Kebabs, doner, meat, pilaf, rice pudding, baklava, and a plethora of other dishes may come to your mind when one mentions the ever so expanding Turkish cuisine. These are nice and all, but it is difficult to find anyone think about mussels when they think about Turkish food. That is, to a degree, rightfully so. Seafood in Turkey has never been a huge “thing.” Basically, all other countries I visited so far did it better than Turkey, which is interesting given how it is supposed to be surrounded by three seas… Well, there is no need to be bitter about it I guess, when there are too many choices to pick from, seafood just got the short end of the stick and that is that. However, there is a street food that is quite ubiquitous in almost all the Turkish coast, mussels prepared in a lot of different ways. Mussels are for all intents and purposes not the best thing that comes out of the sea, nor the cleanest, nor the most nurturing. However, they can be cooked to perfection, and be rather tasty if the recipe and the chef is good. You can find three of my favourite spots in Istanbul that serve this delicacy today, just below!
Mayna Balık Restaurant – https://goo.gl/maps/XPKNhFHHTZNboYBG6
Getting to Mayna Balık takes such a long time that it feels like you are closer to Bulgaria than you are to Istanbul… Found somewhere far up north in Sarıyer, this is not a journey for the faint-hearted. However, if you do manage to get through it, you will be rewarded with the best “mussel sauce” I had in my life. The so-called tartar sauce made up of more garlic than anything else goes perfectly with fried mussels, which are on their own lighter than the variety you would find “on the streets.” This place clearly mastered the art of frying mussels, though you will be paying dearly for that expertise both with your time and your wallet.
Meşhur Kireçburnu Midye ve Balık Evi – https://goo.gl/maps/hhJahTnMxZu6Y2Qn6
This is yet another difficult spot to get to. Unfortunately, almost all seafood related restaurants/pubs in Turkey are found on the seacoast, and Istanbul in particular has a long coast, so good luck getting from one place to another. However, they make what I would like to think as the best mussel dolma in the whole city, and perhaps the country. It is always so flavourful and the mussel itself is not cooked to a mushy “death” as some other spots tend to do. Once again, it is on the more expensive side, but you will be paying for quality so it should not bother you at the end of the day.
Kadıköy Midyecisi – https://goo.gl/maps/wgtgiTQrHYsYMFSV9
Mussels have been fried here for a very long time. They have been boiled with rice and then put in their own shells once again for quite a while as well. There was certainly a need for some “excitement” in this sphere of culinary arts in Turkey, and places like Kadıköy Midyecisi decided to take the helm in that regards. After introducing a ton of “saucy” midye dolma options, as well as popularizing a hot/fresh version of it, Kadıköy Midyecisi did the next best thing by creating a mussel burger. Homemade buns with perfectly crispy mussels in between them but it does not end there. The sriracha mayo tasting homemade sauce they created goes perfectly with this creation, making it a delight everyone should taste at least once in their life.
For the uninitiated, all of this may seem a bit extra or weird. You may be wondering what happened to good old Belgian mussels, those that come in a bucket and are meant to be eaten with a drink or two on the side. Or what about other dishes that utilize mussels, perhaps a paella or a Thai curry? Well, you can find those in Istanbul too, certainly. But then again, they are not a part of Istanbul’s food scene per se. These three are. They are quite original, though I do not mean to argue that they cannot be found elsewhere, within Turkey or abroad. Even if there is a stigma around mussels in some people’s minds, I am quite certain that at least one of these dishes would destroy that image in a mere second for almost all of you out there, so go ahead and give them a shot!