Ditch the smashed avo and try The Turkish Tea House in Balwyn

To many a Melburnian, what I’m about to say is nothing short of blasphemy: breakfast out is boring. I am a smashed avocado sinner. A hotcake heathen. The Judas of green juice. I’ve had it up to my mitre seeing the same dishes on every menu – I doubt even the Pope would order eggs Benedict.

Instead, I look for dishes that are less trend-driven and speak more about place and culture. Many fly under the radar; you’ve probably walked right by. Enter The Turkish Tea House, which opened near the corner of Balwyn and Whitehorse Roads in 2014.

It’s a family operation, with Nehir Kayice in the kitchen and her son, Ozi Kayice, on the floor. Nehir was born in Melbourne after her parents emigrated from Adana in southern Turkey. When the space next to her husband’s barbershop became available, they made a move.

“We thought, we should do this; people don’t know our breakfast or our food,” she says. “I wanted to keep the concept as traditional home Turkish food because usually when you say Turkish, someone automatically thinks ‘kebabs’.”

Ditch your regular coffee order and try thick, Turkish coffee or apple tea in decorative cups. Food is scrawled on the succinct, all-day blackboard menu. The Turkish breakfast is a platter of sucuk (sausage), scrambled eggs, feta cubes, cucumber and tomato, salty semi-dried olives and jam accompanied by sesame-studded Turkish bread.

Sucuk also comes set in a circle of eggs, while menemen is Turkey’s answer to scramble, mixed through with spices and diced tomato.

Nehir also bakes flaky gozleme and makes lamachan (Turkish pizza), but my favourite dish is manti – tiny, ravioli-like dumplings filled with beef in a yoghurt sauce. And yes, I had it for breakfast.

If you’re drawn to the hanging Turkish lamps and glass nazar boncugu (protection eye amulets), exit via the gift store.

What’s nearby?

Take a stroll to Maranoa Botanic Gardens, a 2.6-hectare collection of some 4000 native species ranging from rain forest through to arid zones. The gardens date back to 1901 and have been public since 1926. Need to take a rain check? The Palace Balwyn cinema is just 500 metres away in all its art-deco glory.

The Turkish Tea House is located at 232 Whitehorse Road, Balwyn.