Eating Out

Turkish Cuisine is considered to be one of the top three in the world (along with French and Chinese). The vast Ottoman Empire which stretched from Vienna to the Southern tip of the Arabian peninsula gave Turkish cuisine its richness and diversity. Here are a few of the basics:

MEZE

Turkish dinners often begin with mezeler (similar to antipasti or tapas) such as vegetables either stuffed or prepared in olive oil, spicy salsas, yoghurts and dips eaten with ekmek, pide or bazlama (types of bread), deep fried seafood etc. You can make a whole meal out of mezeler if you like.

CORBA (SOUP)

Soup is a big part of Turkish cuisine. When I lived with a Turkish family, soup was the first course of every dinner. The varieties are endless, but the one you’ll see on almost every menu is mercimek corbasi, lentil soup. This doesn’t taste anything like the lentil soup I’m used to; in America lentil soup is made with dark lentils, and it’s almost like a lentil stew. Here, the lentils are orange, yellow or green, and they are pureed to a much thinner consistency.

If you’re interested in the many varieties of coup, head to a Corbaci, where soup is the specialty. Be on the lookout for things you might not want to eat: Soups are made with brains (beyin), feet (ayak), intestines (iskembe) and pretty much everything.

PIDE

This delicious flatbread lunch or snack is often translated as Turkish Pizza, but it’s really it’s own thing. It comes in several varieties, and is usually served with a bit of salad (shredded lettuce, carrots, cabbage). Sometimes it’s the main course, other times it functions as a meze.

Kimali – ground beef with various seasonings
Kasarli – mild melty yellow cheese
Peynirli – white cheese (usually drier and saltier than kasar, somewhat like feta)
Kusbarili – small cubes of meat, usually with tomatoes and green peppers
sucuklu yumurtali – sausage (similar to american pepperoni) and egg
karasik – a mixture of everything

The best places for pide are usually places that specialize in it, called Pide Salonu. One of the best around is Samsun (branches downtown and in Liman Mahallesi), which has round pides overflowing with meat. Another favorite is Davet Ustu, which also serves excellent kiremitte (caseroles) and kofte (meatballs) dinners for about 6 US dollars. The general Turkish restaurant, Guneyliler (Ataturk Bulvari a few blocks west of 5Migros) also has exceptional pide.

MANGAL

Translated as barbeque, mangal is actually just grilled meat and chicken. At a Mangal Evi you can usually find some sort of beef steak (antrecot), lamb or chicken cubes (sis), lamb chops (pirzola) meatballs (kofte) and chicken wings (kanat). The meats are usually served a la carte and priced per kilo (you can order 200 grams). Various salads are available as side dishes. There are two good Mangal Evis on Ataturk Bulvari in Konyaalti, and further out in Lima is a Guneyliler Mangal Evi, which is a cut above. 7 Mehmet, one of Antalya’s most famous restaurants, also specializes in grilled meats. It’s a fancier place, so service is better and the variety of mezes and salads is more interesting than most. Prices are comparable though.

BALIK

Balik (fish) is always a good choice on the Mediterranean. Any Balik Evi will let you pick out your fish, and they’ll grill it and serve it whole. A few places, like Lara Balik Evi (there’s one in Lara and one in Konyaalti) offer special preparations. Lara Balik Evi doesn’t overcharge for the fish, but usually ends up being more expensive than your basic place because of the mezes, salads and drinks. Don’t order a bottle of wine without asking the price.

EV YEMEKLERI – Home Cooking

Places with this designation are usually extremely inexpensive and variable in quality Typically they offer four dishes for five lira. One dish is soup, one salad or cacik (yoghurt cucumber dip), one pilav (rice, bulgar or noodles) and one main casserole dish. The one in Altinkum, Konyaalti, on the corner of Mustafa Kemal Caddesi and 19th Sokak is one I find consistently good.

