From a Turkish friend of Anthony's we were fortunate to get a list of places to eat, one of which was a seafood restaurant found in the Beşiktaş district.
Called Mavi Balik, it's Turkish for 'blue fish'.
It was a spur of the moment decision to go - having decided on what to do after doing the two bazaars, we taxi-ed it from Eminonu through Istanbul (rush hour?) traffic and made the 6 km distance in about an hour. Once we walked through the entrance doors, we were greeted by this man who offered us a cornucopia of fish to choose from.
Having made our choices, we sat down and happily waited for our meal, at the same time enjoying a view of the Bosphorus Strait, and Istanbul's Asian side.
The first course was fresh grilled octopus and tender giant shrimp -- delicious!
The main course was this gigantic sea bass with not a few bones still intact. Had to tread nimbly through this one otherwise would have to make an impromptu visit to the doctor. The greens were surprisingly mixed in with a little wasabi.
Dessert was a sampler of Turkey's most famous. We ate everything.
The atmosphere was unbeatable but if lady luck were to smile on me again, I would definitely make a reservation ahead of time and make sure to get a waterside table.
It can be hard to play tourist sometimes (:
What a fantastic end to a carefree and fruitful day.
Labels: Food, Travel, Turkey
