Kebaps, kebaps, and more kebaps!

Turkish cusine is largely know for kebaps which is actually the national dish. As such, Yen and I certainly had our share of kebaps. Me, more so than her, since prior to Turkey, I already had a long lasting love affair for kebaps. Yes... the kebap, my mistress of meat. ::drool:: My favorite restuarant in London is actually an Iranian place and I always get the minced lamb kebap there. Yen and I have also had some great kebaps in Eastern Europe.

On our first night in Istanbul, guess what we had?? You guessed it! 

Yen had 'Delicious Chicken Kebap'. Yes, the menu actually called it 'delicious chicken kebap'. 

I had my usual, Minced Lamb Kebap.

This is Alexander Kebap. Not sure why its called that though. Grilled steak sliced thinly with some type of tomato like sauce on top and a couple fries. That white thing on the side is yogurt.

Ah. The infamous Doner Kebap. The one everyone gets when its late night and there's nothing open. Good ol reliable Doner Kebap. For those of you who have never had one, Doner kebap is meat cooked on a revolving upright skewer and then is thinly sliced. This is usually served in a pita/bread with onions, tomatoes, and lettuce. Most countries put on a white yogurty like sauce and some hot sauce. This is not the case in Istanbul. No hot sauce. Weak. Also, the Kebap vendors in Istanbul are really stingy with their meat. It's mostly bread or pita. 

More minced lamb kebap. I wasn't joking when I said it was my favorite. On the bottom you can see some of the pedici. What's pedici you say? 

Turkish Pizza!!! Yes, I'm totally eyeing it. 

This is a chicken 'sis' kebap. Those sausage looking things are actually called kofte which is basically a meatball of some type of meat. Very tasty!

You'll notice that in a lot of the pictures there's grilled green peppers. Its very standard to have it accompany your kebap meal. Yen and I always made sure to ask for extra! 

Wow. Thats alot of kebaps you say. Yeah it is. Hey Michael, how you do manage to eat so much you ask. Well, first off... I'm a fat ass. But secondly, you do like the Turkish and you wash it down with a nice cool glass of Ayran. 

Ayran is extremely popular drink in Turkey, it's yogurt that is mixed with water and salt. Sounds a bit digusting to drink but it actually goes great with heavy meat dishes such as kebaps. Just make sure you're close to your hotel room in case you stomach isn't happy with this combination.

Now go get yourself a kebap!

P.S. It may not seem possible with all the kebap meals, but we actually managed to fit other non-kebap meals into our vacation also. Will blog on those later.