Istanbul with a traveler's guide

ordered food at Lades in february 2012

I never thought that a guide book would impress me the way way "Istanbul EATS: Exploring the culinary backstreets" did. Written by Ansel Mullins nd Yigal Schleifer this book truly gives you an inside in turkish foods- aside the turistical attractions. They wrote about local gastronoms - from little cafes to four-star restaurants even stall-sellers who have their fixed headquarters somewhere between the crowdy streets of istanbul. My mum and I discovered this book on our last trip to Istanbul and immediately started using it. And the first stop I want to share will be LADES. Resided on the Sadri Alisik Sokak it is perfect for a dinner after shopping on the istiklal caddesi in taksim. Once you step you can quickly spot the details of this otherwise plain facility: newspaper articles praising them as the dining spot in istanbul, various sizes of glass bottles filled with fruits and pictures of ataturk hanging from the wall. After settling for a table one can cross the room to the open kitchen with a display of their food menues. Having taste Tandir, ic pilav, kuzukandir, biber dolmasi and patates kizartmasi I'd most definitly advice you to order their specialtiy: lamm. And never forget to taste their komposta which are fruity drinks served in bowls (you spoon it out like soup) and their hommade cacik (=zaziki) which again tastes better than anywhere else (seriously: how do they do that?).

picture in front of the food display at the back of the restaurant (picture from september 2010)

Food we ordered in September 2010

 To round it up with soemthing sweet you can ether go to LADES 2 which is opposite to the restaurant (they offer all the traditional turkish sweets like tavuk gögusu and profiterol) or do as we did and stop at SAKARYA TATLICISI for Ayva Tatlisi  (=quince in syrup) with Kaymak. Surprise that a yellow fruit turnes red after preparing it we dipped in and enjoyed the richness and perfect combination with kaymak. It was truly a highlight on our trip back in 2010!
Sakarya Tatlicisi is in Upper Beyoglu on the Dudu Odalari Sokak 3 and is open from 6am to 10pm.

I apologize for the bad camera quality - back in 2010 I took picture with my mobilephone...