Tarihi Eminönü Balık Ekmek ★ 4.4
Tarihi Eminönü Balık Ekmek at the Galata Bridge, the red-and-gold fish boats grilling mackerel into half-loaves with lettuce and lemon for around 100 lira.
Try: Grilled fish sandwich
History
Balık ekmek emerged on the Eminönü quays after the Second World War, when fishing boats sold the day's catch straight off the boat with a piece of bread. By the 1990s the moored red-and-gold boats on the Galata Bridge made it well-known; today they grill several hundred sandwiches a day for whoever steps up to the counter.
Common allergens: Gluten, Fish
Make it at home
Ingredients
- 2 mackerel fillets, skin on, about 200g each
- 2 crusty half-baguettes, split lengthwise
- 1 small white onion, sliced paper-thin
- Handful of green lettuce, shredded
- 1 lemon, cut in wedges
- 1 teaspoon flaky sea salt
- 1 teaspoon sumac
- Olive oil for grilling
Method
- Heat a heavy ridged pan or charcoal grill until it smokes. Brush the mackerel fillets with olive oil and salt them lightly.
- Grill the fillets skin-side down for 3 minutes, flip and cook another 2 minutes until the flesh just flakes.
- Toast the cut faces of the bread briefly on the same grill.
- Layer lettuce and onion inside each bread, lift in a fillet, sprinkle with sumac and finish with a squeeze of lemon at the table.
Tip from the editors. If you cannot get mackerel, use bonito or a firm-fleshed sea bream; the trick is to keep the fish high in salt, low in time, with onion sharp enough to cut
Where to eat balık ekmek (fish sandwich)
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