Zeynep Kaya

I grew up on the Asian side of Istanbul, in Kadıköy, which is where the city lives when it is not performing for visitors. Kadıköy has the best food market in Istanbul, the best balık ekmek (grilled fish sandwich) on the Bosphorus, and the meyhane drinking restaurants where Istanbulites eat meze until the small hours. I have been eating my way across both continents for 32 years. Istanbul is one of the great food cities on earth and almost nothing that is sold to tourists — the tourist restaurants around Sultanahmet, the 'traditional' restaurants on the guided tour circuit — has anything to do with how this city actually eats.