Turkish dishes—Constantinople restaurants.
Constantinople
One of the hotels in the restaurant at which very good food is obtainable is the Pera Palace; but the hundreds of dogs that are allowed to infest the city for scavenging purposes, and who disgracefully neglect their business in order to bark and howl dismally all night, would ruin the best hotel in creation. Therefore, if in the summer, I should advise any man to go to the Summer Palace Hotel at Therapia, a few miles from the city, on the Bosphorus, which is perfectly delightful, and to run into Constantinople by river steamer to visit the mosques, bazaars, etc.—but this by the way.
The best restaurant in Constantinople is Tokatlian's, in the Rue de Pera; it is very good but expensive, for all wines, spirits, etc., coming into Turkey have to pay a heavy duty. There is a strong native wine of a sauterne character made in Turkey, also Duzico, a sort of KÜmmel liqueur, not bad, and Mastic, another chasse, especially nasty. You can obtain Turkish dishes at Tokatlian's. The Turkish kahabs and pilaffs of chicken are good, but their appearance is not appetising and they are too satisfying. A little rice and beef, rather aromatic in taste, is wrapped round with a thin vine leaf, in balls the size of a walnut, and eaten either hot or cold. This is called Yalandji Dolmas. Yaourt or Lait CaillÉ is a milk curd, rather like what is called Dicke Milch in Germany. Aubergines are eaten in every form; one method of cooking them, and that one not easily forgotten, is to smother a cold aubergine in onion, garlic, salt, and oil; this is named Ymam Bayldi. KeinftÉ are small meatballs tasting strongly of onions. Plaki fish, eaten cold; Picti fish in aspic; small octopi stewed in oil; Moussaka, vegetable marrows sliced, with chopped meat between the slices and baked; Yachni, meat stewed with celery and other vegetables; Kebap, "kabobs" with a bay-leaf between each little bit of meat; Kastanato, roasted chestnuts stewed in honey, and quinces treated in the same manner; vermicelli stewed in honey; and preserves of rose leaves, orange flowers, and jessamine, all are to be found in the Turkish cuisine. The RÔti Kouzoum is lamb impaled whole on a spit like a sucking-pig, which it rather resembles in size, being very small. It is well over-roasted and sent up whole. I am informed on the best authority that when a host wishes to do you honour he tears pieces off it with his fingers and places them before you, and you have to devour them in the same manner.
When I was in Turkey last year I had the misfortune not to be introduced to the privacy of a Turkish family gathering, so I have to confess that I have not yet accomplished this feat myself.
There is a very good fish when in season in the summer, called espadon, or sword-fish, but the butcher's meat, unless you have good teeth, is not often eatable. The natives are mostly vegetarians; beans, small cucumbers, rice and what cheap fruits may be in season are their principal food; water, about which they are most particular, is the principal beverage of all Turks from the highest to the lowest class.
I herewith give a typical Turkish dinner:—
Duzico.
Hors-d'oeuvre.
Yalandji Dolmas.
Potage.
CrÈme d'Orge.
Poisson.
Espadon. Sce. Anchois.
EntrÉe.
Boughou Kebabs.
Carni Yanik.
RÔti.
Kouzoum.
LÉgumes.
Bahmieh À l'Orientale.
Ymam Bayldi.
Entremets.
Yaourt et Fruits.The charges in Turkey on the whole are moderate, but the Turkish coinage is somewhat confusing, and even a Scotch Jew, who had been brought up in New York, would find it a matter of difficulty to hold his own with the unspeakable Turk when it came to a question of small change.
Tokatlian has a branch establishment of a bourgeois description for business people just outside the big bazaar at Stamboul, the Restaurant Grand Bazaar, where there are plenty of good dishes, besides native experiments, which are worth trying. Here the charges are very moderate.
The food at the Royal and Bellevue Hotels and Dimitri's is also good, and for supper you can go to Yani's, which is open practically all night, but perhaps not so eminently respectable as the other restaurants I have mentioned.
A.B.
