(speaking foreign language)
- [Trevor] Look at this.
Wow, it's giant.
- [Chef] Yeah it is.
(laughing)
- [Trevor] Wow.
- Alright, check it out guys.
It's Trevor James, we are with Mr. Taster.
We are in Istanbul, Turkey,
and today Mr. Taster's bringing
us to all of his personal
friends' restaurants and
the best food of Istanbul.
- Yeah now we're gonna go meeting
the king of baklava, Mr. Nadir
and then we're gonna go to see Ali Usta,
Güvenç Konyalı lamb shank!
Let's go man!
- Check it out.
(upbeat music)
This is it, Istanbul, part two.
Where we're bringing you in deep, full on,
for some of the best
Turkish food in the city.
And, we're taking you
for an exclusive look
at the factory of the
best baklava in Istanbul.
So you're gonna wanna watch
all the way until the end
so you don't miss any of
his incredible Turkish food.
Let's eat.
- Now we go for cağ kebab.
- [Trevor] Cağ kebab!
- Which is horizontal almost like a doner,
but it's not doner, it's
more delicious I think.
- [Trevor] Okay!
- Let's go.
- Here we go!
People are just drinking tea,
playing backgammon on the streets.
Let's go see this horizontal doner.
And this is it!
- [Mr. Taster] Yeah, this Sehzade.
One of the oldest cağ kebab's in Turkey.
- Let's go check it out.
- Yeah, let's go.
Hello!
- [Trevor] Hi.
- [Mr. Taster] How are you?
- [Trevor] How are you?
(mumbling)
- Trevor, from Canada.
- [Trevor] Hi, how are you?
- Fine.
(speaking foreign language)
- [Trevor] Oh, here it is, the cağ kebab.
- [Mr. Taster] Yeah, the cağ kebab.
(speaking foreign language)
- Cağ kebab.
(speaking foreign language)
- [Trevor] It's giant!
- [Chef] Yes it is.
- [Trevor] Oh, how's that?
And it's cooked over the wood fire?
- [Mr. Taster] Yeah.
- [Trevor] Wow.
And it's put into a sandwich bread.
- [Mr. Taster] Yeah.
- [Trevor] That is beautiful.
Just look at the size of that.
(laughs)
Wow, the owner himself.
That's when you know it's good.
So it's sliced up
and you can see it's still pink and juicy.
(delighted hum)
- It's amazing.
- That is the most delicious meat ever.
Seasoned so well, fantastic.
- It's fantastic.
You must try it.
- Yeah.
- It's a must-have in Istanbul.
- Yeah.
And he literally just
puts this poker through
and then slices underneath it
to get that meat off.
(speaking foreign language)
There he goes out to the customers, boom.
And he's also making a wrap for us.
Look at that.
With onion and tomato and kebab meat,
little bit of salt, seasoned so well.
That is gonna be good.
Oh and they go on the grill too.
Look at that.
For me?
- Yeah.
- Okay.
(delighted hum)
That is amazing.
With tomato and onion he has--
(speaking foreign language)
(delighted hum)
So it gets sliced here
and you can see it's still
pink and juicy and dripping,
put right down here
and then thrown onto this barbecue here,
right on the coals.
Boom!
Wow, that's right off the barbecue
and just flipping it over
and served out to the locals.
Look at that.
And it's served with these wraps.
Boom, out to the hungry locals.
Oh, here we go into meat heaven.
(laughs)
Thank you.
Cağ kebab heaven.
- Cağ kebab.
(laughs)
- [Trevor] And we've got an onion salad--
- [Mr. Taster] Yeah.
- [Trevor] With sumac.
- [Mr. Taster] Yeah.
- [Trevor] An eggplant with chili.
- [Mr. Taster] Yeah.
And we've got yogurt with sasyar on top.
- [Trevor] And then a nice tomato--
- [Mr. Taster] Salad, yeah.
- Salad.
So you just wrap it in your bread.
- Like this.
- It's a meat glove.
- Yeah.
(laugh)
- Little onion.
- [Mr. Taster] Some salad.
- Oh wow.
And you can just wrap it up.
