POSTS

Monday, April 9, 2012

Turkish Walking Tour at Auburn- Gourmet Safaris




Recently my friends and I joined a walking tour in Auburn, a suburb of Sydney well known for its Turkish community. 
The tour was run by Gourmet Safaris (an offshoot of Maeve O'Meara from the televsion show Food Safari),  they offer many tours in Sydney and beyond, I do suggest you take a look



Our hosts for the day were these lovely sisters Serap and Serpil who were part of the families who originally travelled from Turkey and settled in Australia.

Turkish Tea
They were amazing ladies who had a real passion for food, had an obvious love for their home country and an undeniable passion for this country they now call their own.

Dried Eggplant
I enjoyed the day so much I wanted to share bits and pieces through some of the photos I took, I hope you like them.

Dried Apricots and Sweet Sucuk
We are so lucky to live in a city where we sometimes only have to travel a few kilometres to become immersed in another culture.

Halva

Simit
The bakeries were full of delicious bread and biscuits, this was the first time I tried Simit and it wasn't long before I was back in Auburn to buy some more.

Sucuk
 Turkish sausage, sucuk, is full of incredible flavour.

Chocolates
I was most excited to visit the Turkish Delight shop and I was not disappointed.

Turkish Delight

yum!!!

Happy Easter.

Turkish supermarket, Gima
I was so excited to visit the supermarket, you felt like you became privy to the secrets of the cuisine and what is actually in all those bottles!

Acuka
 Serap referred to Acuka as 'Turkish vegemite', it is an intense flavoured paste of tomato and capsicum, I loved it.

Apple Tea

Biscuits at a Bakery

Turkish bread cooked in a 'tandoor' style oven
 I loved being let in the kitchen to see the baking of this bread.

I think these may have been preserved walnuts?

Dips!
 For lunch we were presented with a feast, I was most excited about the dips.

I have just shared a few dishes we ate.

Kofte, savoury lamb mince inside a bulgar wheat casing.

Eggplant

Chicken, incredibly moist and full of flavour.

Pistachio Turkish Ice Cream
 The ice cream had an incredible texture, almost chewy? It was so delicious. Apparently the texture comes from dried orchid roots!?

Gallipoli mosque
The tour concluded with an optional visit to the mosque, it was very informative, learning not only of the history of the mosque and its community but also a little about Islam.
  
The interior of the mosque was beautiful


 I returned to Auburn to buy this delicious bottled eggplant, it had the prefect balance of smoky flavour and Serap so kindly showed us how to make a delicious baba ganoush.


Well my baba ganoush was not as prefect as Serap's but hey it still tasted good!

And also to add the lovely Suzy from Gourmet Safaris has shared some of my photos over on the website.

32 comments:

  1. Yum - this looks like such a delicious day! I may be slightly obsessed with dip... Will have to consider this next time we are looking for an outing!

    ReplyDelete
  2. yum! that all looks so delicious. i love the look of the turkish delight shop and your baba ganoush (one of my fave dips.) looks like an awesome day :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. Absolutely awesome! I so want to do this tour!

    ReplyDelete
  4. I haven't been to Auburn for years! (although close when I'm in Sydney, whizzing through Strathfield) Love turkish food, Im signing on!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Oh man, this walking tour sounds like so much fun! I'm especially drawn to the idea because the entire experience/culture/history is quite foreign to me and I'd love to learn more about it first hand. Glad you had a great time. Hopefully you'll get more of these awesome opportunities to come =)

    ReplyDelete
  6. This tour looks like so much fun! I LOVE that Turkish delight shop, but looks like I'll have to take the tour because a lot of things look pretty new to me :)

    ReplyDelete
  7. I would like to take a bite from every picture!

    ReplyDelete
  8. How I enjoyed reading you today; nothing makes me happier than learning something new about food. You are lucky to live in an area where you get to taste and learn. Thank you for sharing all you finding. I Love dried apricots but have never heard of Sweet Sucuk. Hope you have a great week.
    Rita

    ReplyDelete
  9. Auburn is such a great suburb...I love visiting, but I really think I need to do a tour like this as there are SO many hidden (Turkish) deligths.

