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 iconic; 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 through the oil.
This is the TableJourney editorial recipe, modelled on the canonical bistro / counter version. The first place to try the dish in its city of origin is below.
Where to eat balık ekmek (fish sandwich)
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