Let's try it out.
- Yeah.
(delighted hum)
- It's so juicy.
Seasoned so well.
It's definitely salty,
but not too salty.
- No.
- It just brings out
the flavor of the meat.
- It's fatty as well.
- That is honestly some of
the best meat I've ever eaten.
I expected Turkey to have good meat--
- [Mr. Taster] Yeah.
- But this good is another level.
- Yeah.
- It's so flavorful.
You can just eat it off the stick.
- Let's go.
(delighted hum)
- Oh wow.
Very delicious.
- The best of the best.
(laughs)
(speaking foreign language)
- Cağ kebab kings.
(laughs)
- Yeah, cağ kebab king.
- Thank you.
- Thank you.
- That's the good stuff.
Hanging out in the back
alleys of Istanbul.
- Yeah.
It's amazing.
- Delicious food, friendly people.
- I've got a baby.
(laughs)
- Thank you very much.
- Thank you.
- Thank you, thank you.
Bye bye, thank you.
And next up, we're taking you to
the çiğ köfte king of Istanbul,
one of the most iconic characters
that we've been planning
on visiting since arriving
to see his extreme way of
creating the çiğ köfte,
a must try street food of Turkey.
- Hi guys, my name is Trevor James.
I'm the Food Ranger.
Mr. Taster's over there, let's go.
(laughs)
- Alright here we are.
We're going for çiğ köfte.
- Yeah, we're going for çiğ köfte.
Ali Usta is the best
çiğ köfte in Istanbul.
- Let's go check it out.
- Yeah, let's go.
- So çiğ köfte, literally
translated as raw meatball,
but here in Turkey it's made with--
- Bulgur.
- Bulgur, which is wheat flour,
a type of oat flour.
- [Mr. Taster] Ali Usta!
- [Trevor] Ali Usta!
How are you?
(laughs)
(speaking foreign language)
- Thank you.
They're saying many customers
came from Mr. Taster.
- [Trevor] Oh!
- Thank you.
(speaking foreign language)
Iranian loves you.
All Iranian loves you.
- [Trevor] And here it is, the çiğ köfte.
- [Ali Usta] Spicy, a little spicy.
- [Trevor] Spicy, sounds good.
- Okay.
- [Trevor] Oh, look at that,
served on top of the lettuce.
- Spicy, you like spicy?
- Yeah, I love spicy.
Okay.
(laughs)
Look at that, lemon explosion.
(laughs)
He really douses you with that lemon.
(laughs)
And there it is.
- Yeah.
- The çiğ köfte.
- Yeah.
- He really gets you wet.
- It's a lemon shower.
(laughs)
- [Trevor] So you can
see it's that bulgur.
- [Mr. Taster] Bulgur, yeah.
- [Trevor] Bulgur, I think
it durum wheat flour.
- [Mr. Taster] Yeah and it's very spicy.
- [Trevor] Loads it up with spice.
Little bit of coriander
and douses it with lemon.
- I told you, you were gonna be surprised.
(laughs)
(delighted hum)
- Oh wow.
It taste like a spicy oat,
like a spicy whole wheat
with a freshness from coriander
and a citrus from lemon, wow.
And you can see he's a total character.
(laughs)
He really makes that
çiğ köfte with energy.
(delighted hum)
And he's invited us into the kitchen here.
(speaking foreign language)
(laughs)
Thank you.
It's the çiğ köfte.
(laughs)
- It's so good.
I love him.
- He is fast.
Look at this mountain of çiğ köfte,
good ol' wheat flour stuffed with spices.
Oh and he squeezes chili on.
(laughs)
(speaking foreign language)
- Very, very spicy.
(laughs)
- Okay, here we go.
Oh, he's throwing chili
in and pomegranate.
(laughs)
That's crazy.
Lot of spicy.
- Lot of spicy, okay.
Spicy--
- Oh, there we go, lettuce.
(laughs)
Thank you boss.
- Thank you.
(speaking foreign language)
Thank you.
- Thank you.
Let's go try it out.
And there it is,
he just made us a special wrap spicy.
