Let’s be honest, the daily commute to work hardly sounds like the most romantic of scenes … until you set the scene in Istanbul, that is.
Close your eyes for a moment and imagine sitting on a ferry crossing the early in the morning. With a head full of ideas and dreams, you are holding a freshly baked and piping hot in one hand, and clutching a small glass of çay () in the other as you breeze past a landscape dotted with Ottoman palaces, ancient ruins and magnificent, silver-tipped minarets.
The city’s – notorious for following each passenger service in the hope of a quick feed – dive down next to you as you break off the birds catch them with ease, squawking with joy as you both enjoy your breakfast, side by side. And hell, since I’m writing what appears to be the beginning of the next big romantic novel, I’ll even throw in a hot boyfriend or girlfriend who’ll rub your tired shoulders before you disembark. You’re welcome.
Simit - perfect paired with a glass of Turkish tea. Source: China Squirrel
Shoulder-rubbing aside, it’s a scenario that’s not only familiar to former Istanbulite Sydney restaurants, and , but one that kept playing over in the chef's mind as he was putting the finishing touches to Anason before it opened in Barangaroo, in 2016.
“I was standing at the site and this vision came to my head of my childhood and younger years just travelling to and fro on a ferry, ,” he recalls. “I thought about how this humble snack enriched my travelling experiences and what an atmosphere it provided – the smell, the taste and even the feel of it in your mouth, and I knew I had to try to recreate that.”
Somer Sivrioglu serves this much-loved Turkish snack at Anason, his harbourside restaurant. Source: Somer Sivrioglu
So Sivrioglu decided to invest in a traditional simit stand and position it directly out the front of his restaurant in view of passing commuters.
For the uninitiated, simit could be clumsily described as a humble and popular Turkish street snack - a circular, sesame-seed-coated bread - but it’s so much more than that. A city mainstay , family breakfasts – when served with feta, olives, cucumber and tomatoes – revolve around them; -style marathons are undertaken to get the last one in the right spot, and Istanbuli locals swear commutes cannot be undertaken without one in hand. It’s a love story with one little catch: the pastry has to be cooked well and be super-fresh or don’t even bother. Hell hath no fury like a Turk with a bad simit.
It may be a novelty here, but simit is a familiar sight on the streets of Istanbul. Source: Somer Sivrioglu
Sivrioglu knows that Sydneysiders may not catch onto the simit phenomenon quite like the Turks, but he still approaches the whole process enthusiastically.
He's hired a simit ‘usta’ (master) straight from Turkey to reproduce the tastes of their respective childhoods. “We started off making it ourselves, but a year ago we brought over Atanur usta from (a city in north-western Turkey) because it was clear that the only way we could get the quantity without affecting the quality was if we worked with someone who is at master-level at his job,” Sivrioglu explains. “And this way, Atanur can coach and train our junior chefs.”
The simit stand directly channels Istanbul, with a Sydney twist. Source: (wine house in Persian)
I thought about how this humble snack enriched my travelling experiences and what an atmosphere it provided – the smell, the taste and even the feel of it in your mouth, and I knew I had to try to recreate that.
Today, Anason’s simit stand is doing a roaring trade - its popularity amped up by the opening of the new Barangaroo ferry wharf .
“From 9am, when we open, until we close, we get a lot of takeaways from everyday people, not only commuters,” he says, adding that visiting Turks in particular are mesmerised by the sight of Australians eating their favourite snack around Sydney Harbour.
“I get a thrill out of seeing people trying and enjoying new foods of course, but seeing commuters purchase a simit to eat on the ferry? That’s really something else.”
5/23 Barangaroo Ave, Barangaroo, NSW
