Once again I got a seat at PopUp Istanbul...this time for Indian night! I so miss good Indian food. There are several Indian restaurants in Istanbul but...they're either really not good and expensive or only so-so and expensive. The last time I had good Indian food was November of last year when I was in the UK. Although walking home from Ortakoy Saturday night I spotted a place in Besiktas I didn't know about so I'll have to try that.
So the last time I had truly good Indian food was in November...until PopUp that is! K is an excellent cook and she brought a lot of spices (which are near to impossible to get here) from Europe. Along with, and I kid you not, bags of papadoms. She brought pre-made papadoms in Europe and brought them, intact, back to Istanbul. Dude. The full menu she prepared included:
Yoghurt with chilli oil dip served with whole wheat flat breads
Onion Bhajis
Pea and potato samosas
Mint and cucumber raita
Coriander sambal
(Sweet) Mango chutney
Gustaba (lamb/beef meatballs in curd gravy)
Od Delhi style butter chicken
Chickpea curry
Spiced yellow rice
Brinjal with chat masala
Spicy, hot mango pickle
Dried fruit chutney
Coconut chutney
Rose ice cream with apple pastry
K is a goddess. The food was amazing and, as was the Georgia night, enhanced by a group of really interesting people. I think that's part of what makes PopUp so great, so many people with different backgrounds, jobs, nationalities, etc all brought together by love of food. Great food, lots of wine, laughter, and interesting conversation (including my low-level sociopathy and a few tales from the 'dark farm') made for a wonderful night.
And since K never discourages dressing to theme I got to wear my salwar kameez out of the apartment! I bought four of them 12 years ago when I was in India and one of them (i.e. the only one that still fits) came with me when I moved here because, if nothing else, it's fantastic around the house wear. Now K just needs to do Moroccan night soon so I can wear one of the gorgeous dresses I bought in Rabat a few years ago!
So wonderful that it was about 2AM when I got home. Happily I don't live too far from PopUp so stumbling home at that time of the AM is never really a problem. Up the stairs though is something a little different. It was almost 3 by the time I was de-makeuped and settled down Sherlock for the evening so I was tired on Sunday and I'm afraid Mass was a bit of a haze; exacerbated by my low level understanding of Italian. But worth it? Totally. Can't wait until the next one!!
So the last time I had truly good Indian food was in November...until PopUp that is! K is an excellent cook and she brought a lot of spices (which are near to impossible to get here) from Europe. Along with, and I kid you not, bags of papadoms. She brought pre-made papadoms in Europe and brought them, intact, back to Istanbul. Dude. The full menu she prepared included:
Yoghurt with chilli oil dip served with whole wheat flat breads
Onion Bhajis
Pea and potato samosas
Mint and cucumber raita
Coriander sambal
(Sweet) Mango chutney
Gustaba (lamb/beef meatballs in curd gravy)
Od Delhi style butter chicken
Chickpea curry
Spiced yellow rice
Brinjal with chat masala
Spicy, hot mango pickle
Dried fruit chutney
Coconut chutney
Rose ice cream with apple pastry
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| Of course Suvla made an appearance! |
K is a goddess. The food was amazing and, as was the Georgia night, enhanced by a group of really interesting people. I think that's part of what makes PopUp so great, so many people with different backgrounds, jobs, nationalities, etc all brought together by love of food. Great food, lots of wine, laughter, and interesting conversation (including my low-level sociopathy and a few tales from the 'dark farm') made for a wonderful night.
And since K never discourages dressing to theme I got to wear my salwar kameez out of the apartment! I bought four of them 12 years ago when I was in India and one of them (i.e. the only one that still fits) came with me when I moved here because, if nothing else, it's fantastic around the house wear. Now K just needs to do Moroccan night soon so I can wear one of the gorgeous dresses I bought in Rabat a few years ago!
So wonderful that it was about 2AM when I got home. Happily I don't live too far from PopUp so stumbling home at that time of the AM is never really a problem. Up the stairs though is something a little different. It was almost 3 by the time I was de-makeuped and settled down Sherlock for the evening so I was tired on Sunday and I'm afraid Mass was a bit of a haze; exacerbated by my low level understanding of Italian. But worth it? Totally. Can't wait until the next one!!
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