He's a character, a real character
and you can see made
with wheat and spices,
lemon, pomegranate sauce
and you saw that he just scooped up
that chili with his hand,
with insane speed and energy.
Let's try it out.
(delighted hum)
Oh yeah, that is incredibly unique.
It's like a spicy wheat
with lemon, full of spices,
it's burning your mouth,
but it taste and feels good.
Absolutely amazing.
And you can see the locals think so too.
(speaking foreign language)
Thank you.
(speaking foreign language)
- Thanks brother.
- [Trevor] Thank you Ali.
- Thank you.
- [Trevor] Thank you, bye bye.
And next up we're bringing you to
the factory of the best
baklava in Istanbul
at Karaköy Güllüoğlu
to meet with the baklava
king himself, Mr. Nadir.
You're not gonna wanna miss this.
I am next to Mr. Taster
and I are going for
the number one baklava--
- Baklava in Istanbul.
We're going to Karaköy Güllüoğlu,
which is one of the most
famous baklava in Istanbul.
- It's beautiful, look at this!
- Look at that.
- Istanbul is an amazing world-class city
full of delicious food
and it's just right up here.
- Yeah.
Hey, how are you?
You okay?
(speaking foreign language)
- [Trevor] How are you?
Here we go, we're going into the factory!
- Yeah.
- [Trevor] Okay, we're going up.
You excited for your baklava thing?
- Yes.
(laughs)
- [Trevor] Mr. Nadir, nice to meet you.
Oh, there we go.
Thank you.
- Baklava Doctors.
- Baklava Doctors, yeah.
Okay, Mr. Nadir is taking
us to the baklava factory.
It's going to be really good to taste
and see how it's all done.
- Welcome.
- [Trevor] Thank you.
- Welcome again.
- [Mr. Taster] How are you?
(speaking foreign language)
- [Trevor] Okay and here we are.
We're going in, we're
going in for baklava.
(laughs)
(speaking foreign language)
Wow, look at this filo dough.
We're rolling it up ultra thin
and Mr. Nadir is just gonna
start the process right here,
show us how it's done.
- [Mr. Taster] You have the power.
- [Trevor] Strength.
(mumbling)
Oh, he's rolling it so thin.
- [Mr. Taster] Yeah.
Look at that.
- [Trevor] Wow.
- [Mr. Taster] Nadir style.
- [Trevor] Yeah, Nadir style.
(laughs)
And that's just getting separated, wow.
That is one of the most incredible
sights I've ever witness,
this ultra thin filo pastry
that Mr. Nadir just made for us.
Wow, it is really dusty in here.
You can breathe in this starch,
this dough in the air
and we're gonna go see
how the rest is made.
Wow and there it is,
look how thin it is.
(speaking foreign language)
(everyone cheers)
So he test it to see if it's thin enough
by dropping a coin--
- The king use to do that,
(speaking foreign language)
- Oh really?
- Yeah.
(everyone cheers)
- [Trevor] You can see through it.
- [Mr. Taster] Thank you, it's big.
- [Trevor] Yeah, it's huge.
(laughs)
- Oh my God.
(laughs)
- [Trevor] Yeah, it's really nice.
(everyone cheers)
You can see through it, wow.
And Neil here's just showing us
this pistachio section here.
- Yeah.
- [Trevor] Okay so this is the filo dough.
- 20 layers.
- [Trevor] 20 layers.
Oh and here's the pistachio.
Early harvest?
- [Neil] Yeah, early harvest pistachio.
- [Trevor] Whoa, look at that, beautiful.
(all cheering)
It's a natural, natural pistachio.
Oh now they're rolling out the baklava.
Nadir baklava.
- Yeah, Nadir baklava.
- [Trevor] And here they are,
this is the gold baklava, Nadir baklava.
Oh and here's the ghee.
Look at that.
And right here's the triangular baklava.
- Yeah, triangular baklava.
In Turkish we call it (foreign language).
- [Trevor] (foreign language)
stuffed with pistachio.
- [Neil] Pistachio--
- [Trevor] Milk sauce--
- Milk cream, we say (foreign
language) in Turkish.
- (foreign language) and then these get
folded over into triangles
and you drink this with tea.
