BREAKFAST IS NOT A MEAL IN ISTANBUL
There are breakfasts, and then there is a Turkish breakfast in Istanbul.
The distinction becomes apparent the moment the plates begin arriving. One plate becomes three, three become seven, somebody finds space for another bowl of olives, the bread basket is replenished, the tea glasses keep appearing, and before long the table has disappeared beneath enough food to make you wonder whether lunch has quietly been cancelled.
This is Turkish breakfast, and one of its great pleasures is that nobody appears to be in much of a hurry to finish it.
I have always believed that one of the best ways to understand a place is to see how people begin their day. In Istanbul, breakfast tells you quite a lot. It is generous without necessarily being extravagant, enormously social and built around the simple pleasure of sitting at a table together.
And what a table it can be.
There will almost certainly be cheese, although describing it simply as cheese does the Turkish breakfast table a considerable injustice. White cheese, kaşar and other regional varieties may appear alongside black and green olives, sliced tomatoes and cucumber, butter, honey, thick cream or kaymak, homemade jams and warm bread.
Eggs arrive in several forms. Sometimes they are boiled and presented with wonderful simplicity. Sometimes there is menemen, that glorious mixture of eggs, tomatoes and peppers served hot from the pan. Elsewhere you may find sucuk with eggs, börek, simit, fried pastries or whatever particular specialty the kitchen has decided belongs on the table that morning.
Then comes the sweet side of the affair.
Honey and cream together are reason enough to linger over breakfast. Add preserves, fruit and perhaps something involving chocolate, and suddenly the supposedly sensible intention of having “just a little breakfast” has disappeared completely.
And throughout it all there is tea.
Turkish tea is not merely something ordered at breakfast. It seems to possess a life of its own. Served in those unmistakable tulip-shaped glasses, it arrives, disappears and is replaced with such efficiency that keeping track becomes pointless. Eventually you simply accept that there will always be another glass.
That, perhaps, is the secret.
A proper Turkish breakfast is not really about consuming a collection of breakfast foods. It is about time.
It invites conversation. You take something from one plate, reach across for something from another, tear off a piece of bread, pour a little honey, drink some tea and continue talking. Nobody is trying to clear the table from under you. Breakfast develops its own rhythm, and on a leisurely Istanbul morning it can quite happily occupy a substantial part of the day.
That is precisely how it should be.
TWO BREAKFAST TABLES I WOULD RETURN TO
Istanbul has no shortage of places promising a memorable breakfast, but two very different addresses have stayed with me.
The first is Mornings in Pera, tucked just off İstiklal Avenue on Kallavi Street in Beyoğlu. It is contemporary, attractive and perfectly positioned for a morning that will eventually lead you out into Pera and the great wandering territory surrounding İstiklal. The restaurant describes itself as a chef-driven brunch concept using fresh and seasonal ingredients, and its current breakfast menu includes the familiar Turkish ensemble of olives, cheeses, homemade jam, tomato, cucumber, butter and honey alongside more contemporary brunch dishes. Breakfast is currently served from 9:00 a.m. until 4:00 p.m.
What I particularly like about it is that it feels unmistakably like Istanbul without pretending that Istanbul stopped evolving fifty years ago. The traditional breakfast table and the modern city coexist very comfortably here.
Then cross the Bosphorus.
On Istanbul’s Asian side, PÜRUZE sits in Kuzguncuk, one of those neighborhoods that reminds you why it is worth leaving the monumental center of the city occasionally and simply seeing how Istanbul lives.
Kuzguncuk has an entirely different rhythm from İstiklal Avenue. It feels more intimate and residential, with neighborhood streets that encourage wandering rather than sightseeing. PÜRUZE fits beautifully into that atmosphere. The café itself describes breakfast as central to what it does, and on weekends it currently serves only its breakfast menu between 9:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m.
There is another lovely detail. The premises once appeared in the Turkish television series Ekmek Teknesi, something PÜRUZE itself acknowledges as part of the building’s connection to the neighborhood.
The two restaurants are quite different, which is precisely why I would recommend both. Have breakfast in Pera when you want to step afterwards into the energy of Beyoğlu. Have another in Kuzguncuk when you want the morning itself to become part of exploring the Asian side of Istanbul.
Better still, do both.
Because somewhere among the little dishes of cheese and olives, the tomatoes, cucumber, eggs, honey, bread and endless glasses of tea is something worth remembering about travel itself.
We spend an extraordinary amount of time rushing toward the things we have been told we must see. The palace. The mosque. The museum. The monument. We photograph them, tick them off and hurry toward the next one.
But sometimes understanding a city requires doing considerably less.
Sit down.
Order breakfast.
And don’t make any plans for the next couple of hours.
In Istanbul, that may turn out to be one of the most memorable things you do.
Travel Further. Stay Longer.
CONTINUE THE JOURNEY
Travel does not end with the story. At Vuitton Travel, everything we write about is part of a much larger world of places, experiences and journeys shaped by firsthand knowledge and decades of travel.
Visit Vuitton Travel to explore our growing collection of journeys across Africa, Europe and the Middle East, discover the destinations we know personally, and find inspiration for wherever you may be thinking of going next.
Follow Vuitton Travel on Facebook for new stories, photographs, destination discoveries and inspiration from the road. On LinkedIn, follow Kenneth Vásquez for travel stories, industry perspectives and the experiences and ideas that continue to shape Vuitton Travel.
