Golden Fast Food

Many Istanbulites are relieved that the dreary days of winter seem to be behind us. Power outages and rainstorms notwithstanding, you can ford the streets of Beşiktaş very nearly in bare arms these days.

The Bosphorus morphed recently from mad indigo to a soft turquoise. You can see her peeping out from behind the taxi rank here. Today, after stuffing my face with eggs and bread, I may have to hop on a ferry to take a closer look.

Now, several colleagues have mentioned a very modestly-priced, basement breakfast bar that was good and with hefty portions. Somewhere down around the pub Abbas, and away from the too-cool-for-school breakfast street. I did an about-face and walked back into the Çarşı to find it.

For followers of my blog, this should be familiar territory! At the juncture with the hamam, there is Altıntaş Sokak, Goldstone Street.

With sunlight streaming dreamily through the budding trees and delivery vehicles parked at obnoxious angles, I sought out Golden Fast Food and a man called Ibrahim. Known not only for his solicitude with the egg pan, but his canniness with English.

The decor could be updated, let's say. The old panini press and 60s retro radio are welded to the tiny kitchen. What more do you need, I guess? Unfussy but with an ounce of art and care. 

Ibrahim doesn't mind a chat, and his English is really good. He's had the cafe for 12 years and says he was a sailor before that. He mentions Louisiana and chuckles.

The menemen was substantial, and the prices were downright reasonable. 5.50 TL gets you the full monty - everything else is cheaper than that. You can't smoke and there's no wi-fi, but the joint is cool. He's got a simple formula and I noticed that almost every passer-by looks in to give him a shout. 

                       Refreshingly, he only used his phone to place the lentil order.

As the golden rays of spring filter down on to you in your Beşiktaş morning, why not suanter over to Golden Fast Food restaurant and say hi to Ibrahim? He doesn't do email or internet apparently, so if any Turkish readers find him, tell him he's got a write-up on facebook!

People out on the street today.

Pişi Breakfast & Burger

Been to Pişi several times now, so I'm not sure why I haven't given it its own feature on the blog yet. I remember when it opened last year and it was one of the first breakfast places to try to be funkier in their food presentation and decorations inside. 

Lots of rock 45s and film posters dot the walls. 

Doing burgers as well as breakfast casts a wider net and they have a few dishes with pesto in them which makes a pleasant change. Service is snappy, there's wifi and filter coffee. All around, it's a reliable breakfast cafe.

You can have sweet or savoury filled pişi. 

It's a hot golden fritter made with deep-fried dough. Here they come in batches of 5 and the price ranges from 7 to 10 lira. One order is quite filling for one person!

Nutella-filled and with a pinch of salt. Perfect way to start a sunny day.

A few straw polls and Google searches later, it seems Pişi can translate literally as Bagel, but might also be a corruption of what the Turkish way would be of saying "cooked bread" - Ekmekpişi.

It's bright and cheerful in Pişi and one of the waiters can speak English. 

Still waiting on huevos rancheros though ;) 

Çakmak 2

It's hard to know how to dress oneself in Istanbul these days. Last week there were a few slightly sunnier days, but recently the city has been inundated with rain and wet snow. Just yesterday in fact, my breakfast in the 'tash was a homemade fried-egg-on-toast affair as going outside seemed plain crazy.

As the rain began to dissipate today, I grabbed my camera for some more culinary wanderings.

If you follow this blog, you might remember a little while ago I wrote about Balkan Lokantasi, which is up a small hill-street called "Oxbow Fountain". 

They're building a cinema right at the top, and that's very exciting. 

The construction is going painfully slowly though, and that is definitely not particularly exciting.

Çakmak 2 is to the immediate right of the construction site. This street is normally off the usual breakfast radar, but seeing it quite busy recently made me think there could be a gem in the offing. So, I gave it a whirl.

The first thing you notice as you walk in is how dapper and kind the waiters are. Scrupulously attentive and on top of their game, yet not smarmy like the bozos down in breakfast street.

It is obviously another family concern and I felt my tea was being made almost with affection.

Now, reverential treatment isn't necessarily a criteria when eating out for breakfast, but it bodes well for what the kitchen might produce.

The menu has been around for a while.

Bal-Kaymak for 7 TL made my eyes water a bit. I reflected though, that not all kaymak is the same and went for the one-two punch formula anyway, of it and a full menemen. 

Simple things done well and with the best ingredients are the order of the day any time. Here, big juicy chunks of sausage nestled in the eggs, which had been lightly stirred and even souffleed a tiny bit (at the end of cooking menemen, it's a good idea to cover it and let it "steam" to the last stage of doneness)

But the kaymak, OH the KAYMAK was fresh, unctuous, deliciously whipped, and there wasn't too much honey to disguise any inferior product that might be lurking.

No wimpy bits of bread either. They brought me a half a loaf to tear into as I saw fit. Bloody brilliant.

Please give this joint a look-in and maybe soon we can all grab breakfast and then a matinee, like this gentleman from another era seems to be waiting to do.

No wonder it's been busy. 

Fiskos Cafe

The last few days were wild and woolly in Istanbul. The famous wind "lodos" (as well as a hailstorm) visited the city like some great biblical prophecy. The birds were confused. Trees bent as though they were shouldering a burden. Looking pensively out of windows, people smoked and drank tea.

But the clear skies are here again and the denizens of Beşiktaş can reclaim the streets.

In search of a morsel, I opted to return to the familiar hunting ground of Şair Veysi Sokak. 

Fiskos is sandwiched between Faruk and Çakmak, a turf battleground. 

The price and quality war rages on as bedraggled, hungry students and sly entrepreneurial cooks find a happy symbiosis on the pavement.

Actually, it's all very friendly and civilised. 

Good breakfast is a civilising thing. 

Hungrily and expectantly, I squeezed into the space in the back by the kitchen. You can watch your meal being made by a gang of chatting ladies from there.

The stout proprietess was keeping a watchful eye over the whole operation.

A nar (pomegranate) juice and one oniony menemen later, my lust for delectable morning eats was sated. 

The service was swift and friendly, although it didn't occur to me to ask if  there was wi-fi as it was so delightful just sitting watching the world go by. The other patrons looked just us satisfied as I felt.

Prices are quite low - 6TL for eggs, 2TL for tea, 9TL for the big mixed breakfast plate (which seemed generous).

Good value and good atmosphere. This place gives Faruk a run for their money.