On October 12 and 13 we celebrated Ergun’s and Jan’s birthdays with dinners. The first was at Cibalikapi Fish Restaurant in the Moda district of Istanbul. It was my and Jan’s first visit to Cibalikapi and we both enjoyed the place and the food very much. It is a decent size restaurant with a wide appetizer selection and seasonal local fish. Our friends Oya and Ersan also joined us, although Ersan’s wife Yuksel had a big cold and had to stay home.
The variety of appetizers we had as starters, as is the custom in Turkey, was extensive and all of them were delicious. Space was conducive for carrying on a conversation with the ceiling being covered with foam, a nice change from the general practice. Service was prompt and efficient. The fish they served was lufer, fresh and tasted as good as the appetizers. I know very little about fish, I looked up the translation and it came up as bluefish.
The next day, on Jan’s actual birthday we went to the local Italian restaurant Rosario. The service started with olive oil plate with a few dried tomatoes, peppers, eggplants and garlic bread served in an edible bowl made of flatbread. Ergun ordered a nice Chianti for the table and a Bomonti beer for Jan. My niece Ekin also joined us for dinner, in fact, she drove us to the restaurant. Then came the very thinly sliced dried veal with mozzarella, a very good way to start the meal. A little later they served a few pieces of homemade tortellini. We ordered our meals, Jan and I each had a pasta dish which was delicious. As a big coincidence, Merve, his wife Sirin, and their daughter Inci were sitting a few tables away from us. He is the son of Ersan who was with us the day before.
As we enjoyed our dinner an accordion player started playing well-known Italian melodies walking around the tables. Here is a short video, about 30 seconds.
Happy birthday to Ergun, happy birthday to Jan!
Binnaz Melin says
Doğum günleri, Merve, Şirin ve ufaklık buluşması, her şey ‘cuk’ oturmuş, Objektifine, anlatımına sağlık sevgili Cemal.
Cemal Ekin says
Evet, guzel iki gun gecirdik, sagolun.
Cemal
Jude says
Mutlu yıllar Jan!! (furkan ergün) :-)
Cemal Ekin says
Jude, our trip to Turkey has improved your Turkish! See you when we return next Saturday.
Take care,
Cemal
Binnaz Melin says
Her iki gece de unutulmaz anılarla doldu taştı! Merve ve Şirin ve İnci de Rosario’ya büyük katkıda bulundular.
Haluk Atamal says
Bu mutlu anların isabeti sizlerin güzel yüreklerinizin sayesinde.
Lüfer bluefish mi bilmiyorum ama aklıma bir anım geldi: Lisede fizik dersine gelen ve fakat İngilizcesi iyi olmayan bir öğretmenimiz dürbün’ün karşılığı olan binoculars’ı hatırlayamayınca, “something you look through, makes things closer” gibisinden bir laf etmişti. Biz de serserilik yapıp, “dyurbyuunz hocam” demiştik. O da tasdik etmişti.
Yani luufer de diyebilirdin :)
Sevgi ve hasret dolu selamlarımla.
Haluk
Cemal Ekin says
Haluk, benim dedigim gibi balik bilgim kilcikli olmasinin otesine gitmez. O nedenle luufer veya loofer da diyebilirdim, haklisin.
Istanbul’dan selam ve sevgiler,
Cemal