Brunching in Istanbul at Van Kahvalti Evi

When I went to Turkey last year with friends from work, my priorities included:

1. Seeing the famous sights (Read Post Here)

2. Shopping at the Grand Bazaar (to follow)

3. Crossing continents and hopping from Europe to Asia (to follow)

4. Having a proper Turkish Brunch

My friends wanted to go on a Day Trip to Cappadocia, which isn't really near, because we would need to fly and the tour was quite pricey, so I decided to skip it and have a proper brunch just like the locals do instead of joining them, and explore the Asian side of the city.

Based on my research, it seemed like one of the popular places for brunch is Van Kahvalti Evi, which was around a 15 minute walk from our hotel. It was quite a hilly walk though so I got quite a workout.

The road to brunch is so steep, you get a good view of the city
on the way down.

Whenever I travel, I try to get the full experience, especially when it comes to food, so I not only ordered the Van Golu Tabagi (Full Brunch Set), I ordered Menemenler (Scrambled Eggs with Tomatoes) as well.

The full brunch set comes with an assortment of cheeses, dips and spreads,
with tomatoes, olives, egg and bread.

Mix and Match as you please and take your time because everything
was good.

My favorite was the Bal-Kaymak or honey cream.

This is me with my full brunch order...

Then my Menemenler arrived. Yummm...

This was definitely quite a spread, but a good decision to make if you
are looking forward to a hot dish for brunch.

Embarrassingly, I managed to eat quite a lot of it.
But it was only the Honey Cream that was all gone.

Since I started early, the place way much more crowded when I left.

I can't wait to go back to Istanbul again, and when I do, I will definitely be back... but next time I will come with more people so we can order more food, and finish it. just saying.


Van Kahvalti Evi
Kılıçali paşa mah, 
Defretdar yokuşu
 52/A, İstanbul, Turke