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Dining out along the Aegean coast is a pleasure, especially if you enjoy seafood and fresh produce. There are countless seafood restaurants at all price ranges. A typical meal includes an assortment of hot and cold meze (appetizers), a mixed salad, and the catch of the day, capped off with a Turkish dessert. To make it authentic, accompany your meal with rak? (a spirit similar in taste to oúzo). Some of the more common fish you'll find along the Aegean coast are levrek (sea bass), çipura (sea bream), barbunya (red mullet), and lahos (grouper), as well as tasty smaller fish like sardalya (sardines). Note that most fish restaurants charge per kilogram for whole fish, and the prices often aren't listed; ask before ordering to avoid receiving an unexpectedly large bill at the end of an otherwise pleasant meal. Of course, there are plenty of meat and kebab restaurants around, too, if that’s what you’re craving.
For dessert, try local dondurma (Turkish ice cream, often thickened with orchid root or mastic resin), as well as milk puddings and baklava. It’s often better to avoid hotel restaurants at lunch and dinner—you can frequently find better and less expensive food a short walk away—but luxury and boutique hotels might be an exception as they are often firm favorites on the local restaurant scene. And don’t forget street snacks! In season, you can grab fat local Smyrna figs; a cup of icy, dark berry ?erbet (think of it as Ottoman Gatorade); or a sesame-studded feta-and-tomato sandwich, each for less than a dollar in central ?zmir. Simit, the classic Turkish bagel-like street snack, is called gevrek in the ?zmir region, and often purchased along with a piece of tulum peyniri (goat's milk cheese) and a hard-boiled egg, following an old Sephardic culinary custom.
This local favorite is the place to come for dessert; in addition to black forest cake and semolina cake, there's ice cream in many different flavors, served in a homemade waffle cone. Sakızlı muhallebi, a local specialty, is Turkish milk pudding flavored with gum mastic, the aromatic resin of the mastic tree. A beloved local brand, İmren has opened a casual Turkish restaurant on the same street (Kemalpaşa Cad. 70), as well as an Alaçatı hotel.
This very popular bakery in hip Alsancak serves up probably the broadest selection you’ll find of boyoz, a round flaky pastry with Sephardic roots that’s these days almost unique to İzmir. Get yours savory or sweet, or perhaps with a hard-boiled egg on the side in traditional style. Go early for the best selection.
Bitez Dondurma's creamy ice-cream concoctions full of fresh fruit have proved so popular that the shop now has branches all over the Bodrum Peninsula, and as far away as Istanbul. The waterfront location in Bodrum's town center is a convenient spot to grab a scoop or two as you stroll along the promenade.
This cheery, casual bistro-style restaurant on the ground floor of the Hotel Ilayda is popular with visitors for its broad international menu, ranging from pasta dishes to fajitas to traditional Turkish grills. Prices are reasonable, portions hearty, and alcohol served.
With a huge variety of baked goods and desserts, excellent house-made ice cream and chocolates, this pastry shop has been popular for decades. This branch of the legendary patisserie, in the heart of trendy Alsancak, is also a sit-down café serving coffee and Turkish-style breakfast.
Since 1945, the Rumeli bakery has been the place in Çeşme for treats like sakızlı dondurma (thick, chewy Turkish-style mastic ice cream) in flavors such as karadut (black mulberry) and tarçın (cinnamon), as well as jams, sweet mastic paste, and other traditional goodies. It's on the main shopping street, not far from Ayios Haralambos church.
Settle in under the shady trees and vines covering and cooling this relaxed garden café just off the waterfront, where the eclectic menu includes a wide range of starters (from hummus to orange-infused chicken liver pate), salads, pastas, and mains. Be sure to save room for the dessert of the day.
This popular bakery on Bodrum's main pedestrian shopping street is know for classic puddings, cheesecakes, pastries, and luxurious fruit-and-cream parfaits. There's also an outlet on Neyzen Tevfik Caddesi across from the marina.
A broad, mostly reasonably priced menu of well-executed dishes—both Turkish and international—is offered in a setting that encourages leisurely lingering over a meal. Tables are scattered throughout a peaceful, beautifully landscaped garden with sea views, and there’s a beach, too, if you want to cool off.
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