Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Tipping
»
In restaurants, bistros and
meyhanes
, a 10% tip is standard if you have been satisfied with the
service.
»
There's usually no expectation that customers will tip at cafes,
lokantas
,
kebapçıs
,
köftecıs
and
pidecis.
FAST FOOD
The nation's favourite fast food is undoubtedly döner kebap - lamb slow-cooked on an
upright revolving skewer and then shaved off before being stuffed into bread or pide.
Soggy cold French fries and green chillies are sometimes included; at other times garlicky
yoghurt, salad and a sprinkling of slightly sour sumac are the accompaniments.
Coming a close second in the popularity stakes is
pide
, the Turkish version of pizza. It
has a canoe-shaped base topped with
peynir
(cheese),
yumurta
(egg) or
kıymalı
(minced
meat). A
karaşık
pide has a mixture of toppings. You can sit down to eat these in a
pideci
(Turkish pizza parlour) or ask for your pide
paket
(wrapped to go).
Lahmacun
(Arabic-
style pizza) has a thinner crust than pide and is usually topped with chopped lamb, onion
and tomato.
Börek
(filled pastries) are usually eaten in the morning and are distinguished by their
filling, cooking method and shape. They come in square, cigar or snail shapes and are
filled with
peynir
,
ıspanaklı
(spinach),
patates
(potatoes) or
kıymalı
. Bun-shaped
poğaca
are glazed with sugar or stuffed with cheese and olives.
Su böreği
, a melt-in-the-mouth
lasagne-like layered pastry laced with white cheese and parsley, is the most popular of all
börek
styles.
Gözleme
(thin savoury crepes cooked with cheese, spinach or potato) are also great
quick snacks.
STREET FOOD
Street vendors pound pavements across İstanbul, pushing carts laden with artfully ar-
ranged snacks to satisfy the appetites of commuters. You'll see these vendors next to ferry
and bus stations, on busy streets and squares, even on the city's bridges.
Some of their snacks are innocuous - freshly baked
simits
(bread ring studded with ses-
ame seeds), golden roasted
mısır
(corn on the cob), refreshing chilled and peeled
salatalık
(cucumber) - but others are more confrontational for non-Turkish palates. Those in the
