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BENGALURU has always been a city for breakfasts. The innumerable darshinis dotting every single one of its neighbourhoods open their shutters at the crack of dawn to long lines of hungry customers. And while a breakfast consisting of a dosa with gatti chutney, chow-chow bhath — khara and kesari, and filter coffee will always hit the spot, we don’t mind mixing it up occasionally. Also, we don’t mind swapping the exchange of bullet points between bites for the occasional long catch-up with our friends. For this, the recently launched Kahvalti: a classic Turkish breakfast at Öz by Kebapci in Bengaluru’s UB City, served exclusively on Sundays, is just right.
Go Bananas
Kahvalti, literally translates to “before coffee”. It is a typical Turkish breakfast that is a potpourri of little treats. Olives, cucumbers and tomatoes, cured meats, dips and sauces, eggs, cheeses, freshly baked bread, fruit preserves and jams, honey, pastries and sweet butter are the standard fare. And of course, breakfast is always accompanied by endless çay, Turkish tea, served in small, tulip-shaped glasses.
At Öz by Kebapci, they dial up the standard offerings with much more. We started off with a vibrant, colourful plate of prettily-cut fruits — muskmelon, watermelon and oranges; cucumbers, carrots and cherry tomatoes; dried apricots and walnuts, and cheddar-like cheese, all dusted with sesame seeds for that tingle of textures. Then, it was an avalanche of condiment options — black and green olives from the Hatay region; honey with fresh kaymak, a kind of clotted cream that makes this a silken, sweet spread; cream cheese with blueberry jam, a play of milky and tangy; cheese with eggplant, a roasted, creamy savoury side; tomato paste topped with chopped pistachio, which is rich, aromatic and crunchy; labneh za’atar which is a cheesy dipping sauce with spices; thick tahini with crumbly hazelnut; a savoury, spicy butter; muhammara, a flavoursome dip of roasted red peppers, walnuts and spices; and a strawberry and apricot jam.
It doesn’t stop there. There’s eggs — two ways: çilbir or poached eggs swimming in a garlicky yoghurt drizzled with chilli oil and menemen or eggs scrambled with tomatoes and red bell peppers — like our desi egg bhurji. Crispy chicken börek, savoury, herb-spiced chicken in a flaky pastry; Turkish fried sucuk or spicy sausage and mini pides — chicken and cheese Turkish-style pizzas, was next. And then, there are the breads. Simit, a sesame-crusted bread that’s crisp on the outside and soft on the inside; lavash, a thin flatbread and pisi or fried bread.
It Takes Two To Mango
Here’s the way to demolish these delights: you tear out pieces of the bread and you dip, dunk and douse your way through any of the offerings. You repeat till there is nothing left. You take breaks in the oasis of the fruit, nut and cheese platter while sipping countless cups of çay before resuming the attack. While everything was yummy, my breakfast companion — an educator with a penchant for Hindustani classical music — and I found ourselves battling over the cream cheese with blueberry jam, the tomato paste with chopped pistachio, the muhammara and the labneh za’atar. The two egg dishes were outstanding — spicy, creamy and delicious. The börek was the deep-fried delight that makes every breakfast a better one. And then, there was also the Mihlama — served table-side — a stretchy, melted cheese dish with butter and cornmeal that was the perfect foil to a whole other set of the condiments. It was like eating just the stretchy cheese off of a pizza.
The spread wraps up with a cinnamon ball and a sugar-dusted doughnut served with unsweetened Turkish coffee. Like beached whales, we hold the prettiest coffee cups on our extended bellies and let the sweet string music of the restaurant lull us to sleep. Sundays are back to being sloth days after this kind of opening meal.
Meal for two: Rs 2399 for two persons.
Timings: Every Sunday, 8 am-noon.
Address: UB City, Level 2, Concorde, 1 Vittal Mallya Road, Ashok Nagar. Call 7090677771 for reservations.
