Van Breakfast

Van has made breakfast into an institution. A street in the centre - Kahvaltı Sokağı - is given over to halls that serve nothing else, and what arrives is not a plate but a table: two dozen small dishes covering the surface, including otlu peynir, the herb cheese of the region made with wild plants gathered in spring and matured in skins, kaymak with honeycomb, several kinds of olive, tomato and cucumber, jams, butter, murtuğa and kavut - a roasted flour dish cooked with butter - eggs with sucuk, menemen, fresh bread and tea that is refilled until you cover the glass. It is a fixed price per head and eating is slow and social, typically two hours. The scale is real rather than a tourist device; Van residents eat this way at weekends and the halls are full of families. The city sits by Lake Van under the mountains, and the breakfast is the thing people from elsewhere in Turkey travel for.

What you actually see

• The covered table - two dozen dishes at once.
• The herb cheese - otlu peynir made with wild greens.
• The kavut and murtuğa - the regional flour dishes.
• The breakfast street - halls serving nothing else.

When to go

Year-round; morning, and allow two hours. Weekends are when the halls are fullest and most enjoyable, though busiest.

Honest expectations

It is a great deal of food and the fixed price is per person whether you eat it all or not. Portions are not adjustable. Herb cheese is strong and not to everyone's taste.

Nearby

Van Castle and the lakeshore are close; Akdamar island and Hoşap Castle are day trips.