Turkish Cengelkoy Salatalik - Cucumber

Çengelköy is a neighborhood located in the Üsküdar district on the Asian shore of the Bosphorus. Between Beylerbeyi and Kuleli, Çengelköy is mainly a residential district since the Ottoman period.

Today, Çengelköy is a charming neighborhood and very local. It’s in harmony with eye-catching villas and old wooden houses. In Çengelköy, life is slower. It’s always enjoyable to walk at the narrow streets, wander around the bazaar, have a tea under a thousand year old sycamore tree, while watching the Bosphorus at a historic tea garden called Çınarltı, Under the Sycamore. To complete your tea ceremony like a local, you should try simit from the old bakery at the nearby street called Ismail’in Fırını (Ismail’s Bakery) or börek from traditional pastry shop Çengelköy Börekçisi.

Along with its seafood restaurants, Çengelköy is mostly known for its unique cucumbers, which are named after this district. These cucumbers are tiny in size but have a distinct taste and smell. It’s so fresh in the season, you can see the small flowers on them. This legendary taste of Çengelköy, can also be found as pickles. In the course of time, the cucumber gardens of Çengelköy began to leave their places to residential areas. Today, Çengelköy’s cucumber is still popular but mostly grown outside of its birth place.