Fast Food on the Eminonu Square

After a cruise on the Bosphorus, I stopped by Eminönü Meydanı. Several times I passed and passed by on the tram, and always-both early in the morning and late in the evening I observed pandemonium in this place.

The answer turned out to be simple - this is a huge fast food outlet, probably the largest in Istanbul. Ferries, buses and trams converge here, and many of their passengers use the transfer to eat. The square is filled with lots of stalls and pavilions, where they sell a wide variety of food.

Walking along the Galatin Bridge, I became interested in several floating pavilions, stylized as sumptuously decorated Sultan galleys of the Ottoman Empire.

Now was the opportunity to get a closer look at them. I assumed they were coffee shops and teahouses, but they turned out to be floating kitchens.

The kitchens are very small, and it's amazing how they manage to feed such a large number of people. There are young guys working here, dressed in neat uniforms.

The work goes briskly, although no fuss is noticeable, no one runs back and forth, but the queue to the tray with finished products moves almost at the speed of an ordinary pedestrian.

As a drink, we offer Shalgam (the inscription on the glass of the tray Soguk salgam suyu - "cold turnip juice") - a sour dark red liquid obtained as a result of cooking turnips and carrots with vinegar, pepper and spices.

Although I have been wary of food exotics for some time, the feeling of hunger and tempting smells still made me get in line.

For 10 lire, I got the Turkish equivalent of a big mac called Balik Ekmek (literally fish bread), which included a soft loaf, a piece of grilled fish fillet, and herbs.

You can sit at a table under the awning, although it will probably be difficult to find an empty seat.

So I went to find a seat on the steps of the square, which were packed with chewing crowds.

After finding a place on the top tier, I started tasting local fast food, admiring the panorama of the lower part of the Golden Horn Bay and the Galata quarter with the tower of the same name.

Balyk Ekmek was very tasty and I ate it with great pleasure. After that, I felt that I no longer needed lunch, and I did not think about food until late in the evening.