I'm going to renounce my apple pie-, chocolate cake-, crisp- and cobbler-eating tendencies, but when I'm in the Karaköy neighborhood I may just pop in for a little something sweet now and again.

If you go: Karaköy Güllüoğlu, Rıhtım Cad., Katlı Otopark Altı, Karaköy, Tel: 212 293 0910