Dinner @ Mutfak Sanatları Merkezi

It was only 3:00p when we left the museum to complete our walk back to the hotel. Yes, very early, but our feet were protesting any further sightseeing … especially since we’d be walking to the highly recommended Mutfak Sanatları Merkezi — aka MSM (Kitchen Arts Center) for dinner.

After resting at the hotel, we headed to MSM, which turned out to be at least a 30-minute walk … each way. Oh our aching feet! But the food was worth it, so I won’t complain much.

Gaziantep, which is located on the historic Silk Road between Mesopotamia and the Euphrates River, is known for its varied cuisine. MSM, which is operated by the municipality, prepares and serves these traditional dishes, the recipes for which might otherwise be lost. Culinary classes are also offered, but I believe those have been suspended due to COVID-19.

With no photos or descriptions of the dishes, we relied on the server’s explanation before making our selections. Deniz and I both ended up with köfte (Turkish meatballs) dishes — mine with a yogurt sauce; his with a tomato sauce; both with garbanzo beans. Mui’s dish consisted of shredded lamb and rice. We each also ordered a dish called içli köfte … basically kibbeh as it is known in the US. For dessert, we ordered three separate ones to share … a basil sorbet; Haytayla (a milk pudding with rose water topping); and Dolangel (a flaky pastry with semolina and pistachios).

This was a good way to complete the on-our-own portion of this trip. Tomorrow we begin the tour we organized to take us to a few places that have been on our must-see list for a while now.Læs mere