- [Neil] Yeah.
- [Trevor] They get
put right into the tray
and then covered in syrup, beautiful.
And even more baklava.
- More pistachio (foreign
language), this one.
- [Trevor] Oh, the ghee.
Oh yeah, just one layer.
- [Neil] Baklava, just one layer.
- [Trevor] Wow and there it is.
That's a full tray.
And these are the--
- [Neil] Seashell baklava.
- [Trevor] Seashell?
Covered in that milk butter.
Perfect seashell baklava
and it's just one layer.
- [Neil] It's two layers.
- [Trevor] Two layers!
Oh and it gets pinched
into little seashell shape.
We're gonna have to get some of these.
- [Neil] Yeah.
- [Trevor] Yeah.
(laughs)
That is amazing to see.
He's the baklava champion.
- [Neil] Yeah, yeah.
(laughs)
(speaking foreign Language)
- [Mr. Taster] The king of baklava.
- [Trevor] He is the king of baklava.
(laughs)
Oh and here's the slicing.
So every piece has to be the same?
- [Neil] Yes.
- [Trevor] And it's covered in ghee
and then it's gonna get
covered in sugar next.
Wow, thank you very much.
Oh, here's the baklava cart
and these are going out to the oven.
Next up we're going upstairs
to see how the baklava are baked.
And this is the baking station.
- Yeah.
- Awesome.
Okay and here we go.
This is it.
Oh, fresh out of the oven
and here comes that syrup.
Wow and it's a factory line
of baklava here, look at this.
This is gonna absorb that butter
and that sugar and that lemon mix
and there it is,
right into the tray.
Okay and here we are.
- The baklava.
- [Trevor] Mr. Nadir's showing
us all the baklava, wow.
- Take a little bit water.
- Take a little water?
- Yeah.
- [Neil] There's a chakra on your chest.
- Oh, chakra.
- [Neil] With your chakra
choose whatever you want.
- Okay.
(laughs)
Oh.
(speaking foreign language)
- [Neil] How many children do you have?
- Zero.
- [Neil] Zero.
Sıfır.
(laughs)
- After, one.
(laughs)
- Yeah.
- One, two, three, four, five (sniffs).
- [Neil] Take a deep breath.
(speaking foreign language)
(delighted hum)
- 40 layer.
- 40 layers.
- 40 layer.
- Wow, that is delicious.
(speaking foreign language)
(laughs)
- One, two, three, four, five (sniffs).
(laughs)
- [Trevor] Look at that.
It's so fluffy, covered in milk cream.
(delighted hum)
- No more.
(laughs)
- It's over.
Oh and here's a seashell.
(laughs)
- One, two, three, four, five (sniffs).
- Breathe it in.
Oh, look at that.
Okay take it in.
- One, two, three, four, five (sniffs).
Nefes, nefes, nefes.
- Oh and here's the single layer baklava.
- [Neil] Energy, energy.
- Energy.
- No, thank you.
- I think this may be the
happiest day of my life right now.
How's that Ting?
- I've been here for third time
and every time I come to see the process,
it was amazing
and you're amazing too.
(laughs)
King of baklava.
- [All] Baklava!
- What did you think Ting?
- It's so good.
- It's so good.
Your mouth just tingles
with baklava sweetness.
It's just incredible.
There's so many of these trays
and we're gonna keep exploring guys.
And to finish off the day
we're bringing you to try
some of the juiciest meat in Istanbul.
And some incredible
Turkish etli ekmek pizzas.
Check this out, all the fisherman,
we've got the beautiful
(foreign language) here
and what a beautiful city.
And here we are, thank you.
(laughs)
- We're going for Konyalı lamb shank,
which is one of the
best shank in Istanbul.
- Really?
- Yeah, he is really famous chef.
- Here we are.
How are you?
- Trevor.
- Nice to meet you.
- Thank you
- Hello.
- How are you?
(laughs)
Thank you.
Oh here, all over here.
And we're going into the kitchen.
Oh and here is the kitchen.
Wow.
And what's this, a stuffed pumpkin?
- [Mr. Taster] It's lamb shank in there.
