09 May 2016

Turkish Breakfast Review - Cuppa

With my breakfasting partner back in Turkey we took advantage of the beautiful weather this fine Monday morning to meet and try yet a new place for breakfast. I am determined to exhaust all the cafes and restaurants with breakfast options in my own Cihangir so this morning we went to Cuppa.



Cuppa is a charming cafe/bakery located in the heart of Cihangir where it share space with the Depo Dance club/studio. While its outdoor seating options are limited to three tiny tables (sidewalk space on this street not being overly generous) the inside of the cafe is spacious and offers quite a number of tables with not uncomfortable wood chairs and padded benches.


Unfortunately, especially for a place called Cuppa, the coffee did not leave a particularly good impression. My latte (which came majorly foamed and was therefore more of a cappuccino), tasted like mildly flavored hot milk more than it did like coffee. When I asked about his Americano M hit the nail on the head and said that the coffee is average-it's fine for drinking with breakfast but he wouldn't go in the afternoon to enjoy a cup of coffee. The food more than made up for the not so good coffee though.


Cuppa has a pretty varied breakfast menu: traditional Turkish breakfast plates, toasts, a variety of eggs (benedict, mememen, fried), pancakes, yogurt, granola, etc. You can also order REAL bacon, not just with eggs but as a side dish! This is fantastically exciting. It's madly expensive, 18 TL (about $6.30) for two pieces, but you can get it.


The Spanish omelette was lovely; the potatoes used in it had been nicely fried and browned. For me though the real star of this morning's breakfast was the pancakes. We got two generously sized pancakes sprinkled with confectioner's sugar, topped with strawberries, kiwi, and bananas and with Nutella on the side. They were amazing. Light and fluffy and I could taste the buttermilk. I was craving pancakes all last week and these totally hit the spot.


I will definitely be visiting Cuppa again. For one thing I seem to have an obsession these days with eggs benedict, for another Cuppa offers real bacon (even though it is rather pricey).  And unlike so many places which offer breakfast but don't open until 9:30-10, Cuppa opens at 8 AM. I'm not saying I'd be there that early, I rarely get out of bed before 8 or 9, but it's nice to know I could go that early if I so desired.

Cuppa
Yeni Yuva Sokak No. 22
Cihangir, Beyoglu 
Istanbul
+90 212 245 4482

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