istanbul: balıkçı sabahattin

It was a cool night by Istanbul standards the evening we dined at Balıkçı Sabahattin, so the maître d' brought in large troughs of hot coals to the covered outdoor area of the restaurant where we were seated and stocked them with cedar wood and halved lemons and oranges. Soon the place had warmed up with the delicious smell of slowly burning wood and charring citrus fruits...

before

after

We ate meze and fresh, girlled fish, because Balıkçı Sabahattin located in historic, monument-filled Sultanahmet, is one of Istanbul's oldest and best known fish restaurants.