Kahvaltı: the meal before coffee
The Turkish word for breakfast, kahvaltı, comes from "kahve altı": the food eaten before coffee. Today a Turkish breakfast, especially at the weekend, is a table that can last for hours, with family and friends gathered around it. What sets it apart is variety: salty and sweet, cold and hot, dozens of small plates on the table at once.
For the wider picture, see our guide to Turkish cuisine.
What goes into a serpme spread
| Group | What you'll find |
|---|---|
| Cheeses | Beyaz peynir (white brined cheese), kaşar, tulum, herbed cheese, çökelek |
| Olives | Black Gemlik olives, cracked green olives, spiced olives |
| Vegetables | Tomato, cucumber, long green peppers, rocket, parsley |
| Sweet | Honey with kaymak (clotted cream), sour cherry and rose jam, tahini with grape molasses, hazelnut spread |
| Cured meats | Sucuk (spiced beef sausage), pastırma (air-dried beef) |
| Bread and pastry | Simit, fresh bread, poğaça, pişi (fried dough), börek, gözleme |
| Hot dishes | Menemen, eggs with sucuk, çılbır, kuymak |
| Drink | Black tea brewed in a double teapot, served in tulip-shaped glasses |
The hot dishes
- Menemen: Tomatoes, peppers and eggs cooked together in a pan. Whether it should contain onion is Türkiye's oldest breakfast argument.
- Sucuklu yumurta: Eggs fried in the fat of sliced sucuk, served in the pan.
- Çılbır: Poached eggs on garlic yoghurt, finished with chilli butter. The dish reaches back to the Ottoman palace kitchen.
- Kuymak (mıhlama): The Black Sea dish of cornmeal, butter and melting cheese.
Regional breakfasts
- Van breakfast: Herbed cheese, murtuğa (flour and egg toasted in butter), cacık and kaymak. One of the most famous breakfast traditions in Türkiye.
- Black Sea breakfast: Kuymak, butter, black cabbage and cornbread.
- Gaziantep breakfast: Katmer, a thin pastry with pistachio and kaymak, eaten early in the morning.
- Aegean breakfast: Wild greens in olive oil, village cheeses and plenty of olive oil.
How to set up a serpme breakfast at home
- 1Keep the plates small. The effect of a spread comes from variety: a little of many things.
- 2Lay out the cold plates first. Cheese, olives, vegetables and sweet things should be on the table before guests arrive.
- 3Bring out the hot dishes in turn. Menemen and eggs with sucuk should arrive hot, in the pan.
- 4Never let the tea run out. Keep the teapot on the stove; at a Turkish breakfast, tea glasses are never left empty.
Allow roughly 60–80 g of cheese, 40–50 g of olives and one simit or two slices of bread per guest.
A Turkish breakfast at your villa or on your yacht
Nothing captures a holiday morning in Türkiye like a long breakfast table facing the sea. For villa stays, our private chef service plans the whole day from breakfast to dinner, bringing regional cheeses and seasonal produce to the table. For longer stays in Bodrum, see our Bodrum villa private chef retainer, and for charters, luxury yacht fine dining.
