A Turkish breakfast, called kahvaltı, is a shared table of white cheese, olives, tomatoes, cucumbers, boiled eggs, bread, jam, honey and black tea. Kahvaltı means “before coffee”, because coffee comes after the meal. For a bigger meal you order serpme kahvaltı, many small plates on one table, and for a hot dish you add menemen, eggs cooked with tomatoes and peppers.
Hotels in Turkey serve it every morning, and many of my guests ask what is what on the table, so here is a short guide. Let’s have a look at the plates first, and then at what to order.
What Is on a Typical Turkish Breakfast Table
The core of the table is almost the same everywhere, and more plates come on top depending on the place. These are the Turkish breakfast foods you will see in a simple breakfast:
- White cheese, called beyaz peynir, and sometimes kaşar, a yellow cheese
- Black and green olives, often with olive oil
- Sliced tomatoes, cucumbers and green peppers
- Boiled eggs, or eggs cooked in a small pan
- Jam (reçel), honey, butter and kaymak
- Fresh bread, simit, poğaça (a soft savory roll) or börek
- Sucuk, a spicy sausage, and pastırma, cured beef, on the heavier tables
- Black tea in small glasses
My article on all about Turkish cheese tells about the cheeses you will meet on this table, and my article on olive oil in Turkey tells about the oil poured over the olives.
Serpme Kahvaltı and What to Order
Serpme kahvaltı is the big version of the meal: staff scatter many small plates over your table, and everybody shares them. Serpme comes from a Turkish word that means scattered or spread. Many places serve it per person, so ask what is included before you order. A hotel buffet follows the same idea, and you pick the same items from the counter.
If you are alone, a kahvaltı tabağı, a single breakfast plate, is enough. For two or more people one serpme table is more fun and often enough for everybody. Add one hot dish like menemen, sucuklu yumurta (eggs with spicy sausage) or sahanda yumurta (fried eggs in a small pan), and ask for tea. Bread and tea are usually refilled when you ask.
Menemen at Breakfast
Menemen is eggs cooked with tomatoes and green peppers in oil or butter, and it arrives bubbling in a small pan or clay dish with fresh bread to dip. It is the hot dish I suggest most at breakfast, because it is simple and mild.
One question comes with it, soğanlı mı, soğansız mı, which means with onion or without. People really do argue about it, both are right. The Waiter may ask you, and a version with sucuk or cheese is also very common too.
Simit, Kaymak and Honey
Simit is a ring of bread covered with sesame seeds, sold fresh in street carts, and it goes with cheese, tomato and a glass of tea. In İzmir, the big city near my home, the same ring is called gevrek.
Kaymak is thick Turkish clotted cream made from slowly heated milk, and at breakfast you eat it with honey on a piece of bread. Honey sometimes comes as a piece of honeycomb on the plate. My article on amazing Turkish honey tells about the kinds of honey in Turkey.
Regional Breakfasts
The most famous regional table is the Van breakfast in eastern Turkey. It has herbed cheese, murtuğa, a warm dish of butter, flour and egg, kaymak, Van honey, cacık, olives and eggs with kavurma or sucuk, and it comes with lavash bread and a Van çöreği baked in a stone oven.
I totally recommend to try a Van breakfast once if your route goes to the east, and I wrote a few lines about it in my article on 10 amazing dishes from 10 Turkish cities.
On the Black Sea coast the morning dish is muhlama, also called kuymak, melted cheese with butter and cornmeal. In İzmir the pastry is boyoz, eaten with a boiled egg and tea, and you can read about it in my article on 7 must-try Aegean dishes. In Gaziantep one of the most common breakfast items is katmer with pistachio and kaymak.
Tea at Breakfast
Black tea is the drink of kahvaltı. It comes in small tulip-shaped glasses, brewed in two stacked teapots, and the glass is filled again and again. If you want it stronger or lighter, ask for koyu or açık, which means dark or light.
Turkish coffee is not part of the meal, because kahvaltı means before coffee, and the coffee comes after if you want it. My article on Turkish tea culture tells more about the glass and the pot.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you eat a Turkish breakfast?
Slowly and together. Put a few items on your own small plate, tear a piece of bread and make a bite with cheese, tomato or an olive, and share the pan of menemen from the middle. On a weekend morning breakfast can take a long time.
What is the difference between menemen and shakshuka?
Menemen is eggs stirred into cooked tomatoes and peppers so they scramble together. Shakshuka is a dish popular in North Africa and the Middle East, with whole eggs poached in a spiced tomato sauce. They look alike, but the eggs and the spices are different.
Is a Turkish breakfast healthy?
It has vegetables, eggs, cheese and olives, which many people find filling, but sucuk, butter, jam and white bread make it heavier, and cheese and olives are salty. I am a guide and not a doctor, so for a special diet please ask your doctor.
Hire a Tour Guide in Turkey
I’m a nationally licensed Turkish tour guide based in Kuşadası, nearby Ephesus. My day guiding is in Ephesus, İzmir and Pamukkale, and on a longer journey my national license lets me join you as your personal guide in other regions. I am happy to explain what is on your breakfast table. You can check my guiding rates and guiding areas.
If you would like to taste Turkey with a local guide, write to me through my contact page to hire a tour guide in Turkey. I hope we will share a glass of tea and a kahvaltı together one day. See you soon, Hasan Gülday.
