Istanbul: The best Turkish desserts in Istanbul at Grande Kafe.

What does fried wheat strands, rose syrup, endless supply of pistachios and the famous Turkish delight have in common?  They are all delicacies of Istanbul’s history as the melting pot of European and Eastern cultures.  While I am not a dessert person, one place in Istanbul has made me proclaimed that “this is one of the best dessert places I have been to in a long time”, a statement which I have not made for the entire 2014/2015 period till then.

After a trip to the Basilica Cistern, we were craving for some food and the tempting colours of the Grand Cafe or Grande Cafe as the Turks call it lured us in.  

Sugar, sugar, everywhere sugar.

There are plenty of sweets here but majority of the ready to go desserts were Turkish delights, Baklava, Lokmas and such.  Very inviting!  Note that the Turkish delight in Turkey seemed less artificially sweetened compared to the ones I had tasted before coming to Istanbul!

In a true  East meets West fashion, the four of us ended up with three desserts and some tea or rather "chai" in Turkish.  Two were Turkish staples the Kunefe and a Trileche while the other was an American style cheesecake.  What is a Trileche?  It is the pinnacle of simplicity.  consisting of a sponge soaked in mildly spiced milk topped with a creme caramel style burnt syrup.

The soaked spongy cake was a reminiscent of a childhood where I enjoyed dipping everything in my cup of hot Milo.  Biscuits, cake and breads!  And at the very top the Trileche was a very fine tasting caramel layer.  It was sensational.  The Trileche looked like a dessert that does not contain complex techniques or sophisticated flavours but yet it pleased the palate so very well.  I am amazed.

Kunefe

What is a Kunefe?  It was essentially baked cheese topped with intertwining wheat strands that is baked until crisp. Once cooked, it is doused with syrup and topped with crushed pistachio.  

The result is a combination of texture, flavour and visual pleasantry that help produce an outstanding dessert.  The crisp of the wheat strands, fragrance of the pistachio and subtle syrup worked together to make a mildly savoury cheese taste sensational.  It was warm and absolutely pleasing for that cold-rainy day.  It was super good.  I have never had a Kunefe before and having is this once is making me want to have it again (unfortunately other Kunefe that we had in town did not even come close).

Last but not least is the Berry Cheesecake which I believe needs no introduction.  With the Kunefe and Trileche stealing the limelight, there was no space for error with the Cheesecake if it wanted its own 5 minutes of fame.  

Unfortunately, it did not pass my requirement for a good cheesecake.  Whilst everything looked really pretty, it lack that melt in your mouth feel.  A sensation one gets from when the baker properly fine tunes the addition of gelatine, agar or other hardening agents.  This one was really hard which I did not enjoy.  Needless to say, it was the wrong dessert in the wrong place haha.  Still edible nonetheless!

WenY

Istanbul: Popular Sights of Istanbul and a Classic Kebab.

Istanbul, is one of the places that I have always wanted to go since I was a kid.  There is something about this city that is so enchanting. Whether its the never-ending stretches of bustling bazaars,  or the mystical landmarks of the city, I was sold.  Like every other new city I have visited, everything seemed quite normal yet so very foreign.  Our lost faces often earned the glares of the local.  Being ripped off too, soon became part of the experience. Despite all these down sides, I was liking it.  It was an adventure! So much that walking through a deserted street in the middle of the night became a thing of fun rather than an element of concern.

With 3 day and 3 nights, was it possible to travel the city?  The itinerary for us was rather simple.  On the first day, we took in as much of the city basic as we could.   This includes (rather unsurprisingly) the tourist attractions like the Blue Mosque, Hagia Sophia,  Basilica Cistern, and the Topkapi Palace area.  

These sights are amazing, some more than others.  There is always a queue to go in and for me who tried going into everything, I soon learned that not everything was worth going into.  Which was the best and worst tourist attraction to go into?  

The Best:  Basilica Cistern.

This Basilica was once a source of water for the local community and served the community for many centuries.  Now a converted tourist attraction, the soaring pillars are bragging rights of age old construction done right.  Everything in the Basilica was simply amazing! Peer into the water and also notice some zombie looking fish that has been put into the Basilica to mitigate any mosquito breeding activities.

The OK: Blue Mosque

I have been longing to see the iconic Blue Mosque ever since I was a kid.  For some odd reason I even thought that Aladdin was related to Turkey rather than the Arabs!  But be warned that this icon looks far better on the outside than on inside.  The historians might disagree but for the commoner in me, a long gaze from outside was all I needed to embrace the greatness of the Ottoman Empire.  For the ladies, always remember to cover up as a matter of respect.  Head to toe.

