Winter in Istanbul is the season for certain types of fish – specifically, hamsi (a type of anchovy) and lufer (bluefish). Not only in the fish markets, but also in everyday conversation, Istanbulites talk about hamsi and lufer just as Italians might talk of white truffles or the Chinese of hairy crabs during the season for the delicacy.
When in Rome… I was determined to try both hamsi and lufer and fortunate enough to get to know Musa, a top chef in Istanbul (he runs the amazing Ciya restaurant (lokantasi) in Kardikoy which has been written up in the New Yorker magazine and the NY Times – but that’s another story). Musa gave me a recommendation for a restaurant which will serve lufer. The problem with lufer is that the fish is only available in the Bosphorus/Mamara Sea and because of overfishing in the past, strict quotas have now been imposed on the catching of lufer, as a result of which lufer is not always available in all fish restaurants even during the height of its season. But before we get to lufer, there’s hamsi.
Those more expert than I will probably tell me that I cannot compare hamsi to lufer, that it’s apples and oranges. Hamsi is a small fish, the length of a hand, larger than the bottled olive oil-soaked anchovies. I was recommended to a specific small restaurant (really, almost a fast food joint) near the Cicek Pasaji (the Flower Passage which has plenty of stalls selling fresh seafood and seafood restaurants). The restaurant is manned by an old man who is a one-man chef and waiter. It is a simple outfit with a few low tables and wooden stools, pictures of Ataturk on the wall, and scrupulously clean and ready with lots of dry and wet napkins on each table. The old man is deft with his hamsi. He discards the head (a pity for me) and cuts each fish into roughly two pieces – the belly and the tail piece. Each piece is lightly coated with flour, then quickly dunked into cold water and then dropped into a “wok” of hot oil. The belly piece is cooked first and then the tail piece is dropped in presumably because it takes less time to cook. The freshly fried fish is indescribably delicious and bursting with the salt water taste of the sea, with the lightest of crispy coating, and tender meat on the inside. Even the fish bones are soft and crunchy and fully edible. This isn’t fish as in the average fish and chips with its opaque batter coating. The hamsi’s flour coating is so light that it barely covers the skin of the fish, serving just to enhance its texture and crispiness. A bowl of hamsi (around 8-10 fish) cost around TL25. I have to also say something about the service – the old man was so attentive and kind. I know we were the only patrons at that time (it was just late morning) but in between frying the fish, he kept a constant watchful eye over us and even ran over to help us cut off the top from the pack of wet napkins when he was we were having troubling tearing it open. Great food and great service – what more could one ask for?
I could have eaten dozens of hamsi but for the fact that I had a subsequent appointment with lufer. The recommended restaurant for lufer is just around the corner from the hamsi joint. It is a proper seafood restaurant offering mezzes and all types of seafood. The bluefish comes in various sizes and “lufer” in fact is the name for the largest type of bluefish. A lufer that can serve two persons (assuming one is starting with some mezzes) cost us TL40. Lufer is a sea fish with flaky white meat and fragrant with fish oils like a salmon but its texture is perhaps a bit flakier, a cross between sea bass and trout. It is best simply grilled and served on a bed of rocket with a lemon wedge. Washed down, of course, with a glass of raki. My grilled lufer was also delicious, its taste reminiscent perhaps of a grilled salmon “lite” (less pronounced fish oils) but with a flavor more redolent of the sea.
The funny incident at the lufer restaurant was the waiter who told me he was 46 years old and asked me if I was married! If this was a ploy to induce more tips, it didn’t work on me. An illogical comparison perhaps – but between hamsi and lufer, I’m voting for hamsi. I am thinking of hamsi and a crisp dry sauvignon blanc as I’m writing this.
