3 amazing breakfast places in Istanbul

Breakfast should be the most important and nutritious meal of the day and when I am on vacations I love eating breakfast. Good breakfast will get me going for a long time and when you are wandering new streets and sightseeing you don’t want to be hungry too quickly. In the past we opted for hostels with breakfast but lately we have been mostly staying at Airbnb’s where you usually don’t get breakfast. In Istanbul that wasn’t a problem at all, because if there is a meal that Turks love it is breakfast. We all know English/Irish, French, continental, etc. but in my opinion Turkish breakfast is the best breakfast. Fun fact: in Turkish breakfast is called kahvaltı, which means before coffee, so you will get Turkish tea in lovely small tulip shaped glass with your kahvaltı.

 

Van Kahvalti Evi

This was the first place we went to for a breakfast, because it was mentioned on almost every single breakfast/brunch list in Istanbul, plus our lovely hosts also recommended it. We decided to try the Turkish breakfast and our table was quickly filled with lots of small plates of different sweet and salty foods. We got three types of cheeses, kaymak, which is so good in combination with honey, that seemed to have onions in it, black and green olives, hard boiled eggs, tomatoes, cucumbers, pepper paste, tahini-molasses, quince jam, something like candid quince and few things we were not really sure what it was, but it was all really delicious. With all of that we also had unlimited amount of different breads and tea. We didn’t even finished the tea and we already had a fresh one on the table. I really suggest you try the Turkish breakfast at least once. You can still order extra dishes to go with it, because everything here was really cheap in my opinion, but for two people this is still quite a feast, I think we sat there for at least an hour to finish most of it.

 

Cuma Cafe

On a rainy Sunday and vacations you deserve a special treat and starting a day in cute Cuma Cafe with the most delicious breakfast of my life was the perfect one. We ordered a selection of dishes from their menu and our table was full once again. We had everything from eggs with spicy Turkish sausages, to avocado toast with mozzarella and tomatoes, the softest scrambled eggs with goat cheese, crunchy spinach borek, that was freshly baked and puffy pancakes with honey and fresh fruit. We got a bag of toasted sourdough bread that went so nicely with those soft eggs. This was the kind of breakfast I have always been dreaming about. Instagram worthy table full of lovely plates with the most delicious breakfast foods on them, just us two to finish it and I don’t have to cook it or clean it afterwards. Picture perfect Sunday breakfast. But I guess that was more of a brunch, because we were so full after we didn’t need to eat until late afternoon. Luckily I didn’t see the table with breads and cakes just before we left, otherwise I would probably want to have some more, even though we were already stuffed when we started on the pancakes, but how could I leave the pancakes, right?

 

Mevan Chiangir

For our last day we asked our hosts for another recommendation and they suggested this place and we were in for another wonderful morning with delicious food. We wanted to try different things then previous days so we went with egg florentine, menemen (which is traditional Turkish dish and it is basically scrambled eggs with tomatoes, green papers and cheese on top), simit with kaymak and honey (my new favourite combination) and something similar to flat borek. Needless to say it was delicious and we were so stuffed again we skipped on lunch and just bought some simit before heading to airport. The place was really cute and it also had it’s own cute cat, that “attacked” my boyfriend. Read: she jumped in his lap and when the waiter wanted to pull her down, because my boyfriend didn’t want to touch the cat, she pulled two stitches on his quite new jeans and I am sure he will complain about that for a long time. He was finally rescued by few spritzes of water on a poor cat that only wanted to cuddle. Why do cats always go to people who don’t like them too much?

 

I am a huge foodie traveler and this year has been very culinary rich for me. From Taiwanese food and their night markets to fresh seafood in Venice, trying to find the best ice creams in Ljubljana to grand finale in Istanbul with those lovely heartwarming breakfasts. There is no better way to get to know the city or country you are visiting than through the food and Istanbul looks beautiful and tastes delicious.

Which cuisine is your favourite, the one that really warms your heart?

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