Kuru (or Billy’s favourite restaurant)
On our last day in Istanbul before heading off down the West coast on holiday, we had our first Turkish lesson, as I found that as the week went by, I was getting increasingly frustrated at not being able to communicate effectively, especially in shops, even in the most basic way. I realised that in the last 20 or 30 years, I can hardly remember a time when I was in a country where I can not make myself understood or understand what’s being said to me.
So, it seemed to me there was one answer – start those Turkish lessons and get learning! Billy was the star of the class and seems to be able to retain the information well, whilst Daisy got board of the lesson after an hour and had serious attention deficit for the last half hour, but we got the basic greetings sorted plus how to ask for stuff in shops and restaurants and learnt our numbers to 100.
We then persuaded Peter to come out for lunch with us and stopped at one of the many basic cafes where you see tables of mostly men tucking into traditional Turkish fare.
The most popular seems to be a sort of mixed grill where you get a sis (pronounced shish) kebab, a kofte and a piece of chicken with various garnishes of tomato and cucumber salad. We decided to order a plate of chicken, a plate of kofte and and a plate of sis and all share, as well as being adventurous and trying the famous kuru – a Turkish version of baked beans – homemade of course.
And much to all of our surprise, they were delicious and we all love them.
