Three days in Istanbul rounded out a month of traveling in Turkey. The objective of this extended layover was clear: to get some writing and editing done in the silence of my 16th floor hotel room in Pera, nothing to distract me but the Istanbul skyline. Things didn’t work out exactly according to plan. Predictably, I was tempted out of my room with the prospect of delicious meals. Things got off to a bad start when my friend Emre dropped me off at the hotel and said, “You should check out Sisore next door. After a night of drinking in Beyoğlu, we always go there to eat mercimek çorbası.” Lentil soup happens to be one of my favorite things, a thin pure served with a wedge of lemon. I will eat it any time, in any weather. And lucky for me, Turks eat hot soup in the summertime. It’s fantastic.

I made it to Sisore twice, once for soup and pide (Black sea style pizzas), and another for a pow wow with the creators or Istanbul Eats. We shared et kavurma (stir fried beef) with rice, chick peas in broth, sarma (stuffed grape leaves) with yogurt, and tel kadayif (shredded dough stuffed with nuts).

Other meals included köfte and bean salad at Ali Baba Köftecisi in Arnavutköy, liver kebabs at Canım Ciğerim, and a mezes and meat feast at Yusuf Usta’nın Yeri. I did manage to get some work done, but certainly not as much as I would have had I not been in a food coma for 3 days. Story of my life.