Behold, the delicious Dürüm! This is the very first food we had when we got to Istanbul, along with some also delicious Pide. Dürüm is essentially a wrap with tomato, parsley, onion and your choice of meat inside a thin bread, somewhat tortilla-like, but baked in a wood fired oven. This particular example comes from a favorite place of ours, Emirhan, although they are pretty good no matter where you pick them up. I like Emirhan because they are close and cheap and can deliver in about fifteen minutes. And they are very nice.
No pictures of pide yet, but it is like a boat shaped pizza, always with cheese, sometimes with different meat options as well. There is also a closed pide, which is sliced up and served in smaller pieces.
Our social sponsors ordered that first welcome meal for us just hours after we had landed in Istanbul. I was hoping to order from the same place again and saw the words 'Afiyet Olsun' on the pide box. "That must be where they ordered them from!" I thought, until I realized 'Afiyet Olsun' means 'Bon Appetit' in Turkish. It's printed on almost all food containers. Oops.
The two here are Urfa and Köfte. Urfa is a thin ground meat with spices. Köfte is similar but not as thin. It has more of a meatball flavor. Witness also the delicious baklava in the background. Ubiquitous as it is mouth-watering.
There's something about the char on the bread that makes it that much more tasty.
Yummmm.....it looks good and I love your photos and detailed description. :)
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