For a long time, I have been looking for the perfect breakfast in Istanbul. I always feel something is lacking. A good delicacy shop will have amazing cheese, pastırma and olives but will never impress with the bread and pastry. A good bakery will offer great pastry, but the rest will be sub-par. An array of places along the Bosphorus takes ages to get to in the weekend traffic and tends to be so crowded that even the best view in the world does not save the affair. So I grew to believe that the best breakfast is always at home.
What is that breakfast perfection that I am looking for in Istanbul? It is a lot like the spread that my mother-in-law lays out for our weekend guests at our countryside hotel and restaurant. It is about respect, quality and dedication. Respect to the origins and stories of every product, quality of the sourced ingredients and dedication apparent in the high ratio of homemade versus store-bought items.
So instead of ranting about the absence of perfect breakfast in Istanbul I am going to be constructive about the matter and create the perfect breakfast at my own kitchen and what more - invite you to share it with me. You have heard me talking about Turkish breakfasts with overflowing enthusiasm on many occasions as I truly believe it’s one of the best meals in the world that deserves to be on the UNESCO list as an outstanding common property of the mankind. So it’s time to move from words to actions and who knows - maybe towards something as ambitious as the Istanbul Breakfast Club.
I am planning a series of breakfasts to celebrate the culinary traditions from various regions of Turkey and the first breakfast will be Antakya-themed: if you have been recently drooling over my posts about the recent trip to Antakya, here is the chance to savor some of those flavors (and those are already on the UNESCO list).
The Antakya-themed breakfast is taking place at my Istanbul kitchen on May 19 (Sunday), 2 weeks from now. As much as I’d like to keep my doors wide open I can host max. 10 breakfast enthusiasts at a time. Apart from the food this breakfast is going to be a great opportunity to meet up and chat about breakfasts, Antakya, Istanbul, food and what not. So I am looking forward to that.
What’s on the menu? A selection of Antakya cheeses including spicy sürk, wonderful deep-green olives and tuzlu yoğurt; also home-made by yours truly, silky hummus and bread spread of sun-dried red bell peppers (bezirgeni) and whey cheese salad; baked that very morning little round savory pastries (kaytaz boreği), kömbe, zahter cookies and homemade bread. And of course, freshly brewed coffee, steaming Turkish tea of my own harman (blend) and soothing herbal tea I make with Antakyan wild herbs, berries and seeds.
If you’d like to join, please get in touch with me. We are going to be a small group of just 10 so acting quick is probably a good idea. If you are not joining this time but would like to get informed about the upcoming breakfasts, please subscribe to the Delicious Istanbul email updates. Anyhow, let’s have breakfast!
