Favorite New Dining Experiences: Breakfast at Silav Cafe & Grill
We continue listing our favorite new meals of 2024 with a Kurdish breakfast fit for royalty.
Enjoy a Royal Breakfast at Silav Cafe & GrillÂ
By Bethia Woolf
One of the more unique dining experiences we enjoyed this year was the Royal Breakfast at Columbus’ first Kurdish restaurant, Silav Cafe & Grill. It's perfect for a leisurely morning with friends while you catch up, and rewards those who love to linger, chat and play with their food.Â
When you arrive at Silav you will first be offered tea. What then arrives at the table is a large pot of Silav’s special black tea blend, which is placed over a tealight to keep the tea warm throughout your meal. The tea is accompanied by sugar cubes, which I recommend using even if you don’t normally sweeten your tea. A little sugar really enhances the floral notes of the tea.
The real fun of the Royal Breakfast experience is the bounty of the spread. Your table will be covered with a multitude of small plates. Our last breakfast included more than 20 items!Â
Breakfast typically begins with two different breads: one fried and crusted with sesame seeds and one fresh naan-like bread from the tandoor. On our visit, we also received hummus, honey, balls of labneh rolled in different seasonings, a yogurt-based dip, olives, sausage, walnuts, falafel, kaymak (clotted sweet cream) with rose petals, a variety of cheeses, cucumber and tomato, date syrup and tahini.Â
In addition to the plethora of cold dishes, the Royal Breakfast also includes your choice of one hot entrée. Options include: hek u bajan (scrambled eggs with tomatoes, onion and garlic), xanam fetah (spiced chickpeas in a yogurt sauce with toasted nuts) and the shakshuka-like mexlama (eggs combined with freshly cooked peppers, onions, tomatoes, cheese and garlic).
This array of food can be more than a little bit daunting—so many elements, some more familiar than others, that can be combined in so many different ways.
We were fortunate enough to have the ear of the head chef on our first visit and that helped us to navigate. Here are some of the tips she shared, which only furthered our enjoyment of the meal’s wide variety:
The spread is communal and meant to be lingered over. Take time to taste, mix, experiment, compare, discuss and enjoy. This may not be the American mealtime norm, but wouldn’t we all be a bit better off for taking the occasional break from that?
Look for a flavor’s complement. If, say, a cheese is a bit on the salty side, pair it with bread and cucumbers for balance. Try something salty with something sweet. We loved the combination of the sweet date syrup with the nutty sesame paste and a dollop of the sweet cream.Â
Slowing down allows the quality of the ingredients to register. The thought given to sourcing and preparation at Silav is clearly above and beyond, but that impression doesn’t always hit when you’re already thinking about your next bite.
Use the breads for dipping. Tear pieces off and build flavor combinations on them. It’s OK to order extra bread if you need to.Â
The folks who run Silav are lovely people who are proud of their cuisine and culture, and their food makes an excellent argument for them. If you’re not in a breakfast mood, the restaurant’s Kurdish kebabs (made with freshly ground beef and lamb) are absolutely delicious. Can’t wait to try more!
We’ve seen some interesting additions to the breakfast scene this year, such as Maison Skalli with its Moroccan breakfast and Calero's Bar & Grill with its Salvadoran offerings, but nowhere else invites you to linger and commune quite like Silav.Â
Silav Cafe & Grill is open seven days a week (starting at 8 a.m.) at 330 S. High St. just south of the Westin Great Southern Columbus hotel.Â
Notes
Around the Columbus Food Scene
Holy Crepes, a popular food truck and creperie at North Market Bridge Park, is set to expand to North Market Downtown next month. The new creperie will be located across the aisle from The Barrel and Bottle. The family-owned business, which has been in operation since 2017, offers a variety of sweet and savory crepes, as well as milkshakes, waffles and ice cream.
Little Palace is set to close this Wednesday after a 15-year run on South Fourth Street in Downtown Columbus. The announcement, made via social media, comes soon after the closure of Little Palace’s sister restaurant El Camino a few doors down. In both cases, owners Tina and Randy Corbin cited disputes over the lease. The Corbins also own Club 185.