Şişli · Istanbul · Turkey
Bursa İskenderoğlu
The king of all Turkish kebab meals. Go here. Get the İskender. That's it.
İskender means Alexander in Turkish. The dish was invented in Bursa in the 1860s by a man named İskender Efendi, and it has been made by his family ever since. This is one of those restaurants. The placemat says so. The food confirms it.
The dish is straightforward and extraordinary: thinly shaved lamb from a vertical spit, laid over torn pide bread, doused in tomato sauce and hot butter, with a cold dollop of yogurt on the side. The combination of temperatures and textures is the whole point — hot meat, warm bread, cool yogurt, the butter soaking through everything underneath. Any Turkish person you ask will tell you this is the real one.
"Any real Turkish guy will tell you — yes, that's the good stuff."
Don't over-think the order. You're getting the İskender. There's no decision to make. Eat it while the butter is still sizzling and the bread hasn't gone soft all the way through yet. Have an ayran — cold, salty yogurt drink — alongside it. That's the correct pairing and it's been the correct pairing for 150 years.
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