Balik Ekmek Salata: The Istanbul Fish Sandwich

One essential culinary stop on a visit to Istanbul should be to the Eminonu end of the Galata Bridge to join swarms of locals in buying a fish buttie from a boatman at the docks. But this is no ordinary fish buttie, my friend. It is a freshly caught, freshly fried fish fillet stuffed into a quarter of a Turkish loaf, topped with salad, and sprinkled with salt and lemon juice; and all this for less than two quid.

We started our journey on the tram from Sultanahmet to Eminonu, where we disembarked to the sight of the Galata Bridge and a decidedly fishy whiff. We decided to walk over the bridge and back before lunch in order to work up an appetite. It was a Saturday morning, and it was nice to see hoards of hopeful locals dangling their fishing rods into the Bosphorus to catch their dinner. We could have stuffed ourselves silly on the bridge itself, with vendors hawking savoury treats such as simit (Turkish bagel covered in sesame seeds) and roasted chestnuts, but we managed to save ourselves.

We arrived at the fishing boats, and Sam grabbed a table with plastic kiddy-seats at the harbourside while I queued with hoards of hungry punters to get the grub. On a violently rocking boat, the bread dude cuts the loaf and passes it to the dude frying the fish. He stuffs a fillet into the loaf and passes it to salad dude. He stuffs the sarnie with salad, wraps it in paper and passes it to Grandad, who (at the precise moment that the boat rocks your way) swaps the package with the punter for their 4TL.

After eating our tasty bounty, we wandered through Eminonu's famous spice bazaar, and haggled for an assorted box of locum (Turkish delight to you, mate), but that is another finger-licking story.

Barclay