    ReplyDelete
  10. This tour looks very exciting with so much flavours and exotic foods to explore.

    I used to live in Brunswick, a northern suburb of Melbourne when I was student. Living in Brunswick gives me lots of opportunity to try lots of middle eastern cuisine. At that time, one of fav place to go is a particular Turkish restaurant :D

    ReplyDelete
  11. Indeed! What an great tour. The Turkish Delight shop would have been awesome! Great pics too.

    ReplyDelete
  12. The food looked amazing. I would like to take a tour like you did, sounds like it was fun.

    ReplyDelete
  13. That food tour looks like a great day out. How good is Turkish delight! I always have some here in the pantry - it's a great snack! Looks like you wouldn't have arrived home hungry! xx

    ReplyDelete
  14. I am really interested in these tours. Thanks for sharing this wonderful day with us Muppy!

    ReplyDelete
  15. Wow so many foreign foods, what a great adventure/walk! Looks like it was a culturally enriching day :) might need to go on one myself!

    ReplyDelete
  16. Yum Yum Yum!

    I have wanted to do this tour for the longest time now! Thanks for reminding me I must get to it and arrange it. Great post :)

    ReplyDelete
  17. I'd like to do one of those tours some day. I LOVE sucuk, I guess I'd have to go to Auburn to get the best ones.

    ReplyDelete
  18. That plate of dips looks wonderful and I adore that Turkish Delight store! And that dried eggplant looks so interesting-nice nails too! ;)

    ReplyDelete
  19. What a great food filled day! Im full just looking at it hahaha

    ReplyDelete
  20. Oh, I am sure you've enjoyed very much your cultural tour Muppy. Many of the things you presented are well known to us Greeks and in fact we use them too, since Turkey is our neighbor and we were under Otoman occupation for 4 centuries. They have divine sweets and I am sure you've tasted quite many of them!

    ReplyDelete
  21. What a delicious looking walking tour!

    ReplyDelete
  22. Fabulous tour! We adore Turkish delights in our family and whenever we move, we always search for a supply. I would love to try the Turkish teas, buy one of those adorable eggs for my Easter tree, and see inside the Mosque.

    ReplyDelete
  23. Other than Turkish Delight I do not think I have ever tasted Turkish food. These photos certainly make the food look delicious. Diane

    ReplyDelete
  24. Oh my gosh, I adore the chewy style of Turkish ice cream! I've had it a couple of times at The Ottoman here in Canberra, and so wish I could buy it! I can never remember, is the chewiness from sahlep or mastic?

    I also could live on Turkish Delight and Halvah.

    ReplyDelete
  25. What a great tour!I bet it was an unforgettable experience!Hugs from Greece,dear!

    ReplyDelete
  26. What a gorgeous mosque! And such fabulous food to sample..many of the dishes I am unfamiliar with, but would love to try :) What fun!

    ReplyDelete
  27. Always amazing the amount of insight gives to a culture. Food is such a big part of daily life that it reflects directly.

    ReplyDelete
  28. I'm jealous! I've been wanting to do one of those tours for years, but never seem to get round to it!

    ReplyDelete
  29. Thanks for the tour as well! I have always wanted to do one of these tours... maybe next time I come to Sydney?

    ReplyDelete
  30. I just discovered your lovely blog - so glad to have found it!! I loved this walking tour. I learnt so much from the very warm and wise hosts. The taste of the mulberry ice cream made with orchard root has had me driving back to Auburn ever since!!

    ReplyDelete
  31. I was telling my friend last night of my experience on the Turkish food safari in Auburn last year and after buying up big on the day I am still making some wonderful dips and marinades and spicing up my salads with the pomegrante molasses - everything is so tasty and different. Loved the day and learnt so much about Turkish cooking and produce. Making me hungry thinking about it. Pat

    ReplyDelete
  32. This image is not of preserved walnuts. http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-s7WleHbr50M/T4IwkbTCGpI/AAAAAAAABlo/IQpUJsdb29k/s1600/IMG_2376.jpg

    They are sun-dried limes. They are not either Turkish but they are purely Persian. Many of the things that are represented as "Turkish" are not actually Turkish but they are Persian.

    ReplyDelete

I would love for you to comment