D'ORET PATISSERIE & CAFE

Finally, managed to upload some pics from Istanbul trip. This is where we had our very first breakfast in Istanbul. We stayed at a lovely apartment in Cihangir (promise, more on this later!) that's only a two minute walk away from d'Oret Pâtisserie & Café. Runs by two lovely girls, it is cutely located at the left end of rows of apartments in Cihangir Caddesi, just a short walk up the hill from our place. We woke up that morning really hungry, not knowing what to expect in the surrounding and in desperate need of coffee. I can get really cranky in the morning without caffeine, like everybody else :P

Ambience of the cafe is really laid-back. I could imagine myself coming back here with an empty tummy and a good book. Loving the bits and pieces of furniture and accessories here...especially the "stamped" timber flooring and that long console table in turquoise.

As I mentioned earlier, this patisserie is run by two lovely girls. One of the girls helped us to understand the breakfast selections because I had suspicions of why the traditional breakfast menu for 1 person had such loooong description and since we were really hungry, we just wanted to make sure if we should order one or two traditional breakfast. And then it came...small plate by small plate filling up our entire table. It's what I could only describe as a feast of happiness in the morning! I've never had such elaborate breakfast before, I mean like these entire items are indeed meant for one person's first meal of the day.

Had to ask like 3 times just to make sure that the sliced meat weren't pork and made sure she understood what I was enquiring, she was surprised when I asked and said "No, no, no!"

Fresh cherry tomates and cucumber in olive oil goodness with herbs

Peanut butter, Nutella, sundried tomato paste, sugar frosting, name whatever spread you want..but I am in LOVE with this marmalade-cream cheese spread!

 Boiled to perfection

Mom and I just pointed whatever we saw in the cookie jars and stands...all too tempting!! Here are the crescent moon shaped apple pies, nut cookies (reminded me of polvoron), and savory sesame seed ring shaped cookies

Coffee was surprisingly good (or maybe it's just the Turkish coffee in general) Hmmm,cappuccino!

 A novel.....not

Ta-da! Another cute bill holder!

Other than the photos above we also had Borek and some other pastries...all very lovely. Verdict? I would definitely come back in a jiffy. With better Turkish, of course. Or at least a better dictionary ;)

d'Oret Patisserie & Cafe

Cihangir Cad. No 1/A | Cihangir, Beyoğlu

Istanbul, Turkey

FRIED BANANAS WITH PALM SUGAR & CHEESE

Been staying at Grandma's for the longest run ever now. I just broke my own record of staying here for more than a month and actually really loving it. The only downside to this city is that sometimes it gets so hot I'd start daydreaming of rainy days. So here I am,  imagining what I'd eat during a rainy day...and what could better brighten up your day if not with good ol pisang goreng (fried bananas). And no no, I didn't eat this out on a blazing hot day, I ate it in a fully blasted air conditioned room, while sipping tea, under a blanket and having Modern Family marathon. Pure bliss.

At home, we usually just fry the bananas in batter or slighty brown them with butter and then sprinkle over some chocolate sprinkles and grated cheese. This time our relative is staying at home and she made this for us. Although I had suspicion it's gonna be too sweet from the palm sugar coating, but it turned out perfect. Just oh so yummmm!

Ingredients:

5-10 ripe pisang raja (or ladyfinger bananas if you can't find any of these), split lengthways

1 cup rice flour

1/2 cup all purpose flour

1-2 cup water (depending on how thick/thin you like your batter)

a pinch of salt

3 cups of palm sugar for coating

1 cup of grated cheddar cheese

about 5 tbsp condensed milk

Directions:

1. In a bowl, mix rice flour, all purpose flour, and water and a pinch of salt until there is no lumps.  You can adjust the thickness of the batter if you like. Here I wanted something "light" (yeah riiiight, with all those cheese and condensed milk) so my batter is quite thin but still crunchy. 

2. Heat up your frying pan and oil for frying. Prepare the palm sugar in a large bowl for coating.

3. Once the batter mixture is ready, put in the bananas into the mixture in several batches. Fry them until golden brown. Repeat with the remaining bananas. Let the fried bananas cool slightly on a paper towel-lined tray to absorb the oil.  

3. While it's still hot, toss the fried bananas in palm sugar until well coated. Arrange on a serving plate.

4. Drizzle the condensed milk over and top with generous amount of grated cheese. Oh, you're welcome :P