- [Trevor] Lamb shank in a pumpkin?
- [Mr. Taster] Yeah.
Wow, it's hubbly bubbly.
- [Trevor] It's hubbly bubbly.
So we've got the shoulder,
the neck, the leg.
- [Chef] No bones.
- [Trevor] No bones?
Wow, that is beautiful.
So we just walked into the kitchen
and we found the most
beautiful tubs of lamb shank.
It's bubbling, look at this.
Ready to eat.
Oh and here we go,
we're gonna make etli ekmek.
- Etli ekmek.
- [Trevor] So that's
70% lamb and 30% beef.
It's got coriander, green
bell pepper, tomato and onion.
Oh, this is amazing to see.
The etli ekmek, good pizza.
Oh and it's topped with cheese too.
Oh wow.
Giant wood oven.
One after the other.
That is a deep Turkish stone flamed oven.
Look at that!
Wow, oh and this is the pide?
- [Chef] Yeah, it's traditional.
- [Trevor] Homestyle?
- [Chef] Yeah it's homestyle.
- [Trevor] Wow, Turkish etli ekmek.
Boom, smells so delicious.
Green pepper and there
it is finished, yeah.
That's the good stuff.
Oh and this is filled with cheese?
- [Chef] It's filled with cheese.
- [Trevor] We've got
so many varieties here.
Wow and there it is, beautiful.
Oh and here's the pumpkin.
Look at the pumpkin.
- Special, special--
- [Trevor] Special pumpkin.
- Special (mumbles).
- [Trevor] Thank you.
(laughs)
Oh and there's the pumpkin.
(all cheering)
Look inside there!
Oh wow, so it's pumpkin?
- [Chef] It's honey pumpkin.
- Honey pumpkin?
Wow, look at the lamb in there.
- Whoa.
- [Trevor] So it's that lamb that
we saw upstairs cooking in the oil,
but inside of a pumpkin.
Whoa.
- [Mr. Taster] Oh my gosh.
- Thank you.
- It's fatty and nice, isn't it?
- Yes fatty, bubbly
and you can smell it the
sweetness from the pumpkin.
- [Mr. Taster] Wow, look at that.
(laughs)
- Oh, the bone just falls out.
You don't even need your teeth for this.
(laughs)
(all cheering)
The bone just comes out.
- Yeah.
- Thank you.
(laughs)
How's that?
- Fantastic.
(sighs)
(laughs)
Yeah.
- It just melts in your mouth.
(laughs)
How's that Ting?
- It's really smooth.
- [Trevor] It's really smooth, right?
Oh and another special.
Oh what's this?
- Wow.
- Wow.
- [Mr. Taster] Look at that.
- Whoa!
(clapping)
- [Mr. Taster] That's crazy.
- That is the meat right out of the oil.
Turkish meat--
- Thank you, thank you.
- From the mountain.
- Wow, look at that.
- [Chef] Neck.
- [Trevor] The neck?
- [Mr. Taster] Yeah.
- [Trevor] Wow and it's just pure meat.
- Wow.
- That's the Mr. Taster special.
(laughs)
Oh wow, look at the meat there.
- I love, love, love, love Mr. Taster--
- Oh thank you, thank you.
- Oh and there's more.
- She said that you should take some veg.
- Take some veg?
- Yes.
(laughs)
(delighted hum)
- I told you he's the king.
(delighted hum)
King of lamb shank.
- Yeah he is.
And you can just put the
meat into this etli ekmek.
(laughs)
Put a little lemon on it and add a pepper.
(laughs)
(delighted hum)
That is delicious.
Thank you.
- Thank you.
- Thank you, I appreciate it.
- Thank you.
- [Trevor] Thank you very much.
Thank you.
- Thank you, nice to meet you.
- [Trevor] Nice to meet you, bye bye.
- Bye bye.
- Bye bye, thank you.
You guys go follow Mr.
Taster's new YouTube channel
in the description below.
Make sure you subscribe
to this channel as well.
Click our little bell notification button
so you don't miss any of these videos
and Turkey, wow it's been amazing.
Thanks a lot of watching guys.
