Balkan Lokantası

Much business is transacted in the early hours in Beşiktaş. Even before the insanity of rush hour, delivery men, bakers, and tradespeople are up scurrying around by 7. I rose early to join them.

Winter is here and stalls that normally brandish sunglasses and bikinis have swapped over to cold-weather wear.

Having decided to seek out more traditional Turkish fare for a morning meal, I went over to the far side of the neighbourhood nearer the buses to enjoy a hot bowl of soup.

As you walk up from the Üsküdar ferry boat terminal, Beşiktaş market appears on your left, after the mosque.

You are inevitably led up to the left along a wide pedestrianised road (this one) and the very first turning on the right is Akmaz Çeşme Sokak (Oxbow Fountain Street).

If you were to go all the way up, there is a cinema under construction, a gaggle of nargile cafes and a Tolkienesque sculpture that wouldn't go amiss as a secret object in the Legend of Zelda.

But go no further! 

As charming as the dilapidated old Ottoman houses and junked out vespas are, the steepness of the hill before you will no doubt shave years from your life. And life is for breakfast-eating as we all know.

Back down opposite the row of paint supply stores is Balkan Lokantası.

I have never seen it closed in the morning. The men who work there all wear hamam sandals and cook and clean with monastic devotion.

One is reminded of the order and heirarchy of a ship at sea under a captain. You walk in and are surrounded by the buzz of greeting, clearing, productivity. If there were a heaven for retired people, exiles and orphans, then this might be it. Simple tasks like portioning puddings into little cups are done with precision and dignity by young and old workers in crisp uniforms.

Every customer is treated with decency and even poorer folk can come up with the two lira for a warming bowl of soup. It is very reminiscent of the Milk Bar cafeterias I saw in Poland.

So, Ezogelin - red lentil soup with spices - the middle one on the right - is the one I had. 

Ezo was a fabled but unhappy bride from the south who made it to please her mother-in-law. And failed.

It's a good hangover cure, some say.

Chicken, rice, yellow lentil, and of course the legendary beef tripe soup, işkembe, are also available. 

Despite being a very male environment in the morning, there is no whiff of gym sock in the air.

For thrifty eaters, they'll do you a half portion for 1 lira with no complaints.

Alas, poor Ezo did a good job and didn't deserve her fate.

With a little dried mint on top and a squeeze of lemon, it's hard to beat on a cold morning. 

And for only 2.20 TL (20 kurus for a hunk of bread) it may be one of my favourite breakfasts in the 'Tash.