Ceramics & food

My friend Nissreen took me to lunch on her birthday to Café Céramique. She knew that I would like it as much as she does and having been several times before she was the perfect companion for a newbie like me.  

With two locations in the UAE and several others in the Gulf region, Café Céramique combines food with artistic expression in a fun environment. Personally speaking, I am terrible at drawing, but I discovered that I am a little better at painting. I was a bit apprehensive about how well I would do. Since it was my first time there, I chose to paint a mug thinking it would be less complicated. Nissreen picked a plate since she already had a couple of mugs.

You can grab a bite to eat while creating a very unique and personal piece of pottery. The food is reasonably priced and quite good. However, a visit to Café Céramique is more about the experience than the food. 

While waiting for your order to arrive you select the object and colours you will use. The objects vary from mugs of different shapes and sizes, decorative plates, vases, animal figures and plenty of other pottery to choose from. And you definitely have to dedicate time when going there because it will take longer than you expect. It certainly did in our case because we spent about four hours there.

Even if you are not a person of the arts, I recommend you give it a try. Its easier than it seems and lots of fun. And when your pottery is finished you can't help but feel a slight sense of pride that you did that! You know that nobody else will have exactly the same object and the personal touch you give to it makes it even more special.

The Casablanca Salad. Fresh rocket and zaatar leaves mixed with a piquant pomegranate sauce, accompanied with couscous and grilled Haloumi pieces.

The quesadilla at Café Céramique, with mild-spiced chopped chicken in a grilled tortilla bread, with melted mozzarella and a pinch of cilantro. Served with sour cream and guacamole on the side.

Nissreen's beautiful plate before it was baked.

My mug the way it looked when I was done painting it.

Our handmade artwork.

Flavors from Istanbul

Istanbul is not only a wonderfully diverse city, but it also offers a truly exciting gastronomic experience. Our travel guide had some recommendations of places to try but we were lucky enough to come accross some great restaurants ourselves. The city is a feast of irresistible flavors. Every corner filled with endless mini sweet bites to choose from, an array of eateries or street food carts that leave you curious and tempted. The fish sandwiches are particular to Istanbul, but since I am not a big fan of mackerel I wasn't tempted to try one. 

The famous fish sandwiches are prepared on thesse distinctive boats floating on the Golden Horn. The waiters take orders onshore, the sandwiches are handed out from the boat and served to customers seated on stools set up with a view of the water.

The endless variety of Turkish delight flavors and types of Baklava sweets. Street after street the city offers you sugary attractions.

The crowded and noisy cheese and meat market. The vendors literally beg you to taste their offerings, in confidence that you will love their product and seem positively offended if you reject them. 

Passing through the famous Istanbul Spice Bazaar, full of smells, colours and noise. Endless varieties of spices, teas, herbs, dried fruits and vegetables, all kinds of sweet temptations and lively crowds. Long before the Ottoman times, this domed market was the terminus of the Spice Road.  

Amazing grilled meat balls at Sultanahmet Köftesi. Even though the menu is limited to six choices, most customers go for the meat balls. They are grilled to perfection with their own recipe of mixed spices that adds a delicious flavor. 
 

Thankfully we were able to try this place at lunch time, as on all the evenings we spent strolling Sultanahmet Square this was the queue for those tasty meat balls.

          Manti, the Turkish style dumpling, stuffed with spiced meat (lamb or beef) toppded with yogurt, garlic and ground sumac at Kafe Ara. Owned by and named after the renowned Turkish photographer Ara Güler, the place is  decorated with huge prints of his work, mainly B&W photos of the city.

The so-called Aegean sliced meatballs, a pastry stuffed with spiced meat, served with rice, potato wedges, green chilli peppers and yogurt at Galata Konak.

Village pasta, resembling cut, thick noodles topped with walnuts and halloumi at Galata Konak.

A rich green salad, artistically served, with tomato, cucumber, purple lettuce, halloumi and corn, topped with pomegranate sauce at Galata Konak.

Sutis Profiterole was as rich in flavour as it looks. A scumptious delight right in the heart of Taksim Square. Apparently there are master chefs for several of the desserts, and the profiterole is one of them.

The cream of chocolate, though simple yet tasteful, is topped with ground pistachios and coconut at Sutis. Despite the contrast in flavour the pistachio has to the coconut, they both add a nice twist to the cream.