Turkish Delight

Ozler Restaurant
Turkish Cuisine
Ebusuud Cad.
Istanbul, Turkey

Donair or shawarma is one of the most popular Turkish chow and can be found in every nook and cranny of Istanbul. Although this is also popular around the globe and has been frequently revised to suit a country's palate, Turkey offers one of the best, thanks to their kebap. The kebab or kebap in Turkish is the filling of this delicious sandwich-like meal which is basically the meat of your choice, spiced and grilled to perfection. Lamb is the original meat and one of the most popular but the kebap also has chicken, beef and pork variations. Having the kebap in Turkey is like seeing the Eiffel tower in France, you just have to do it and it won't be a hard task, all you have to do is to pick a place.

Ozler Restaurant was an easy pick to have kebap. Situated in the bustling, touristy area in Istanbul and neighbours to many hotels, bars and restaurants, their very friendly host will definitely try to lure you in and tempt you with pictures of their scrumptious menu. Ozler was right across our hotel in Istanbul and we have seen happy diners leaving after a meal so we decided to try it out for a fellow Contiki traveller's birthday dinner.

The restaurant fixed us a long table on the street (their "patio") to accommodate us and gave us a pretty good deal for our meal and as soon as we sat down, flat, toasted Turkish bread were being served to be munched on. I ordered a plate of beef kebap and waited for my dish as we enjoyed people watching and conversing with each other. I made sure not to stuff myself with the yummy bread so there will be enough room for more but when it arrived, I knew that there will be no way that I can polish my plate.

My kebap plate was piled with fries, salad, rice, pita and a huge skewer of grilled beef and it was deliciously filling. The meat was tender and every bit flavourful. They definitely didn't scrimp and gave us a meal fit for two. Thankfully, there were stray cats meowing under our table so I didn't have to waste the appetizing food and shared it with the hungry felines and just like me, our four-legged friends left Ozler Restaurant satisfied and happy.