Tasting Notes
Lades is on Sadri Alışık Sokak, a narrow street off İstiklal Avenue. The menu card says “Lades, since 1969”, and it is printed in Turkish and English. It is open all day from 7:00, so it works for breakfast, lunch or an early dinner.
Menemen and eggs
Menemen, eggs scrambled with tomato and pepper, comes in nine versions: plain, with sucuk sausage, pastırma, white cheese, kaşar, kavurma, minced meat, chicken, or mixed. Fried eggs come with the same toppings. A full breakfast adds honey and clotted cream, cheese, olives and sliced vegetables.
Chicken, soups and puddings
Later in the day people come for chicken pilaf, tavuk yağda (chicken cooked in butter) and karışık yağda with sucuk and pastırma, plus ezogelin and chicken soups. The puddings are the classic Istanbul set: kazandibi, tavuk göğsü, baked rice pudding, keşkül and kemalpaşa, with bread kadayıf and pumpkin in syrup.
“Go for a late breakfast, order the mixed or sucuk menemen with honey and clotted cream and a glass of tea, and finish with kazandibi.”
LR Kitchen — field note