I Don't Want Nirvana! I Want Great Food, Always! -- Part VIII - Güvenç Konyali...

The walk through the labyrinthine lanes of the Kapalıçarşı or the Grand Bazaar left us famished and we needed an early dinner.

After we got off the tram at Sirkeci, we searched for a place to eat and a charming restaurant, Güvenç Konyali located in one of the bylanes was somewhat like a gift from God.

Güvenç Konyali has quite a presence on the social media...

The friendly staff helped us select our meal and we waited in anticipation, smelling the lovely aromas of the breads being baked and seeing people around devouring every morsel...

Neeti chose a pide bread with Turkish lentil soup and yogurt...

Turkish lentil soup is made from the red lentils or what we call masar dal and it is a spicy treat which goes extremely well with a dash of lime...

And then came my meal - the lahmacun, which is a lot like a pizza - round or oval, the thin dough is topped with minced meat, onions, spices and then baked. A garnish of herbs, lime and chillies makes it a blast of warm flavours...

Lahmacun is a popular dish in the Caucasus (Armenia), Syria, Turkey and other parts of the Middle East. It's obvious that it was the Ottoman rule that spread the yummy deliciousness of the lahmacun over the region. But I would also like to speculate that the Italian's pizza has also evolved from the lahmacun...

And time for a quick çay or Turkish tea, before we head to the Hoca Paşa Kultur Merkezi...

This simple, uncomplicated yet very flavourful meal convinced us that we will always return to Istanbul to enjoy these delights and we will shout out "I Don't Want Nirvana! I Want Great Food, Always!"