Under the Galata Bridge, Istanbul

Any visitor to Istanbul needs to go “under the Galata Bridge”. I found it entirely by accident, crossing the bridge watching the sun go down over the city, wondering why there was music coming from under my feet.

Under the bridge is a 500m stretch of bars, restaurants and shish smoking joints back to back with each other that never seem to close. Quite possible to get lost down there for ever.

Sarnic, Soğukçeşme Sokaği 34122, Sultanahmet, Istanbul

Sarnic is a famous restaurant in Sultanahmet, Istanbul. It sneaks into every guide book and tourist brochure. Locals in Istanbul are apparently not very fond of going out for formal sit down dinners, preferring grilled meats and street food on the go or eating at home, so Sarnic is for the celebs and the tourists. It is located in an ancient cistern near Saint Sofia and the Topkapi Palace. Cisterns like these abound in Istanbul, now restored to their former glory after years of misuse as car garages and such like. It has been fitted out crusades-style with medieval wrought iron chairs and candle holders everywhere, an open fire, lyre and lute players and lots of random weapons and suits of armour (sounds cheesy beyond belief but it actually works). The menu is traditionally Turkish, with mezze, charcoal grill and Iskender all of which were superb. The service is attentive and prompt, although I’ve no idea what it would be like when it’s really busy. In short, I loved the place and wouldn’t hesitate to recommend it to anyone visiting Istanbul. I was surprised to read a few internet reviews on various websites when I got home. The reviews criticised the food. Sarnic has a traditional Turkish menu and a few more western friendly options like chicken curry and pepper steak. Now if you go all the way to Istanbul and eat chicken curry and don’t like it, then tough. It’s a Turkish restaurant, eat Turkish!

Istanbul Street Food

Enough of Dubrovnik, on to Istanbul!

Istanbul is an amazing city, quite unlike anything I’ve ever seen before; a strange mixture of east and west and ancient and new. The bazaars and markets are an eclectic mix of food and people, the mosques are breathtaking and the Turks never fail to make me laugh. Their food is a selection of delicately grilled meats, fresh vegetable, yoghurts, spices and flat breads. Street food is very important, you are never far from a cart selling nuts, corn, breads or various treats.

During the summer months the thing to have is corn, fresh corn husks must arrive in central Istanbul everyday by the thousand, are then removed from their husks and loaded up on to the carts and whisked off ready to feed the hungry masses. The corn is prepared on the carts either of two ways, by boiling or charcoal grilling. Both ways end with more than a liberal sprinkling of salt, but very nice nonetheless. In winter months the corn is replaced with roasting chestnuts.

If you don’t fancy a corn cob the next choice is a Simnet, which is a sesame seed covered bread twist, these come toasted with cream cheese, sort of a Turkish pretzel.

Other street vendors have carts loaded with nuts of all varieties. Fresh pistachios taste far better without the extra air miles. Also available is high speed apple tea. Young children and teenagers earn extra cash in the bazaars by whizzing about at high speed distributing tea to all the stall holders. If you look interested enough sometimes a glass is pushed into your hand.

A quick glance at Istanbul’s litter reveals fruit peel, nut shells, corn husks and simnet wrappers. A far cry of London’s litter demographic of McDonald’s boxes and beer tins.

Gundulić, Gundulićeva Poljana 8

Ivan Gundulić was a 17th Century poet from Dubrovnik. His work was largely themed on Slav victories over the Turks, proper blood and thunder epics apparently. In memoriam he has his own square and his own restaurant. The Dalmatian cost is heavily influenced by Italian culture and pasta dishes are on every menu. With the exception of their beautiful black risotto, the pasta isn’t up to much except at Gundulić itself. Their pasta is freshly made spaghetti and tagatelli with local seafood options and delicately executed cream, wine or tomato based sauces. Unfortunately they only do their pasta in the evening, lunch is, as always, a fish sandwich! After that head to the beach!

Kaminice, Gundulićeva Poljana 8

Kaminice is in the Gundulićeva Plaza, all the tables are outside and it’s a favourite lunch stop for locals and one of the best places to go for mussels. Giant, and I mean giant, plates of fresh mussels cost a grand total of £2 served up to you by possibly the grumpiest old woman in Dubrovnik but it’s worth it for the mussels and the black seafood risotto alone. Definitely no frills seafood.

Marco Polo, Lučarica 6, Dubrovnik

Plum Brandy, grappa and pear liquor are Croat, and indeed Balkan, specialties. They are usually found lurking in novelty bottles to be flogged to tourists all over the shop but strangely feature less heavily in the local restaurants.

The Marco Polo Restaurant is different, preferring to ply you with as much as possible free of charge. Dalmatians like to claim that Marco Polo himself was originally from the island of Korcula but at least six other cities scattered in the med and Adriatic also claim this, so it is best not taken too seriously. The restaurant itself is an alleyway again following Dubrovnik’s civic planning pattern and its menu’s emphasis is on the traditional. All the local favourites are in attendance including the local Dalmatian ham (far superior than its Italian counterpart due to the smoking process apparently) and the cheese-in-oil concoction which I’m assured is excellent but is a bit too much for me. The service was excellent and unobtrusive from the owners, a husband and wife team.

Their deserts come recommended by the various guide books, and me, and have a strangely German theme, here’s the strudel.

The Excelsior, Frana Supila 12, 2000, Dubrovnik

The Excelsior is one of the most established hotels on the Dalmatian coastline and the most expensive. It‘s a rather imposing building of concrete blockwork and smoked glass, shades of 70s old Soviet style architecture is not to everyone’s taste but it gives the Excelsior a certain gravitas. The Excelsior is to be taken seriously it says firmly.

Strangely it’s flagship restaurant, The Zagreb, doesn’t have a very good reputation so I gave it a miss. However, The terrace Bar is worth a visit, the vast expanse of open air tables, marble and strategic planting make it an ideal place to sit and watch the sun set over the old town by the waters edge.

Alcohol is surprisingly cheap given the setting and peanuts come free.

Buža, Off Od Magnrite

Buža is a hidden outdoor bar perched high on the cliff face. The folk behind the British licensing and health and safety legislation would be utterly horrified, but stuff them, it’s a fantastic place to sit.

It’s a challenge to find it, you have to venture down a dark alleyway, though a narrow medieval door way and climb down the rocks. Once you get there it is as peaceful as you like. Beware though, the rock pools below attract the mosquitoes as dusk falls, so come prepared and bring some cream although they don’t seem to be prevalent in Croatia, these ones are vicious.