Vegetarian's This Way                                                  Non-Vegetarian's This Way                

Breakfast 

The Turkish enjoy a variety of local produce at breakfast. You can expect to be served a platter of feta cheese, tomatoes, cucumber and olives as well as jam, honey, butter, fresh baked bread and tea. Savory pastry eaten when you are out and about with a nice Turkish cup of tea. Most famous is Simit round pastry covered with sesamey seeds all arround.

Mezes

Most Turkish meals start with mezes (appetizers) and they are olso great with alcohol (raki). There is a huge variety of tasty mezes. Popular types include boreks (savory pastry) filled with ground meat, spinach or feta cheese, dolmas (vine leaves), vegetables or  chick peas, beans or smoked eggplant. If you are lucky you can try cig kofte (herbs and minced meat).

Kebabs

May be meat or chicken. The most popular ones are Doner Kebab (sliced roast meat), Sis Kebab (cubes of meat grilled on a skewer) and Iskender
(Doner meat on bread with a rich tomato and
yogourt sauce).

Lahmacun

Turkish style pizza. The thin dough is spread with a spicy mixture of ground lamb, onion and tomatoes. It is usually served with fresh salad and lemon juice.

Fish

A variety of fish dishes can be found in Istanbul and coastal areas. In most cases fish such as Bonito, Turbot and Sea Bass are served grilled. Along the Black Sea coast Hamsi (anchovies) is the most popular fish, and  used in a number of dishes including the popular Hamsi Pilavi, a mixture of anchovies and rice.

Soup

A popular snack at any time of day. Turks like their soup early in the morning or as a starter. A variety of tasty soups are served on street corners and restaurants. Some of the most popular ones are Mercimek (lentil), Yayla (yogourt and rice).

Sweets

The most popular ones are, Kadayif, Baklava made with walnuts or pistachio, Sutlac (rice pudding) and Asure  (combination of dried fruit and beans).