Monday, January 18, 2010

Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations - Istanbul

Tony’s back! Well, technically Anthony Bourdain and his hit Travel Channel television show No Reservations returned for its sixth season last week. But since The Blot didn’t get a chance to highlight Bourdain’s trip to Panama in the show’s season premiere, we’ll just pretend tonight’s episode “Istanbul” is his first week back. In tonight’s episode, Tony dives deep into Turkish culture and cuisine to show us just how robust this country's food really is.

Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations on the Travel Channel
Tony begins his trip in Istanbul hungover after indulging in one too many beverages on his flight to Turkey. What better way to remedy that than with breakfast? He heads to Kale Cafe for a traditional Turkish breakfast, which is quite different than the normal American morning meal. Eggs, Turkish lamb sausage, cheeses, breads, olives, tomatoes and cucumbers are all part of this amazing meal. And here’s an interesting fact: the Turkish word for breakfast (kahvaltı) means "before coffee,” so a black tea is served with the meal and coffee is drank afterward.



A trip to Turkey just wouldn't be the same without meat on a stick, or as Tony says, "a throbbing missile of love". Despite being really classic stoner food, this stuff is delicious and freshly made. Tony also tries some soggy burgers off the street. I'll leave that one for your imagination. From lamb heads to black market mussels, Tony leaves no stone unturned. One of the most memorable segments of this episode (which you can see in the youtube video above) is Tony's time with a local taxi driver. Tony doesn't get much conversation in, but he does say, "being around Ishaan is like being in someone else's reality show". I don't know about you, but The Blot is getting hungry just thinking about all this great Turkish food!

Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations airs every Monday night at 10/9c on the Travel Channel.