5 of the best things to eat

CHALLAH

A Jewish braided bread made with enriched dough, this is found on the menu at several Odessan cafés. It has a similar texture to brioche and is excellent at soaking up flavours and sauces.

ZELNIK

A Balkan filo pie eaten in Bulgaria, it is typically stuffed with sorrel, lovage or chard, eggs and cheese, and similar to a Turkish börek or Bulgarian banitsa.

BULZ

Made with polenta, Romanian bulz – round balls stuffed with local kashkaval cheese – are typically shepherds’ food made out on the pastures, but they’re found down by the coast, too.

MAMALIGA

Mamaliga (polenta) is as common as bread in certain Black Sea towns in Romania and Ukraine, accompanying many meals. It is a brilliant base for bacon and mushrooms and it bakes well, too.

KABAK TATLISI

During hot summer nights, people in Turkey’s Kastamonu area collectively gorge on ice cream. During the winter, however, locals switch to candied pumpkin with walnuts – a warming, comforting bedtime treat that’s delicious served with tahini cream.

Banker’s fish soup

40 MINUTES | SERVES 2 | EASY

One freezing morning in January, I wandered into a tiny fish café in Karaköy, Istanbul. There I met cousins Muhareen and Muhsin, a chef and waiter, from the Black Sea city of Ardahan, near the Georgian border. They left their home city more than a decade ago to serve the bankers around Bankalar Caddesi – Istanbul’s answer to Wall Street, and once the financial centre of the Ottoman Empire – what they know best: fish.

Their café is so popular, and the turnover so fast, that no ice is used for the little fish counter in the window. As it was winter, my soup came with scorpion fish, but for this recipe any firm, white-fleshed fish will do – monkfish works well. Many of the banks have now relocated but this balik çorbasi remains the best fish soup I’ve ever eaten. It is very hearty and somewhere between a stew and a soup. Served with warm white crusty bread it makes for a great lunch. olive oil 2 tbsp

onion Ω, roughly chopped garlic 1 clove, finely chopped carrots 2, diced

celeriac 250g, diced fish stock 500ml

lemon Ω, zested cherry tomatoes a handful, halved monkfish 250g, trimmed and cut into bite-sized pieces

TO SERVE flat-leaf parsley, roughly chopped to make 2 tbsp ground white pepper (optional) lemon wedges to serve

• Heat the oil in a lidded pan and gently fry the onion and garlic with a pinch of salt for a couple of minutes until softened. Add the carrots and celeriac, and cook for a further 8 minutes.

• Pour in the fish stock and bring to a boil. Turn down the heat and simmer with the lid on for 20 minutes or until the vegetables are still firm but nearly cooked through. Add the lemon zest, cherry tomatoes and chunks of fish, and cook for 8-10 minutes or until the fish is cooked through.

• Stir in the chopped parsley, dust with a little white pepper, if you like, and serve with the lemon wedges to squeeze over.