Turkish Cuisine is best known with kebabs abroad, but one of my favorite dishes is manti. I strongly recommend you to taste it during your visit.

Little information on manti: Specially treated chopped meat is divided into pieces as big as a pea, and each one is wrapped with a small and very thin dough. They are boiled and served with yoghurt (with garlic if desired) and tomato sauce. The best spice to be added is sumac. I also prefer dried peppermint and red pepper along with it.

Ortakoy (Ortaköy) is an authentic neighborhood on the European bank of Bosphorus. It is famous with open-air handcraft bazaar; as well as cafes, bars and restaurants with reasonable prices. I’d recommend you to take a tour in the bazaar, then have a seat in a cafe by the sea. You may try hookah (nargile) if you are interested. Afterwards, if the weather is nice, I’d also recommend you to take a walk by Bosphorus heading north towards Bebek.