Turkish Daily News ran a story today about Itsumi, a high-end sushi restaurant in Istanbul. The article goes on to mention several other sushi restaurants in Istanbul, and then continues with speculation as to why sushi has not caught on in Turkey the way it has in the United States and Europe. At the end of the story the author points out something I have been complaining about since I first moved here: “the ingredients needed to prepare Japanese food are exceptionally difficult to find in Turkey.”
I am a huge fan of sushi and Japanese/SE Asian cuisine in general, and the lack of Asian restaurants here (especially in Antalya) is baffling and frustrating. A couple of the local hotels here do boast sushi bars, but on every occasion that I’ve tried to book a reservation or even drop by unannounced, the sushi bar has always been closed and I’ve been told that “it’s not open very often.” I’m glad to see that sushi finally seems to be catching on somewhat in Istanbul, even it if it is mostly fueled by the Japanese community there… sadly I don’t think we have enough of a Japanese population here in Antalya to follow suit. Link