Balkan restaurants exit Oxford Street

The stretch of Sydney's Oxford Street that has been home to a collection of restaurants with eyes on the Adriatic Sea is a Balkan-free zone for the first time in more than half a century.

This year the restaurant known as the "original" Balkan Restaurant closed after a 55-year run.

The restaurant stalwart – which provided many Sydneysiders with their first taste of Balkan cuisine and Croatian specialties – left the Oxford Street strip several years ago for a site at 249 Crown Street, Surry Hills.

Now the 43-year-old Balkan Seafood Restaurant – which has different owners – has closed at 217 Oxford Street.

But the story doesn't end there.

Like a work of Balkan absurdist comedy-drama, Balkan Seafood Restaurant has relocated to the Crown Street digs of its former restaurant rival.