Delicious Turkish Delicacies pt. II

Behold, the delicious kahvaltı (breakfast) at Kale Cafe right down from Rumeli Hisari. Actually, this is slightly less than half of the breakfast we had, but here are some important and delicious inclusions. 

North and South in the photo is just what it looks like - cooked tomatoes, sliced cucumber and roasted Turkish peppers. The peppers alternately will taste like a mild green bell pepper or the hottest jalapeno you've ever had. No one knows which will be spicy or not. They sell them intermingled in the stores and markets. Along with olives, sliced white cheese and hot tea, this is the most common Turkish breakfast.

At left is fried Halloumi cheese, a somewhat firm cheese that gets chewy upon being fried. Chewy and delicious.

At right is the pièce de resistance, balı kaymak, a sort of clotted cream served in a bath of local honey.

Not pictured is a large mound of breads - simit, the ubiquitous ring of sesame seed bread; lavash, a thin tortilla-like bread; and more roll-like sesame breads. All baked in house, I might add.

We had two different types of borek, a cheese or meat pastry dish, generally like a savory baklava, but that doesn't quite do it justice.

Also not pictured were the several other types of cheeses and yogurts. They were mainly the turkish soft cheeses, like beyaz penir, a feta like cheese, and the aforementioned white cheese, which is of a softer than cheddar consistency and milder in flavor too.

Our companions also had a dish of an egg cooked within a pan of fried cheese. It looked lovely too, but with so much food to consume, it was the one thing we didn't share.

Kale Cafe, as mentioned, sits right up the road from the Rumeli Hisari, in the shadow of the Fatih Sultan Mehmet Bridge and is right across the road from the Bosphorus. It sits alongside a long row of cafes and breakfast joints all serving up their own version of what we had. The owner took very good care of us and I believe even offered to have his wife give us a ride home. After the meal, he shook each of our hands and gave us a hearty thanks. As I did to him. Wonderful experience.