On a variety of scattered social media, I have posted many individual pictures of the marvelous Turkish breakfasts I enjoyed in Istanbul. I thought it would be nice to show them all together here. A Turkish breakfast consists of sweet and savory, sour and salad, cheese and bread, butter and jam, and always çay (or tea). Some have eggs, scrambled, hard boiled, or baked on top of greens or with tomatoes and peppers. Olives are a large component, and what is a Turkish breakfast without a cucumber. When you are out, you can see people enjoying their Turkish breakfast even at 3:00 pm, even on weekdays.
1) Kitchenette
This was my first one, on my first day in Istanbul, called the mini-kahvaltı. Suddenly, it explained to me why my mother, whose parents were born in Turkey, had a lifelong love of salad for breakfast.
Here are some of my favorites, many of them from my marvelous neighborhood, Cihangir.
2) Cuma Cafe (pronounced joo-ma)
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I ordered this lovely egg dish which had caramelized onions as the bottom layer, sauteed spinach and melted cheese as the middle layer, and these beautiful eggs as the top layer.
Notice the color of those yolks!
These delights also included homemade bread and were enjoyed at a lovely outdoor spot from which to ponder the window shoppers for antiques, as we can see.
You can put this on your itinerary when headed to Pamuk’s Museum of Innocence, just down the street.
3. Van Kahvaltı (also in Cihangir)
There is a city in Turkey called Van, which is famous for its breakfasts, and in this place you order a Van Breakfast. The one I am showing here was a 3 person minimum. We were 4, but still could not finish it. Notice the vast array of white cheese, otherwise known as beyaz peynir, or feta.
4) When you are not too hungry, how about this cute arrangement? (also in Cihangir)
5) Early on, I discovered a café in my neighborhood called Journey. It became the go-to place whenever I was meeting someone for lunch or had visitors from the US who needed a quick meal before collapsing with jetlag. But one day, I ventured in by myself and tried their kahvaltı. It did not disappoint.
6) Of course you can step further afield, such as the neighborhood of Beşiktaş, also known for their great breakfasts. This one at a place called Cake House which also had spectacular potatoes.
7) Sometimes, though, you might be heading to the pazar, the market, such as the Feniköy Organik Pazar in Şişli, and not have time for a luxurious sit-down breakfast. No worries: almost every market has a place where a woman is making gözleme, a version of thin pastry, spinach, feta and herbs, that looks a little like a large quesadilla such as you might get in the U.S. southwest. Always take advantage of this opportunity.
8) Perhaps you are not in the mood for a whole meal, and would just like some eggs jazzed up, a kind of shakshuka, Turkish style, called menemem. Here are two that I also enjoyed in Cihangir. On the left is the one I had one gloomy morning in the café called White Mill. On the left was a menemem I enjoyed in a small tucked away café called Heirloom, and introduced to me by friends who live around the corner.
9) I will continue to post Turkish breakfasts as I discover new places, but here is one that I had on the balcony of a friend’s house on the island of Burgazada, one of the Princes Islands in the Sea of Marmara.
So, now when you see all those tiny little bowls in the Grand Bazaar and elsewhere, and you are wondering how they could possibly be used for anything, just remember the fabulous Turkish breakfast and you’ll quickly find a need for multiple supplies of the little bowls.
