Join our mailing list!
Email :  


Posts Tagged ‘ specialty foods ’

May 27
Wednesday

Van Kahvaltı Evi: The Kurdish Breakfast Club

Filed under Reviews (Eats)

The Breakfast Beast of the East

In Turkey’s predominantly Kurdish eastern provinces, breakfast is not just for breakfast anymore. Particularly in the city of Van, not far from Turkey’s border with Iran, the morning repast has been turned into serious business: the town is filled with dozens of kahvaltı salonları – breakfast salons – that serve a dizzying assortment of farm-fresh breakfast items day and night.

In recent years this boffo breakfast has been working its way westward, with several Van-style kahvaltı salonları now open in Istanbul. Our favorite, by far, is Van Kahvaltı Evi (“Van Breakfast House”) in Beyoğlu’s Cihangir neighborhood. The restaurant has quickly become one of the area’s most popular, and it’s easy to see why. The people running the friendly place – a crew of hip, young Kurds who seem to be members of the slow food movement without even realizing it – serve a mean Van breakfast, bringing in most of their ingredients, some of them organic, from back east.

Read the rest of the review at Culinary Backstreets.

Culinary Backstreets
In case you didn’t know, Istanbul Eats now lives over at Culinary Backstreets. Same great culinary walks, same great culinary writing. You’ll be redirected there in a few seconds!

All entries filed under this archive


Café Niko: Goodbye, Lari
no responses - Posted 09.10.12
In a desk drawer at Istanbul Eats HQ is an envelope of leftovers from days when life was less sedentary: Tajik somoni, Kyrgyz som, Cypriot pounds, a wad of Macedonian denar and a small stack of Georgian lari. As with the last bite on the plate, it’s impossible to throw ...continue
Hıngal Mantı: Dumplings in Exile
4 responses - Posted 07.02.12
(Editor’s Note: This guest post was written by Jeff Gibbs, a denizen of Istanbul’s Asian side and author of the very engaging blog “Istanbul and Beyond.”) It seems like every İstanbullu I meet has a secret ethnicity lurking in their past. One cousin’s father is a refugee from Bulgaria, a Kurdish ...continue
Hamsi for Hipsters!
no responses - Posted 04.18.12
Turns out New Yorkers are only now discovering what Turks have known for eons: that the humble anchovy is absolutely delicious (particularly when lightly coated in flour or cornmeal and fried). As an article in today's New York Times explains, anchovies -- known as "hamsi" in Turkish -- are being ...continue
Göreme Muhallebicisi: The Milkman Stayeth
3 responses - Posted 04.13.12
In the world of chicken breast pudding (a traditional Turkish dessert made with thickened milk and thin strands of poached poultry), elasticity is the quality that the confection is judged upon above all else. Tucking into a real tavuk göğsü requires full concentration, a good bit of dexterity and the ...continue
Fatih Sarmacısı: A Jelly Roll with an Ottoman Soul
3 responses - Posted 03.05.12
Settling into our first cross-country journey in Turkey many years ago, we were pleasantly surprised by the comforts of Turkish bus travel. The young garson wore a proper uniform and dribbled cologne in our hands every hour or so. Tea was served regularly, accompanied by one of our early Turkish ...continue
Semolina: Convivial in Kadıköy
18 responses - Posted 02.17.12
(Editor's Note: This guest post was written by Jeff Gibbs, a denizen of Istanbul's Asian side and author of the very engaging blog "Istanbul and Beyond.") On a dark and deserted street in January covered in swirls and swirls of snow, a bright pool of light shines from a ground-level window. ...continue
Bizim Ev: The Stash House
4 responses - Posted 12.06.11
(Editor’s Note: This guest post was written by “Meliz,” an intrepid explorer of Istanbul’s culinary backstreets and a frequent contributor to these pages who would like to keep her anonymity.) It all started with Laz böreği. It was not just any Laz böreği that showed up at the dinner party that evening, ...continue
Hamsi: Six Favorite Spots to Eat the Little Fish
4 responses - Posted 10.31.11
The arrival of fall in Istanbul for us usually means just one thing: hamsi season is about to begin. Hamsi, of course, are the minuscule fish (Black Sea anchovies) that Istanbulites are mad for, and the coming of fall and the further cooling of the Black Sea’s waters mark the ...continue
Cafe Euro: Georgia on Their Menu
4 responses - Posted 10.03.11
(Editor’s Note: This guest post was provided to us by Olga Tikhonova, who writes a wonderful blog about Istanbul food and life in Turkey. To her credit, Olga has managed to track down what had long been a holy grail for Istanbul chowhounds: a local restaurant serving authentic Georgian food.) (Editor's ...continue
Yanyalı Fehmi Lokantası: The Culinary Memory Bank
no responses - Posted 09.02.11
For a hungry person in search of the culinary backstreets, an initial look at Yanyalı Fehmi Lokantası, a restaurant at the mouth of the Kadıköy market, does not inspire much confidence. By the door stands a chintzy plaster statue of a chef in a poofy hat holding his paunch. A ...continue

© Copyright by Istanbul Eats 2009 - 2024 Istanbul Eats | Original theme by Zidalgo.