15 February 2016

Turkish Breakfast Review - Cafe Privato

My next Turkish breakfast adventure took my and my fantastic neighbor, R, to the Galata area to find Cafe Privato, both recommended by people I know and written up in The Guide. I should have figured that a cafe in that neighborhood would be busy on a Sunday afternoon and planned ahead. Alas I did not so R and I ended up dining outside which, despite the 4C temperature wasn't too bad thanks to the heaters all cafes here have installed.


I have a weakness for pretty, mismatched china and Cafe Privato serves its coffee drinks in china that is both pretty and mismatched. However that didn't really make up for the 11 TL we paid for what was not a stellar cappuccino.


R and I opted to split the geleneksel köy kahvaltısı or 'traditional village breakfast' which is Cafe Privato's version of this Turkish breakfast foundation. The village breakfast comes with: bread, carrot salad, several types of cheese, butter, tomato paste, tahini (which remained untouched by R and me), olives, a small dish of honey, a minuscule dollop of kaymak, twice slices each of preserved pear (which was excellent), and kiwi (less excellent), and half a preserved quince. In addition, Cafe Privato includes a fried egg with a small, but delicious slice of fried sucuk, a slice of fried halloumi, and one piece each of sweet and savory pastries.


Because we also got an order of french fries (which were excellent once we salted them) this was enough for me and R to share. But the 40 TL price tag on the village breakfast was a little high, I thought, given the portion sizes and the lack of an accompanying breakfast. A lot of cafes will provide at least one tea (if not unlimited) as part of the deal.


In the end...Cafe Privato is nice but I think it's too fancy for it's own good. The food is good, no question but overpriced for what it is.

Cafe Privato (reservation recommended on the weekend)

Şahkulu Mahallesi
Galip Dede Caddesi, Tımarcı Sokak, No 3/B
Beyoğlu, İstanbul

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