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You won't find many fancy restaurants in this region, but eastern Turkey is the place for smaller eateries offering flavorful local cuisine and welcoming patrons. Food in the Black Sea area relies on dishes made with plenty of butter, rich yellow cheese, corn flour, and fish, especially hamsi (Black Sea anchovies). Although meat
You won't find many fancy restaurants in this region, but eastern Turkey is the place for smaller eateries offering flavorful local cuisine and welcoming patrons. Food in the Black Sea area relies on dishes made with plenty of butter, rich yellow cheese, corn flour, and
You won't find many fancy restaurants in this region, but eastern Turkey is the place for smaller eateries offering flav
You won't find many fancy restaurants in this region, but eastern Turkey is the place for smaller eateries offering flavorful local cuisine and welcoming patrons. Food in the Black Sea area relies on dishes made with plenty of butter, rich yellow cheese, corn flour, and fish, especially hamsi (Black Sea anchovies). Although meat kebabs rule the rest of the east, most restaurants will also offer a variety of fresh salads and delicious vegetable dishes cooked in olive oil, along with stews and other ready-made hot dishes, which are usually meat-based. Gaziantep and (to a lesser extent) Mardin have become known as foodie destinations in their own right, where you can find regional specialities in more refined settings.
With excellent food and stylish ambience, this restaurant has won itself a place at the top of Mardin's dining scene. There is a mix of Western dishes such as steak and pasta, with Turkish standards and local specialities like kaburga (stuffed lamb) and kuz tandir (slow oven-cooked lamb). The meze dishes are also unusual regional specialities and very tasty. Local wine is available. Meals are served on a pleasant outdoor terrace in the evening and the vaulted stone rooms of an old house during the day.
One of Mardin's best restaurants (known throughout Turkey) occupies a restored stone house with several terraces that provide spectacular views of the plain that unfolds below the town. Dishes served are authentic local ones, such as lamb braised in a tangy green plum sauce and kitel raha, layers of mince and chickpea dough. There is also a full spread of tantalizing cold and hot mezes, including tasty chickpea fritters and, owing to the Arab influence on Mardin, hummus and falafel. A locally made red wine is served traditionally, in metal bowls, although you can ask for a glass.
Open since 1887, Imam Çağdaş is certainly doing something right, as the crowds that pack this restaurant in the bazaar district day and night will tell you. Besides top notch lahmucan (crispy stone baked dough topped with spiced minced meat), there's a small menu of standard kebabs such as ali nazik (minced-meat kebab served on a puree of roasted eggplant, garlic, and yogurt) and the sebzeli kebab, a skewer of grilled vegetables and lamb minced with garlic and parsley. The star however is the terrific syrupy baklava, so widely regarded as the best in the country that orders have regularly been received from Turkish presidents and from as far afield as Fidel Castro.
Something of a local institution, Zekeriya Usta is not to be missed. Try the katmer, which is a sort of large folded pancake, and here it comes filled with crushed pistachio and kaymak (a type of clotted cream). Witnessing the team of master chefs at work is all part of the fun here, and they do it with a flourish for all to see, before cooking in a stone oven. Try skipping breakfast one day and head here instead for a filling brunch, or save it as a spot to savor a decadent dessert treat.
This charming, family-run restaurant is all dark wood and nostalgia, and is said to have been serving the same dishes since 1856. The specialty is buttery rice with either slow-cooked lamb or kuru fasülye (white beans in a tomato sauce). Accompany your meal with a frothy ayran (salty yogurt drink) or another house speciality: a sweet, refreshing drink made from sun-dried apricots.
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