Friday, March 25

Today was a day of rest. We got up late and walked downtown to eat at a popular breakfast spot, Zambo's, which is an enormously popular deli specializing in Turkish breakfast. It was crammed with people. We stood at the counter and ordered a great variety of cheeses, meats, fritters, olives, and vegetable salads.



That evening, we ate in a restaurant specializing in the tapas style of meal that is so common among Turkish restaurants.







We ate a dish of wonderful, fresh anchovies.




On the left is a fava bean paste. Fava beans are one of two beans not native to South America. They were popular among poor people for thousands of years. Now they are very chic (no pun intended.)





Fantastically smooth mackerel. Delicate in flavor. Couldn't get enough of it.




Everyone else was full, but Cem and I scarfed down this plate of grilled fish. In Turkey, fish is eaten the day it is caught, so it never has the funky flavors you sometimes find here with previously filleted fish of highly questionable provenance.