This was such a spectacular place. Near the Grand Bazaar, off the beaten path, and man was it…read morefantastic. Much to my a Yelper had been here before but we would have never stumbled upon it were it not for our guide.
After our first day and looking at the lines at some of the attractions we hired a guide for the day. Not only was she able to save us 2 hours of line waiting at the Basillica Cisterna and a few other places, and endlessly knowledgeable about the monuments and out of the way places, she also was a foodie. This is where she suggested we go to lunch.
She knew everybody there, and because of that the chef indulged us by giving us a front row seat as to how seyhmuz kepab was made and yes we got to eat it.
We of course chose spicy and fatty. Chunks of lamb are placed on the cutting with spices and peppers and some tomatoes and then the chef uses a special curved cleaver and then begins rocking back and forth creating this incredible mince. Then he adds a hunk of lamb fat and continues the rythimic back and forth rocking of the cleaver. The resulting combination is formed into a patty and grilled. Its incredibly tasty with a hint of heat. The fat is mostly rendered out and what is left melted into the patty making it incredibly juicy and rich.
Prior to this masterpiece we had Pide. More of the minced lamb grilled in flatbread. For the first time we were given a plate of parsley and onions which we would put on top, add a squeeze of lemon, then roll the strips of flatbread into well a roll. OMG so delicious the onions, parsley and lemon juice helped balance out the richness of the mince on the pide
Some fo the best aryan we had in Turkey was served here. Quite refreshing and helped cut the richness of the seyhmuz kepab.
Service was friendly and the place was clearly a local joint and we really appreciated being able to watch this increadbly labor intensive but traditional way to make this fantastic kebab
