Where to brunch in Gaziantep: morning spots worth the queue.
Where to brunch in Gaziantep. The morning rooms worth the queue, and the kitchens still doing it right at noon.
Katmerci Zekeriya Usta is where Gaziantep eats breakfast, a stone oven turning out katmer layered with clotted cream and green Antep pistachio.
Order: Fıstıklı katmer with kaymak, eaten hot from the stone oven.
Tip: Come before ten. The dough is thrown to order and the queue builds through the morning.
Metanet Katmer opens at five in the morning on Kozluca Caddesi, so the classic Gaziantep breakfast of beyran and katmer can be done before sunrise.
Order: Classic katmer with clotted cream and pistachio.
Tip: Pair it with beyran across the road. That is the traditional Gaziantep morning order.
Beyoğlu Katmercim makes katmer in front of the counter on Kozluca Caddesi, a Gaziantep breakfast worth the two-street walk from the busier names.
Order: Kaymaklı katmer, watched through the window as it is made.
Tip: Ask for the corner table. The katmer travels badly even across the room.
Valens Life Cafe lays out a full serpme breakfast in Batıkent, the long-table Gaziantep morning of cheeses, eggs, olives and bottomless tea.
Order: The full serpme breakfast spread with fried green olives.
Tip: Arrive before 10:00 at weekends. The big tables go first and turn slowly.
Kahve Tiryakisi in Yeditepe pairs a full Turkish breakfast with single-origin filter coffee, which is a rare combination anywhere in Gaziantep.
Order: The serpme breakfast, with the kaymak and the pekmezli tahin helva.
Tip: Budget ninety minutes. Breakfast here is a sitting, not a stop between things.
Treff Bistro sets its breakfast tables under the trees of Kavaklık Park, which makes it the best-placed spring morning in central Gaziantep.
Order: Weekend kahvaltı under the trees of Kavaklık Park.
Tip: The patio is the whole point. Indoors in winter it is an ordinary bistro.
Mösyö Cafe & Restaurant serves breakfast and griddled gözleme beside Kavaklık Park in Gaziantep, from eight in the morning until late at night.
Order: Cheese gözleme cooked to order on the griddle.
Tip: Mornings are calm here. Live music takes over the terrace after dark.
Yeşilçam Kahve Evi opens at eight in İbrahimli and serves breakfast under Turkish film stills, the latest-closing cafe in this part of Gaziantep.
Order: Turkish breakfast with coffee in the film-poster room.
Tip: Take the upstairs room for breakfast. Downstairs fills with nargile smoke by mid-afternoon.
Akşam Simit is the bakery breakfast of İbrahimli, a Gaziantep counter that sets out warm pastries and refills the teapot without being asked.
Order: Simit and katmer with a full teapot on the table.
Tip: The pastry trays restock through the morning, so a late arrival is not a penalty.
Tostçu Kadir Usta opens at half past five in Sanayi, feeding the Gaziantep workshop shift toasted sandwiches long before any of the cafes wake up.
Order: A grilled tost with sweet pastry alongside.
Tip: Closed Sundays and shut by half past one. Reviewers rate the sweets over the tost.
Orkide Pastanesi lays out a broad and affordable breakfast on Gazi Muhtar Paşa, the Gaziantep patisserie locals send visitors to before any other.
Order: The breakfast spread, then a katmer with ice cream.
Tip: The chocolate counter is better for gifts than for breakfast. Order the spread instead.