New restaurant: TURKISH CAFÉ

This month we’ve decided to try out a restaurant to represent ISTANBUL. The  one we went to is Turkish Café in Frisco. When we saw the small corner storefront, we envisioned a tiny little café, but the inside really surprised us. It was a big room and had a huge back room where, according to the waiter, they had belly dancing in the evenings.

The food was fantastic. Hummus great, falafel the same. We were highly encouraged. The last thing we got to share was a lamb wrap and it, too, would have been great had the cook not mistakenly added a large jalapeno, seeds and all. Laura took one bite and thought she was dying! The waiter impressed us, too, as he had brought us a huge complimentary starter plate of hummus with some delicious flatbread. Also, when we got the check, he pointed out that they already added gratuity (so many waiters would not have done that). When Barbara saw that it was only 15% he said, “I don’t need any more than that.” Holy Cow. Now THAT is something that never happens. We’ll be back.

New Series: Travel Man: 48 Hours in….

Laura: We enjoyed the food from Istanbul so much that I decided to once again be an armchair traveler to experience sights and sounds beyond the food. I stumbled upon a great tv series. The premise of the series is for the host and a celebrity guest to take a two-day vacation break in a popular city, entertaining the viewers with interesting places, historical and insider tips and delightful humor. For the first 9 seasons, Richard Ayoade (a comedian, actor, writer, director and presenter) was the host, followed by comedian Joe Lycett for Seasons 10 through 13. I really enjoyed the episode on Istanbul, which debuted in Season 1, Episode 2. The chemistry between Ayoade and his guest Adam Hills, was great. Their conversation and jokes were so natural that you felt their banter was unscripted. But their 2-day Istanbul tour covered a lot of information over the course of a boat trip, a massage, a barber shop visit, a coffee shop with a psychic and haggling at the famous Grand Bazaar with its 4,000 shops. One of the fascinating facts I learned was that there’s an ancient Turkish belief that hair is alive so burning it is more humane than cutting it. When Richard was having a shave, the barber had a lighter and burnt off ear hair and other fuzzies. Yikes! I will definitely be tuning in for more episodes – and I don’t need a passport!