Another food post...

Friday night met up with Korhan Erel, http://korhanerel.com/, another of the PPP artists, and Jesper Aabille, http://www.aabille.dk/, a Danish artist just finishing a three-month residency courtesy of the Danish Government, at Çiya, an eatery on the Asian side of Istanbul. To get there we took a ferry, about 30 min diagonally SE across the top of the Sea of Marmara and walked through one of those amazing food markets. Even at 20.00 it was buzzing and crowded, possibly more so as the weather was chucking it down with rain, the awnings dripping sheets of water off their edges.

The restaurant itself is very unpretentious, http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2010/04/19/100419fa_fact_batuman. At the entry, unloading our umbrellas, we were flanked by two short counters, one cold self-service mezes (the laden plate weighed for price), and the other at which one ordered hot dishes brought by the waiters. All generally familiar but specifically unknown to me - an assortment of of soups, legumes (lentils, mushrooms, chickpeas and the Turkish broad bean), stuffed aubergines, lambs intestine sausages (may sound exotic but all Italian Barase sausages are made using this same finger-breadth casings), lamb casserole with spring garlic and who knows what else.

Upstairs at our table the waiters brought rye bread and a speciality large flat bread, the Turkish equivalent of  a tortilla or wrap. While waiting for the hot dishes we ate our mezes plates and ordered a kebap with spring mushrooms (a seasonal mushroom which grows truffle-like underground, but without the truffle's pungency). The kebap was spectacular. All dishes were shared across the table.

However, before ordering the sweet, we were given a glass of oregano tea,

followed by the tiny glasses of fresh mint, parsley, dill, apple and pear juice or chilled infusion. The dill gave a remarkable twist to the flavours. Then the sweets appeared, each dish a simple array of preserved 'fruits' in a very light sugar syrup. This one is pumpkin overlaid with a drizzle of tahini topped with crushed nuts, with green olives scattered below. The olives were remarkable, as the green olive flavour only arose, almost like a perfume, after the sweetness passed.

The other three 'fruits' were green walnuts (one below cut in half), a pistachio dough enclosing more of the clotted cream accompaniment and the peel of a particular but unknown citrus fruit. Again, the walnut was a startling taste. Despite all the fruits being presented as 'in syrup' they maintained such individuality of texture and flavour that there was no sense of 'more of the same'.Finally, yet another small drink concoction, this one hot: an infusion of spices (clove, cinnamon, nutmeg perhaps?) topped with crushed walnuts. The only slightly sweet flavour contrasted wonderfully with the bitter walnuts.

Tab for 6? 300 TL, a little over £100 total or £20 ea. Hester, eat your heart out!