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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 Mediterranean restaurant was around (in a different location) long before the rest of Alaçatı's trendy dining options came on the scene, and remains one of the best and most stylish in town. The deliciously inventive food and romantic garden courtyard atmosphere make Agrilia a local favorite. There's a good wine list and some creative cocktails on the menu.
At this waterfront restaurant, you should begin your meal with a selection of meze, like stuffed zucchini flowers, roasted eggplant with tulum cheese, and octopus salad. Then you can let the owner, Cengiz Bey, help you select the best local fish for the grill. Whatever you choose, don't skip dessert: Gaziantep baklava or irmik helvası (traditional warm semolina halvah) served with ice cream.
Summer and winter, the dining room at the Kırkınca Houses Boutique Hotel is the best in town, overlooking the lovely landscape and serving delicious and authentic dishes prepared with oil produced from olives harvested in the garden. You can accompany your meal with wines produced in Şirince, and the sound of mellow live music on Friday and Saturday nights. Among the delicacies on the menu are creamy eggplant soup; şevketi bostanı, a root vegetable cooked with tender pieces of lamb; and delicious homemade pasta, erişte, served in a light cream and almond sauce.
This outdoor terrace overlooking the waterfront is an ideal spot in Dalyanköy for a splurgy seafood dinner. After meze of kabak çiçeği dolması (stuffed zucchini flowers) and deniz börülcesi (samphire), and a main of tuzda balık (fish baked in salt), try to find room for sakızlı muhallebi, creamy traditional milk pudding flavored with gum mastic.
This popular spot overlooking the Selçuk aqueduct is run by a friendly family team—husband, wife, and son—and offers a menu that includes such traditional vegetarian dishes as exemplary stuffed peppers and fried eggplant. It may sometimes take a while for the generous, juicy lamb and chicken kebabs to cook in the small hearth, but it's worth the wait.
The peripatetic Turkish-Armenian maestro Garo heads the kitchen at this enduringly popular stone cottage–turned–waterfront restaurant in Türkbükü with a comfy Greek-taverna feel, friendly staff, and an outdoor terrace with blue-and-white checkered tablecloths. If you're not in the mood for seafood and meze, there are spicy Turkish meatballs or a Bodrum specialty, çökertme kebabı (beef strips over fried potatoes with yogurt sauce).
This lovely restaurant on the waterfront specializes not only in fresh fish, seafood, and meze but also serves an excellent summer brunch. Tables are only a few feet from the peaceful waters of the bay, with a truly romantic view of the ancient ruins of Rabbit Island, often with a soft breeze. The waitstaff are cheery and attentive, and though the kitchen has been refurbished almost beyond recognition, it retains a 300-year-old hearth from when it served as the bakery for the surrounding villages.
The owners of Sevilen, one of Turkey’s best-known wine brands, have renovated and opened their family home to visitors as a fine-dining restaurant in a bucolic setting near İzmir airport. Grilled meats are the focus of the menu, which also includes tasty salads and starters—along with Sevilen wine pairings, of course. Summertime meals are served under a 300-year-old plane tree that provides cooling shade on a hot day.
Down a quiet, pretty alley just a two-minute stroll from the waterfront, the white, candlelit tables at this seafood restaurant quickly fill with hungry locals. Accompany a heaping plate of fried local calamari (probably the most generous in town) with a tasting plate of up to four vegetable meze with toasted bread, and, if you're still hungry, order grilled fish and (more) rakı.
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.
Travelers craving a change from the usual Turkish fare will be happy to find this establishment right smack in the middle of Pammukale. Catering to the growing number of Asian tourists in the area, it turns out surprisingly authentic versions of mostly Chinese, Taiwanese, and Korean specialties, including noodle dishes, soups, and stir-fries. Service can be slow and there’s not much in the way of decor. No alcohol.
This small and romantic garden restaurant is a highlight of Alaçatı’s dining scene, with chef Ayşe Nur Mıhçı famed for her fresh renditions of Aegean cooking using seasonal, local produce, especially the region’s wealth of wild herbs and greens. There’s no menu, but the staff will help you select from the options on display in the kitchen. Good local wines are available to accompany your meal. Reservations highly recommended.
This charming outdoor café and restaurant is just a five-minute walk from the Priene ruins and features a shaded, leafy atmosphere with gazebos and picnic tables. The menu consists of classic Turkish staples and the speciality is gözleme: savory crepes stuffed with either potato, spinach, or cheese.
The Ayasoluk Hotel’s restaurant offers meals in a pleasant dining room and romantic courtyard, both with a bucolic sunset view, and features local and organic ingredients for a light, fresh take on Turkish favorites. It's one of the more intimate and sophisticated dining options in town.
Tables are tucked into a lovely hidden garden in summer and in cooler weather service is in a quaint, Bodrum-style, one-story house. The Mediterranean cuisine includes some local favorites. Alcohol is served.
There are many popular seafood restaurants along the Kordon waterfront in Alsancak, but this one, with indoor and outdoor seating areas and a relaxed feel, is especially busy. It features a good selection of appetizers, including the decadent sütlü karides (shrimp sautéed in butter, then topped with béchamel and mozzarella), as well as the usual seasonal seafood choices.
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.
Not far from the clock tower at the entrance of Kemeraltı, this small local favorite has served traditional İskender kebabı (and only İskender kebabı) from the city of Bursa since 1981. The spit-roasted meat is sliced thin and topped with melted butter and tomato sauce. A glass of homemade ayran (salted yogurt drink) is the traditional accompaniment to the meal. Alcohol is not served. Come for lunch or a very early dinner, as they're only open until the meat runs out, usually around 6:30 pm.
The more blue-collar or on-the-go way to eat fish in Turkey is the balik ekmek, a salty grilled fish sandwich often stuffed with onion, tomato, and lettuce. With Dikili's access to quality fresh fish, the flavor multiplies at this portside restaurant, with tables spilling out onto the street. Other classic Turkish seafood dishes available include fried calamari and mussels stuffed with rice, pine nuts, and currants.
Deniz means "sea" in Turkish, an appropriate name for this popular, pricey seafood eatery on the Kordon waterfront, whose tables spill out of the ground floor of the İzmir Palas Hotel. It's buzzing with local notables, travelers, and a swanky business crowd, who come to splurge on exceptional fish and meze, including samphire with garlicky yogurt. And it can easily turn into a splurge in terms of price, depending on the number of courses chosen.
Famed for its kebabs and other meat dishes, Denizhan also serves up very good meze and appetizers, including lahmacun (Turkish-style whisper-thin flatbread topped with spices and minced meat) and vegetable dishes such as mustard greens salad. The restaurant has a prime location on the Bodrum waterfront and an extensive wine list.
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