Tag: khavalti

Souvenir Shopping in Adana

M's Adventures
Adana’s area code is 01.

Since you can’t take an Adana kebab as a souvenir, one has to (has to) find a magnet or mug as a souvenir. Recently, I was at the women’s cooperative, Adana Kadın kooperatifleri Birliği, for brunch and it turns out that they also have a shop (one is sitting surrounded by things to buy) so that is my recommendation for where to buy souvenirs.

Adana is famous for its clock tower, orange festival, Roman bridge, and the kebab. This shop, located conveniently in old Adana (just down from the clock tower, on the side of a park, Ziyapaşa Parkı), is a nice reprieve from the heat and bustle. Or cold and wet.

The orange festival is the biggest event of the year in Adana.

Aside from souvenirs like magnets, they also have handmade items and food for sale. And as I mentioned, you can eat there. The staff are very nice. It is hard to not buy a basket or hammer pants (which is the baggy style that many people wear here).

The other place I would recommend for souvenirs is Starbucks. Sounds odd? The Adana mug is adorable.

There are also other places to find souvenirs but one has to search. Or stick to the main touristy street.

Khavalti

M's Adventures

Khavalti, khavalit, they always have khavalti! When I had just arrived in Adana, I was planning something and a colleague kept saying this word, “khavalti” and I did not understand at all. I found it hard to figure out. She kept saying the word like I should understand her, but I didn’t.

Then, finally, I got it. Khavalti is the Turkish word for the famous Turkish breakfast. After all, I had read about this famous breakfast, and I had had it before in Istanbul many years ago.

But, now I live in Adana. And breakfast is everywhere. Some are very basic with a few olives, cucumber, tomato, plain yogurt, and cheese. Always bread and tea. It is served like brunch on Sundays. There are some places that have it any day, but the weekend seems to be big for khavalti. If you are up because you were out drinking, then you go eat liver and drink a shot of liquor. Later, at 11 or noon, you eat khavalti.

Others are more elaborate with honey, tahini on top of pomegranate syrup, jams, and eggs fried with sausage meat. Most places will have a la carte items that you can order like omelet (a fried flat piece of egg, not folded or French style), and “menemen” which is the “shakshouka” style eggs of Turkiye.

Prices range from 340 Turkish Lira on up. All the items in these photos (except for the last one which shows another style of khavalti for one person) were from one khavalti for four people (two people per khavalti) plus menemen. The total per person was 340 Lira per person. We added a tip so it was a bit more. More on tipping in another blog posting.

Most restaurants serve khavalti on Sunday mornings. The places can be fancy and they can be casual. Later, I’ll write about the best in Adana.

This was khavalti for one person at a fancier place. Cost about 600 Turkish Lira.