Insider Trading: Journey

Being English, one of the foods I miss most from home is a good scone. A good scone, baked to perfection, served with butter, jam and cream. Having been in Turkey a few years, I had made peace with the fact that, chances are, there’s not going to be a restaurant in Istanbul that has a cook who learned to make scones from my grandmother (an artist in the field of scone making.) And that was fine.

Until I was recently googling for somewhere to eat in Cihangir and stumbled upon a blog post about a place called Journey. I went to the website and what should be sat there in the menu section? That’s right, English scone platter.

I contained my excitement long enough to wait for the weekend when we traveled to Cihangir for breakfast. The cafe itself is quaint, quiet and cozy. Outside, there are seats for al fresco coffee/smoking while inside the cafe is a long, skinny affair. One wall is crowded with bookshelves containing English and Turkish books and magazines. Every table has fresh flowers on it to go with the large green plants that are scattered around the interior. Also, at the back of the cafe was a doorway out into a lush, green garden fitted with seats for summer dining. The decor is closer to a modern home than a restaurant, which adds to the overall feeling of coziness. Upstairs, there is a lounge area with sofas and coffee tables for if you’re really in the mood to just drink coffee and do nothing all day.

We ordered the scone platter, poached eggs with bacon, a latte, freshly squeezed orange juice and a Turkish coffee with milk. The Turkish coffee was super sweet and thick like a hot chocolate. The yolks of the poached eggs were runny and sun-yellow and just begging to be mopped up with the big piece of sourdough bread that they were served on. The bacon was a bit fattier than I like but, when it comes to Istanbul, I’ll take any bacon I can find.

As to the scones. Perfect. The platter is three homemade scones with four shot glasses containing butter, jam, cream cheese and, just to remind us that we’re in Turkey, olives. Slathered in cream, butter and jam the scones were demolished in moments. The only thing missing was my grandmother telling me stories about Liverpool while I devoured the fluffy cakes.

The bill came to 55 TL between the two of us and once we had paid we sat in the cool surroundings, holding our bellies and wiping scone crumbs from our chins. If you are someone who craves a scone now and then, or you want somewhere quiet to read, write or relax, then this is the place for you. Great service, nice surroundings, and delicious food.

Journey: Akarsu Cad. No: 21/A Cihangir

Insider Trading is our new column sharing expats’ secret finds in Istanbul. These recommendations are unsolicited and uncompensated. Have a place you want to share? Send an email to editor@yabangee.com.

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