Kumkapi used to be the best place to go if you wanted nice fresh fish, simply prepared. Nowadays, you might try heading for the fish market on the Beyolu side of Galata Bridge, buying a fish of your choice and walking around the corner where, in a couple of crotchety buildings on the edge of a rare patch of grass sprinkled with a couple of tables, you can find men with grills who’ll cook up your catch for you. Of course, they have stock of their own, so you don’t actually have to buy the fish yourself and run the embarrassing risk of turning up with a dud that their expert eye would have spotted a nautical mile off. Two favourite hole-in-the-wall establishments – complete with laminated A4 menus – are Balikche and Akin Balik. The scene is especially nice at night, when you can sit at candlelit tables among the trees on the shores of the Golden Horn – one of the most bucolic, most authentic and least expensive dining experiences in the city.