I had made a point of not eating a swanky restaurants on this trip, I really wanted to get an idea of how the locals ate, what they could afford. But this night I made an exception and I'm glad I did. Hamdi is right in the heart of eminonu overlooking the bosphorous. You get there and the first thing you are struck by is how very fancy it all is. Compared to the place we had dinner in Kampong Baru, this place was the Ritz. We got on the elevator to the top floor which was surrounded by glass and looked out over the giant suleymani mosque and the spice markey and across the boshporous to Galata.
First we ordered the bread and hommous, I reckon this was the best hommous I had in Turkey it was thick and really garlicky with a great whack of lemon juice. The bread was freshly cooked, flakey and crisp on the outside and airy and light in the middle. Perfect with the dip. Then there was in incredible salad, alsmost like a salsa, with tomato, onion, beans cucmber and whole bunch of fresh herbs.
For the main i got a mixed kebap grill, there was the Tavuk şiş kebab, the chicken kebap, made from breast with a stack of pepper and paprika, a little dry but very tasty, then there was the Birecik kebabı (acılı), the chilli kebap made with beef and lamb, seasoned with a stack of hot paprika black pepper and chilli with a hint of sugar for balance, definately my favourite one, not over hot, but with a great heat, one of the hottest things i had in turkey, the third was the Fıstıklı kebab, which was really interesting mix of beef and lamb with pistachio, a great mix of textures. The last was the standard Urfa kebab, a stable in istanbul, probably the best cooked of the meats we had at Hamdi.
The next day we were invited to Salaam World and they fed us what I think was probably as close to what turks night eat at home. It doest look like much, and gastronomically speaking it wasn't very complicated, just tomatoes white legumes and lamb all stewed together until the lamb was wonderfully tender. It had a great robust flavour that you often find in rustic food. Again I noted it here because it felt so authentically Turkish.
In contrast to the fairly rustic bean casserole there was a couscous salad. Again there was the ubiquitous paprika but what really made this dish really stand out was the pomegranate seeds and the mint. Together these two ingredients made this dish a knockout, the spicy, salty couscous then the freshness of mint and every now and then there was a wonderful burst of pomegranate. Delicious.
For dessert we were served Tulumba, an incredibly sweet fried pastry doused in a lemony sugary sweet syrup. I think I really like this stuff, to be honest I don't really like much about Turkish desserts, they have an amazing tolerance for sweetness. The texture was almost like glace pastry. It felt dense but it crumbled or dissolved away to nothing when you put it in your mouth. A truly unique dessert that i recommend to anyone with a taste for sugar
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