The Worst: Hagia Sophia.

On one end is the iconic Blue Mosque with free entry and on the other end is the “pink” mosque named Hagia Sophia with paid entry.  From the outside, the building marvellously s the skyline with its warm pink tones making it inviting to those seeing it from afar.  But the inside tells a different story.  It was mundane, unfinished and perhaps unmaintained.  It was definitely not worth my dollar.

After all that walking, I was ready for a proper Turkish feed.  For lunch were some good old kebabs at  Sehzade Cag Kebap.

 I can already imagine people frowning and saying “Its like the one I had outside my house”.  Not all kebabs are made equal and the ones at Sehzade Cag Kebap reminded me of a conversation I had with a friend in the Netherlands before; that original Turkish food is very minimalistic and often only used salt and pepper for seasoning.  

The skewers of thinly sliced lamb were a reflection of that.  It was hard to understand it at first but the gamey-smokey lamb skewers were a sign of simplicity rather than a lack of creativity.  I enjoyed it as there were a mix of textures.  Some of the edges were crispy while the middle pieces were a lot more tender.  But in saying that, I think two skewers with several sides was all I could handle.  Anymore and I would have gotten bored!

We also ordered a few other things like the curdled cheese which tasted like solid yoghurt, and the “very spicy” chilli sauce which tasted like salsa. Great accompaniment which lifted the flavours of the lamb kebab!

The very "spicy"  chilli sauce which was more of a Turkish salsa!

The yoghurt condiment:

Part. 2 coming soon!

WenY

Munich: The Oldest Beer Hall @ Hofbräuhaus, Platzl

Munich’s oldest beerhall Hofbräuhaus is almost half a millennium old.  It is from this very hall that the smooth Wheatbeer was created and some even that this good old beer hall saved its residents from the plague.   The Hofbräuhaus layout span several floors.  A grand dance hall on top where admission is only for those dressed in folk clothing, a classic gastro pub in the mid levels and a celebratory beer hall at its base.  After spending the night before drinking with other travellers, I was convinced that Hofbräuhaus was one of the finest watering holes in Munich.  It is very similar to the Augustinerbräu, but how was Hofbräuhaus’s food?

The beers in Munich were really nice and not just plain bitter.  But more than half of my praise for the alcoholic beverage lies in its texture rather than taste.  It was smooth, with a creamy top, but unfortunately still no clearly defined malty flavours from the wheat! Or maybe I was just looking for something else haha.  

The lunch at Hofbräuhaus was my final meal before leaving Munich, so we stuck to the usual Bavarian classics.  A serve of Schweinshaxe and a Wurst platter.  Both dishes did not take long to come out but I did not feel wow-ed by its visual presence.  Neither did they look generous or lusciously meaty/crispy!  Instead it was, very dull. First up the Wurst platter.

Taste wise, the Wursts felt very “standard” in a way that if you were to go out on the streets you could easily pick a better one I would think. In fact, I think we had a better one on the street.  

The Bavarian classic the Schweinshaxe

The  Schweinshaxe is a grilled pork knuckle dish that present itself as a colossal piece of meat that is going to be impossible to finish yet the crispy skin makes any attempt worth the eater’s while.  But at Hofbräuhaus, the knuckle was tiny.  Looks like it was from a tiny pig!  But that was the least of my concern.  Instead I was more disappointed by lack of crispy skin to munch on!  For comparison, see the one I had in Berlin.  That was absolute proper!

For dessert, I just had to try the famous Bavarian Apple Strudel and challenge it to see whether it was a worth opponent to some of the best apple desserts I have had.  

As whole the strudel was OK.  It was not bad or anything like that but it failed to gather momentum beyond the ordinary.  The strudel layers were poorly defined, but I liked how the apple filling were more fragrant than sweet.  A pool of sweetened custard spiked with vanilla helped smoothen things out but still it did not bring me to a state of foodgasm.

Hofbräuhaus is the oldest beer hall that maintains its tradition.  While food is not its strong point, Hofbräuhaus boasts other bragging right Chilling the night away, enjoying folks music, and the company of foreign travellers all around the world is why Hofbräuhaus remains a popular choice among tourist and locals alike.  For the most local experience, avoid the Oktoberfest period which does not start in October but rather mid September onwards. Locals and Europeans tend to desert the area during Oktoberfest because accomodation is too pricey as it is geared towards people fro the States, the UK and Australia.

WenY