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Turkish Airlines recently started flying directly from Melbourne to Istanbul. I did the calculations. Within 22 hours of flying over the kangaroo mobs of Tullamarine, I could be standing on a street corner in Istanbul, holding a simit in my hand.

The sesame-studded bread ring is Turkey’s most popular street snack, sold by vendors from carts in busy thoroughfares, or piled up on trays balanced on their heads.

Crisp on the outside, light and fluffy within, tearing into a simit is a key Turkish experience, as important as munching a fish sandwich by the Bosphorus, eating anchovies on the Black Sea coast, or tackling a stretchy ice-cream in Gaziantep.

Then I heard about an easier and cheaper way than hopping on an Airbus. If you drive north of the airport to bustling Roxburgh Park, you can find a simit just as good as those in their country of origin. “Their simit is more Turkish than the ones in Turkey,” was the whisper.

In a way, that’s not surprising. This part of Melbourne has more Turkish people than anywhere else in the city. Simit Palace owner Recep Altindal had decades of baking experience in Turkey before moving to the area and running a bakery factory in Campbellfield.

After 14 years of cooking at scale, he wanted to do something a bit more personal, with a menu that could change on a whim. Just over two years ago, Melbourne Simit Palace cranked up the ovens.

My informant was right about the simit. They’re made traditionally, which means twisting dough into rings, dipping it in pekmez, a grape molasses, then rolling it in sesame seeds before baking. The result is dark golden bread with a sweet, toasty crust and a yeasty enveloping fragrance that’s released as you break it open.

That’s the classic simit: there’s another version laced with butter (it’s richer and heavier) and a sweeter, brioche-adjacent “patisserie simit” made with milk. There are also pogaca (pastry pockets) and boregi (layered pastries) filled with cheese or meat.

Keep moving along the counter and you’re in sweet territory. The biscuits and baklava are excellent, but a couple of desserts need a special mention.

Kadayif, a nutty pie made with shredded pastry, is a transporting balance of savoury crunch and sugary heaven. Sekepare – the name means “piece of sweet” – is a syrup-soaked semolina biscuit that goes beautifully with a glass of strong, black Turkish tea.

Simit Palace is an easygoing place. Tradies swing by for simit sandwiches and cappuccinos, local mums sit with prams and breakfast platters and men talk over sweet tea or Turkish coffee.

Recep’s daughter Zehra Altindal manages the business with a sharp eye and a friendly outlook, an ambassador for famous Turkish hospitality.