The city of Van from Southeast of Turkey is famous for its large, hearty breakfasts. And for a true taste of Eastern Turkey I go to Van Kahvalti Evi regularly. It is one of the most popular breakfast places in Istanbul.

When you are in Cihangir you can easily spot this place by the crowd gathering on the sidewalk. There are many other restaurants that serve this typical breakfast but the quality of the food here, combined with the warm hospitality, was like no other. Both locals and visitors enjoy this place. I always bring new visitors to Istanbul here.

At Van Kahvaltı Evi, along with the standards (cheese, olives, tomato, cucumber and jam) your breakfast comes with an assortment of local Van cheeses, the heavenly kaymak (a type of clotted cream), cacık (thick yogurt spread) and murtuğa (a heavy wheat-flour porridge that looks almost like scrambled eggs). And all these are for 30 lira per person.

Weekends are by far the busiest. Hardworking staff make sure its customers are served a speedy delivery. Tea glasses never go empty, they run around delivering one glass of tea after another.

In order to get in, you may need to wait about ten to twenty minutes but it would totally be worth the wait. And if you’re not a morning person or can’t be bothered with the long queues on weekends, breakfast is served all day and well into the evening.