Istanbul Fast Food - A gem in a big bag of rubbish

I never thought I can have really good Turkish food in Brooklyn, but I sure did. I also have another place similar to Istanbul near my house but that'll be for another post.

Istanbul is more of a cafeteria style kind of place. It's not exactly "fast" like it claims to be but it was pretty quick for what we ordered.

Ok, so the Hummus ($5) was a bit bland, could definitely use a bit of salt but it was overall pretty good. The consistency was smooth like baby's food and that bread it came with, was wowza!

J and I also got the Fried Liver Cubes ($8.50) which was pretty perfect. Adding the lemon juice made it that more amazing. It was a big portion and we ended up having to take that to go...
Liver is usually gamey but here, it actually just taste like chicken breast which means I can lie to anyone and have them eat liver while saying it chicken - I actually sorta of did that with the leftovers I brought to work and tricked my coworker.

The Mixed Grill ($19) over rice was a ginormous portion with a lot of meat. Some were mysterious to me but what I can recall, there were beef/steak, lamb, chicken, grounded meat kebabs and those spectacular bread! They gave us three, it was so warm and fluffy I can just use it as a pillow.

They also have the tzatziki sauce, which is the white yogurt sauce along with the hot spicy sauce. No idea if we're eating it wrong but I just dumped both sauces over the rice and meat, it tasted delicious. Really like the hot sauce, it brings out the flavor of the rice and flavors the grilled meats even more.

We left no room for dessert which was a bummer because they had so many on display. I know J wanted the rice pudding, I wanted the baklava...maybe next time, definitely next time.

Istanbul Fast Food
2202 86th St
Brooklyn, NY 11214
(718) 714-4300

Weekday Lunch: Biryani Cart

There are so many food carts out there, especially halal carts which makes it quite overwhelming. Usually we just choose the cart that pretty much closest to us or go to the one that was conveniently there.

I been having some hit and misses with halal food carts because each vendor makes it differently. The meat and the sauce are pretty much similar throughout all the carts but the rice is the splitting point for me. I like the basmati rice, long grained and nicely spiced. There's only a handful of places that don't overcook their rice here in midtown.

While doing my lunch walks, one day I saw a cart that said Biryani Cart. Doesn't look like the regular menu I'm used to seeing so I gave it a try, not to mention the other carts closer to my office wasn't so great.

Halal food are so inexpensive, for a mere $5 you get all of the above. If you're a small eater, can definitely be split into two meals. Everything on the plate was extremely flavorful. I always order the chicken over rice because it's a safe bet. Back then, I would just have them put the white sauce on but recently I've been loving hot sauce. The two sauces, white and hot, perfectly mended together to give you the full affect of halal food.

If you see the little peek in the center, the rice is basmati which I absolutely love. This cart has been my go to place for a good hearty container of halal food. I've been going there nearly every week since I discovered it. Oh, they even dress your salad with vinaigrette - how awesome is that?

Besides the usual chicken/lamb over rice and gyros. This Biryani cart has different items on their menu. Anything from curry chicken to kati rolls to marsala chicken. I'd love to try their other dishes but I always find myself ordering the chicken over rice over and over again.

Biryani Cart

On the corner of 45th Street and 3rd Ave

New York, NY 10022