Istanbul_ The Collected Traveler_ An Inspired Companion Guide - Barrie Kerper [164]
Wooden spoons: Wooden spoons in an impressive range of sizes can also be found in most markets across Turkey as well as small shops around the Spice Market. Many of the large ladles are characteristically hand-carved.
Porcelain: If stepping back into the past with Ottoman-flavored menus appeals, try out some of the glassware and porcelain based on that used in the Topkapı and Dolmabahçe palaces. To find these items, you will need to step away from the hustle and bustle of Eminönü and visit one of the many shops and outlets that specialize in recreating these touches of the past.
Kitchen Supply Stores
Bozaydin (Nalburlar/Sobacılar Sokak 11, Eminönü / +90 212 522 3134). For a range of griddles and pastry trays.
Kütahya Porselen (kutahyaporselen.com.tr). For a range of traditional-style coffee cups, pitchers, and service plates.
Paşabahçe (pasabahce.com.tr). Paşabahçe has many stores; the Butik section houses a range of traditional Ottoman-inspired pieces.
TBMM Milli Saraylar Depo-Müze (Located in the old Dolmabahçe kitchens in Beşiktaş / +90 212 227 6671 / millisaraylar.gov.tr). This museum of items, many from the Dolmabahçe Palace kitchen, also sells reproduction pieces.
Ünal Cam (Tahmis Sokak 68, Eminönü, just outside the Spice Market / +90 212 511 2551 / unalcam.com). The Web site lists a range of traditional-style glass containers, but the shop sells just about any kitchen item available.
“In 2000, I was invited to Istanbul to study the cuisine. I immediately fell in love. It’s a city that I return to over and over for inspiration. My favorite restaurant in the world is Çiya. When I dine there, I’m so excited about what I’m eating, I can’t stay seated. I dream about börek and kaymak in the Beşiktaş Market, one of my favorite markets to stroll around in. I could die eating manti and puf börek at Hünkar restaurant. The generous and hospitable people had me charmed more than any other place I’ve traveled. I miss the view and sounds from the roof deck of the Empress Zoe Hotel, and sipping tea in my favorite carpet shop, Noah’s Ark. I could go on and on.…”
—Ana Sortun, the chef and owner of Oleana Restaurant, in Cambridge, Massachusetts; named Best Chef: Northeast, 2005, James Beard Foundation Awards
David Rosengarten, in his book Taste: One Palate’s Journey Through the World’s Greatest Dishes, shares some words of advice about eating while traveling that could easily have been written by me, and as I feel they are worth repeating, I will share some of them with you. Rosengarten acknowledges that travelers may have to try hard to create what he refers to as a “meaningful and authentic brush with the local food.” He mentions he knows some dedicated foodies who have resorted to McDonald’s in other countries on occasion. Sometimes even adventurous eaters, when traveling, start craving hamburgers and bacon and eggs because nostalgia and desire for familiar creature comforts get the better of them. Rosengarten admonishes us to put these temptations out of our minds, and says (and I completely agree), “If you want to eat as you do at home … stay at home! Travel is your single greatest chance to understand the food of another country—but you will squander your chance if you don’t completely dedicate yourself to the food of that country while you’re there!”
He recommends throwing yourself into the gastronomic reality of a country: “Eat the breakfast they eat. Eat the lunch they eat. Eat the dinner they eat. Eat these meals at the times they eat them. Eat between meals only as they do. Drink what they drink, when they drink it.… After a week of following their schedule and habits, you will begin to have insights into that country’s food that you would never have had otherwise.”
Among his list of ten tips (which, again, you may consider my own as well) are: read everything you