No really, I think you would struggle to find friendlier, more helpful and more welcoming people anywhere around the world. We'd received a taste of the Turks' world famous hospitality in Istanbul and then Malatya but they were just part of the entree. Gaziantep was the main course.
And that convenient little food analogy leads nicely into the reason why we'd decided to head to Gaziantep to begin with - it's regarded as the food capital of Turkey. Hold the second invitation, we're on our way.
From the first tasty morsel to the last, the city really drove home its claim.
There are three different dishes that an Antepian turns to for breakfast. The first is beyran - 12 hour mutton broth that is ladled onto melt in your mouth mutton, rice and suet (mutton fat found around the kidneys) which is then topped with chili flakes and a heap of garlic. You can imagine the result. A soup that coats your ribs and kick starts a day in which you feel as though you can accomplish anything. This day we accomplished more food. Lots more food.
Next breakfast item of choice is katmer - a thin dough envelope that contains kaymak (Turkish clotted cream), sugar and local pistachios.
Far from the healthiest breakfast item ever but close to the best breakfast item ever. So much gluttony but so much goodness. We squeezed this in on top of a bowl each of beyran. By 10am we were ready for a rest and an extra belt notch.
The third breakfast item is a liver kebab, my great disappointment of Gaziantep. Before leaving Gaziantep we headed out looking for the most delicious sounding breakfast item that I could ever dream up to discover that Saturday morning is not the the morning for a liver kebab.
We forlornly wandered back to pick up our bags and begrudgingly sat down for one of Gaziantep's other world famous culinary treats - pistachio baklava. It was a sad, tough morning.
Let's get back on track, Gaziantep wasn't all doom and gloom.
Another thing that Antepians love and do reasonably well are kebabs.
Our first Gaziantep kebab experience was at Imam Cagdas where we destroyed alinazik (lamb with eggplant puree swimming in a garlic yoghurt) and simit (ground lamb, bulgur and pistachio) kebabs that were astonishingly good. The simit kebab was a "flavour moment" for Nix.
But our shining food moment and a moment that erased any good karma that we've ever accumulated came at Halil Usta, a man famed throughout Turkey for his kebabs. We'd hardly been seated for five minutes when out came a mixed plate of succulent, juicy kebabs, pillowy soft pide and a chopped onion and tomato salad doused in pomegranate molasses. We'd almost got to the point where we could hardly eat anymore when out came two more premium cuts of lamb "on the house". Meat heaven.
But then the knockout blow. We got up to leave and as we got to the counter the owner met us with a massive smile, told me to put my wallet away and said that our entire meal was on the house. Humbled and gobsmacked we wandered back wondering what we'd done to deserve such a gesture. However I don't think that we'd anything and that it was just the most pure example of Turkish hospitality.
However it didn't end there. When we were leaving Gaziantep a man confirmed that we were heading to the bus station whilst we were stood at a local bus stop, pretty much pushed us onto the bus that we needed, hopped off the bus before us and ran ahead into the bus station to get someones attention who knew which bus we would need to get to Antakya, at which point the man walked the other way and this new guy got us onto the right bus and promptly split before we could say thank you. All of this without ulterior motive. As I said, friendliest place on earth...
Next stop Syria Antakya
Leaving our food utopia behind we headed to Antakya for more umm, food. Because that's what we do...
A map of Antakya shows a river running through the middle of the city on which I'd envisaged us sipping çay and indulging in its culinary delights. What we were instead met with was a dried up creek that sent wafts of human waste up through your nostrils and into your mouth.
After overcoming that disappointment we ate our way though a pretty tasty city.
Hummus and Bakla at Meshur Halepli Ibrahim Usta - proximity to Syria means proximity to hummus and it's Antakya's crowning culinary glory. Hummus smoother than a baby's bum, and packed full of way more flavour, and bakla (a kind of broad bean cooked for hours and then mashed with sesame and olive oil, lemon juice, garlic, and red pepper flakes), hummus' brother in arms in Antakya.
Doner at Donerci Tacettin and Abdo Doner - these are famous doners that change peoples' lives. Doner just doesn't do it for us. They were nice but not amazing in our very humble opinions. Our doner experiment is over.
Haytali at Affan Kahvesi - lightly sugared pudding, scoops of vanilla ice cream, rose water syrup. Simple, refreshing and delicious.
Kunefe at Cinaralti Kunefe - a regional speciality dessert consisting of two layers of shredded pastry which is filled with cheese (yes, cheese) then baked until crispy before finally being soaked in sugar syrup. Satisfyingly satisfying.
Atom Shakes at Vitamin Centre - another regional speciality that's an ingenuous mix of banana, pistachio, honey, apricot and yoghurt.
The big bonus of Antakya was the hotel that we stayed at looked out over a mosque with a resident family of about 20, mostly teenage, cats. We lost a lot of time gazing out of the window trying to work out how we could break into the mosque. We thought that may be a bit uncouth though.
In summary, Eastern Turkey is the bomb!
Barrie-ometer of "Feel" - a song from Alien Antep...
