Hi guys!
So remember my trip to the Eminönü Pier? I returned and decided to try out one of the restaurants on the pier.
There are a number of them right on the edge of the water, so I picked one of them with a great view of the dock and the water.
The Osmanli Balikcisi is the first restaurant on the entire strip when you walk in from the square. The entire strip is also below a bridge for trains, and right beside the stairs leading to the underground metro.
It’s a restaurant that specializes in fish and seafood. It’s most popular dish as with all the restaurants on the pier is Balik Ekmek, which translates to Fish Bread. It is a sandwich made with traditional Turkish bread, and fish. Balik Ekmek is a really popular sandwich around this area, and it’s also quite cheap. It’s sold in all the restaurants at the same price of ₺15.
The restaurant itself is reminiscent of a diner. It has the same style and feel to it. It has an indoor seating area, and an outdoor seating area with a walkway and rails that separate it from the water.
The indoor area has these really cute enlarged frames of old pictures of the city. I spent a couple minutes looking at them trying to see if I recognized any of the places in them.
The restaurant has a visible kitchen, and if you like you can watch your food being made.
The service was impeccable. My waiter was a senior citizen with graying hair, who paid attention to my every whim. He was very pleasant, and helped me out with the menu, showing me which options were best.
The menu was animated with lots of pictures, and some English, which is very helpful if you don’t speak Turkish. I speak and understand Turkish to a good extent, but I also found it helpful to know what my food will look like. The menu was also extensive, but I don’t know if they had everything on it available as my first order choice was calamari, and they didn’t have that. I also tried to order mussel, and it wasn’t available. In their defense they said it had something to do with the pandemic.
In the absence of my beloved calamari I decided to order the Karides Güveç, (Shrimp Casserole) and my waiter told me it was a good option to go with. For my side I ordered the Ezme Salata.
My food arrived in about 15 minutes, and the waiter definitely did not lie. This entire meal was fantabulous. I was so pleased. The only thing I didn’t like was that it was so small. Lol.
I was served Turkish Traditional bread first, which I have come to love, after understanding how to eat it. (It’s best eaten on the day it is baked, and Turkish people usually only buy enough for a day/meal.) It’s crunchy and hard on the outside, but soft, chewy and stretchy on the inside. Turkish people eat it with everything and every meal. It’s a staple for everyone.
The Ezme Salata which is a crushed tomato based salad came immediately after. It had loads of fresh onions, some pepper which gave a spicy kick to it, and a herb I couldn’t quite place that was very fresh. The Ezme Salata is a cold salad, and is quite popular in Istanbul. It’s one of my favorite salads, as it’s really delicious. This salad had a tangy, sweet, spicy and fresh taste all at the same time, which was like an explosion of flavor in your mouth with every forkful. I thoroughly enjoyed it.
The shrimp Casserole came after the salad and bread in an earthenware bowl that was as deceptive as the traditional Nigerian nkwobi* bowl. I was completely caught off guard when my fork scraped the bottom of the bowl. Whatever this casserole lacked in quantity, it more than made up for in taste. Whew! This was SOOOOOOOOO GOOD!
It had a stir fry base, with tomatoes and sweet red peppers. It also had green pepper. The tomato gave it a bit of a sauce that was so tasty and delicious. It had this delicious stretchy cheese that I wished there was more of, because I love cheese. The shrimp was clean and properly deveined. It was also cooked to perfection. It was not rubbery or undercooked - just perfect. It was unarguably a 10/10.
After my meal, my waiter offered me a cup of traditional Turkish tea on the house which I found very lovely and kind.
I completely enjoyed this experience and would totally visit again.
Price:
Ezme Salata: ₺8
Karides Güveç: ₺60
*Nkwobi is an Igbo Nigerian delicacy made with cow foot in a spicy palm oil sauce typically eaten with the hands in pubs, markets and at parties.
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