The photo you can see below is minced meat encased in a minced meat and bulgur wheat shell. In Turkey, this delightful little torpedo of tastiness is called İçli Köfte. If you’re familiar with Middle Eastern cuisine, you could well be looking at it and thinking it’s Kibbeh. Whichever name you choose to assign to …

If you’re familiar with the Fethiye region, you’ll no doubt have heard of Fethiye, Çalış Beach, Ovacık, Hisarönü and Ölüdeniz. However, there is one area that we have (until now) neglected to mention. That’s because, for some reason or other, we haven’t walked down to that area in a long time. After yesterday’s cloudy downpours, …

A couple of days ago, we went to Fethiye market to buy some yufka (filo pastry) so we could make kol böreği – a filo spiral. Over the years, we’ve developed a love of cooking and have stopped buying many of the ready prepared goodies that we used to buy from the shelves and deli …

Bazlama – otherwise known as ‘village bread’ – is a type of Turkish bread that we have developed a huge fondness for of late. As you can see in the photo, Bazlama is a large, round, flat bread and it’s our weekend treat. If you’re familiar with the gözleme stands at Turkish markets, you may have …

Whenever we’re sat in bars, restaurants or wherever and we get chatting to non-Turkish people, we’re always asked, ‘What do you miss about England? You must miss different foods.’ Well, we wouldn’t be normal if we didn’t miss anything. We miss the Lake District in the Northwest of England as we used to go trekking …

Ever heard, or even said, the phrases, ‘It’s full of tourists. I don’t go there. It’ll be too expensive.’ Well, if you skip these places, you could well be missing out, as we found out when we went to Istanbul in October. This is a photo of the famous Çiçek Pasajı (Flower Passageway) along Istiklal …

So what is this special snack I’m about to tell you about? Hmm, is it special? It’s certainly different! I’m referring to the Islak Hamburger. ‘Islak ‘ is the Turkish word for ‘wet.’ Or ‘damp’. Or ‘sloppy’. You get the idea, this is a Wet, Damp, Soggy Burger. You can see why it aroused our …

Today is a very special day in the calendar of Turkey. October 29th is the Republic Day of Turkey or 29 Ekim Cumhuriyet Bayramı. The day is a public holiday and marks the anniversary of the proclamation of the Turkish Republic when Mustafa Kemal Atatürk was named as its first leader. Republic Day is also …

While the historic tram that trundles up and down Istiklal Caddesi all day long may be one of the little pieces of nostalgia that make up Beyoğlu (and a free ride for the kids who cling to the back of it), for us, the Tünel funicular is an absolute necessity. Walking down the hill towards …

The iconic bright red Taksim tram is a living legend of historic Istanbul. The city wouldn’t be the same without it. Apologies for the cliche, but the Beyoğlu area of Istanbul really is a feast for the senses. It’s a tourist’s must. Every time we’ve visited Istanbul, we’ve spent time in the area and we’re …