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Artichoke chips, paté, zeytinyağlı enginar, sauteed artichokes…. Artichoke cooked every way, for all, from all. It may sound ridiculous to you but artichoke is the king and queen of the vegetables summoned, for me. Not a true vegetable, but belonging … Continue reading
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Sour, salty, if you want spicy! All indispensable for me! I am talking about pickles here. Crunchy cucumbers, garlic, peppers, cabbage, okra, plum, tomato, stuffed aubergines, carrot, beet, gherkin, onion,green beans, you name it, they have it. The shop’s display … Continue reading
Let’s see…
A couple of stairs, enter through the glass door, greeted by smiling faces, crowd is eating happily, yes again full, should I wait for a table at the terrace or anywhere, let’s see what is on the big board today… White table clothes and fresh flowers meet the eye before the feast.
You are very welcome to Kantin!
Kantin is a safe place! One of the two-three safest places to eat in the city, other than home. But for this kind of food, sorry to say, there is no opponent for Kantin. In Kantin the food is handled with respect, getting the most out of it.
The menu changes due to availability, seasons and mood. There is “Hergün” meaning everyday and “Bugün” meaning today menu written on a big board. If you are lucky to go there at spring, artichoke season, be sure to eat enginar pate, artichoke spread, smooth, kicking, flavors bursting in your mouth, served on a garlic rubbed toasted bread, with a little goat cheese, leaves of water cress… Bahar salatası, spring salad, is with the best mozzarella you can find in Turkey, shelled fresh broad beans, asparagus, is the answer to what a salad should be!
Çıtır, meaning crispy, is a little thin dough cooked in wood oven, topped with varieties of artichoke or vegetables or smoked salmon is the one thing you cannot get enough of. The bream also gets its share from the wood oven and comes with its crackling skin, filled with herbs. The grilled cutlet of chicken with sage, turkey marinated with honey, artichokes with parsley, everything…
Ayran is made with herbs, lemonade is old school. Turkish coffee is served with, well, I’ll leave this as a surprise…
Dükkan is down stairs where prepared food, desserts, bread, cheese and more delicacies are sold. If you are hungry after a days work, stop there to indulge yourself and pick our poison. One thing though! If you can choose! Desserts have a league of their own. Lemon cake, chocolate cake, carrot cake -one of my faves-, cherry jam and clotted cream filled tarts, chocolate and brandy filled mini bombs… all the remedy you need anytime of the day!
The food of Kantin is simple, clean, all about Istanbul and Aegean. Şemsa Denizsel is an indisputable kitchen goddess and one of the best chefs of Turkey.
Skillful cooking, peculiar tastes, sustainability, top notch ingredients combined with flavors comes up to clean tastes, simple, yet every bite notable, leaving you in a bliss.
Kantin not only fills your tummy, but also your soul!
Address: Akkavak sokak No.30, Nişantaşı, Istanbul
Phone: (212) 219 3114
Service Hours: Restaurant, Monday-Saturday 11.00am-8.30pm last order, Dükkan Monday-Saturday 10.30am-8.00pm
Istanbulfood maps
Antakya is a heaven of tastes and if you are a local and have a food hunch like me, it even tastes better!
Çayırcı Bakla and hummus is one of the many to taste. You have to go there in the morning and forget about the lunch you are planning, because you are not going to get hungry after eating bakla.
Bakla and water, put in a big copper jar, then embed it in ash, at a hamam. It cooks slowly about 16 hours. Then these big jars brought back to the shop. It cooks becoming thick and velvety.
Order one “bakla”, then watch the preparation. Cloves of garlic some salt put into the small stainless steel plates and while they pound the garlic with a pestle some cooked bakla added, pounding continues, then some lemon juice added. After all these pounding, the bakla becomes a paste. Finished with glug of olive oil, some cumin, pepper flakes.
The taste is simple yet vigorous, smooth but kicking… You dip your pide in it, or spread bakla over the pide or spoon it. Accompanied with home made pickles, taking the oily hammer effect out off you and leaving your tummy intact. They also have hummus, which is equally good!
The locals call it “beton”, literally meaning concrete, because you feel like you have eaten a pile of concrete and won’t get hungry again, ever!
Address : Uzun Çarşı, Ayakkabıcılar Çarşısı, Pazar sk., Antakya
You start to smell burning coal while you stroll Istanbul these days.
The fumes are like messengers of good news.
Good news of approaching winter and the delicious winter tastes, and in this case it is the chestnuts grilling slowly on the small-tiny bbq’s of street sellers.
Just go out, chit-chat with the chestnut seller, convince him to serve you the freshly cooked and the hottest ones and enjoy! But, do not eat a lot on an empty tummy, you will regret it, believe me…