Istanbul's Continental Feast: Europe to Asia Culinary Journey

It's just 2 weeks since I've returned from my trip to Istanbul and as I reminisce my trip through my numerous photos, the standout excursion of our trip to Istanbul was our guided fooding and culture tour with Erol. My friends and I learned so much from Erol's very passionate knowledge of origins of food and Turkish culture. We started off with breakfast pastries and the Spice Market on the European side and then really got to taste many delights on the Asian side. We discovered and fell in love with borek (filled with savory potatos is my fav), menemen (no onions!) and lamucun (turkish pizza) with aryan (salted milk). Erol, I tried to purchase of a few of these food items after our tour, and your versions were indeed so much better. We consider ourselves very fortunate to have had Erol as our food guide as he truly took us to the BEST local favorites to try the very best versions of all popular Turkish street foods. We also really enjoyed the deep conversations that covered so many unlikely topics. Erol was a true joy and speaks perfect English. Thank you for making our first trip to Istanbul unforgettable and so enjoyable Erol.

Spent a wonderful 4.5 hours with Erol—-he is friendly, a good communicator, and so knowledgeable about food, culture and history. Excellent English. It was wonderful to ride the ferry and visit both the European and Asian sides, and sample local specialities. Would highly recommend for a new visitor to Istanbul.

The tour was fantastic! We had Kim for the tour and she was very knowledgeable and a fantastic tour guide. The food was also delicious so overall, it was a great experience!

Today a friend and I went on this food tour with Erol, who is an incredible guide. Not only did he take us on a wonderful culinary adventure, stopping at a variety of excellent restaurants and food shops, but also the breadth of his knowledge about Istanbul, its people, the culture, and the history was great. He made it so much more than a food tour. I cannot rate the tour or Erol highly enough. It is a high point of our time in Istanbul.

Excellent walking tour of various foods of Istanbul/Turkey. Fa was an excellent and knowledgeable guide for our small group tour. Recommend this tour to get a taste of unique Turkish foods. Particularly and surprisingly really enjoyed the kokorec.

Great experience with good food stops and informative guide Erol. We recommend this tour to other visitors.

We thoroughly enjoyed the food and background information Erol provided on this tour. We had seen some of these items on restaurant menus, but all the items we sampled were fresh prepared and delicious. We booked this tour at the end of a long vacation filled with significant walking and were apprehensive about a 5 hour tour. Luckily, we were the only ones on the tour that morning, and Erol worked with us to minimize the walking time. Highly recommend.

Erol was our guide. We really enjoyed our experience because Erol focused on the foods that Turkish people eat every day. He explained every food that we ate and told us whether the item was something that could be made at home. He was also took an interest in us personally. Overall, a great afternoon on the European and Asian sides of Istanbul.

We had a fantastic time with Erol. His English was excellent and we learned a lot about Turkish culture, history, and cuisine. We tasted a variety of Turkish food and really enjoyed spending time with Erol. It was the best tour that we’ve taken. We highly recommend taking a food tour with Erol.

Erol (I think that was his name) was an awesome tour guide during our “Taste of Turkey-on Two Continents from European Istanbul to Asian Kadikoy.” He took us to sample several foods, Ayran, Turkish coffee and our choice of Turkish dessert. He explained how they fit into the Turkish culture. He even shared the history of the Spice Bazaar and how it’s also called the Egyptian Market. We loved the food & culture tour.