CONTINENTAL CUISINE

If you’re on a short visit you won’t need these places, but if you live here you might want a break from Turkish food now and then. The best of these restaurants is Seraser, in Kaleici. It offers international quality at an international price. In other words, the bill is usually about three times that of a typical Turkish restaurant. But if you have a hankering for duck a l’orange, that’s the place you’ll find it. The decor and service are also exceptional, making this a good place for a special occasion.

Also in Kaleici but less ostentatious (and with less variety) is Otantik, where you can get a western-style filet steak, a carpaccio appetizer and a nice glass of wine. Decor is charming and service is friendly. There are a few Turkish offerings on the menu, such as sac kavurma (beef stew), but most of the menu is pasta, salad and steak.

Just outside Kaleici on Ataturk Caddesi (not to be confused with Ataturk Bulvari) is Leman, an informal place with an extensive menu of westernish offerings. I say westernish because they’re not actually anything you’d eat in the west, but are rather Turkish interpretations of western food. Dishes have odd names, but there are many of them to choose from. Meat, chicken, pasta, pizza, sandwiches – it’s all there, and it’s all edible, if not memorable. They also have good coffee.

In Ataturk Park, with beautiful views, The Big Man Restaurant has very good continental food at a price higher than most restaurants but not as extreme as Seraser. They also have the best coffee and cheesecake around. They do western right.

PIZZA

There are many pizza places in Antalya, but they’re like most pizza chains outside of New York. In other words, they taste like frozen pizza. There is one "Italian" restaurant in Konyaalti (behind the Sea Life Hotel) that makes fresh tasting pizza. It’s called My House, and I have their Gorgonzola Mushroom Pizza once a week. Keep in mind though, they do not use pork products. Anything with sausage and ham has the same cold cuts you get with your Turkish breakfast. And despite have a surfeit of eggplant, zucchini and peppers in every market here, their vegetarian pizza is covered with corn and other inappropriate toppings.

Various pastas are available, but again, they are not what you’d expect. It’s hard to make carbonara without pork. Also, like everywhere here, they overcook the pasta.

But to be fair, My House also offers filet steak comparable to that at Otantik and at the same price. They also have drinkable wine by the glass.

DESSERTS AND PASTRIES

Wafer-thin pastry soaked in syrup and layered with ground pistachio nuts is the famous Turkish sweetmeat not to miss. Deep fried dough balls in syrup (lokma) and Turkish style rice pudding (sütlaç) are all samples of desserts available in most any Turkish restaurant. Many Turks however stick to a platter of sliced fresh fruits and berries after their meal. Fruit in Turkey really does taste better!

DRINKS

Raki is the national alcoholic drink. Everyone drinks it. It has a strong taste of aniseed and when mixed with water takes on a milky hue. Turkish beers and lagers are excellent as are the wines on offer which come mainly from the vineyards around Ankara and Tekirda? by the sea of Marmara.

The big soft drinks companies (Pepsi Co. and Coca-Cola) all produce in Turkey. Fruit juice is widely available. Also try Ayran which is made up of plain yoghurt whisked in with spring water and a pinch of salt. It is surprisingly refreshing on a hot summer’s day.

More typical foods..

Döner Kebap	:	pressed lamb or chicken grilled on a revolving spit.
Köfte	:	Grilled meatballs (unless they’re mercimek kofte, lentil balls)
Dolma	:	Stuffed vegetables.
Sarma	:	Dish made of rice and meat, wrapped in grape leaves
Çerkez Tavuklu	:	Ground chicken with bread crumbs, walnuts and red pepper sauce.
Imam bayildi	:	Dish prepared with eggplant and olive oil.
Manti	:	Turkish ravioli filled with ground meat and served with a yogurt sauce
Içli Köfte	:	Made of ground meat and pounded wheat. The meat is inside the breading.
Börek	:	Flaky pastry with thin layers of cheese or other filling
Çig Köfte	:	Spicy raw meatballs.
Helva	:	a sweet prepared in many varieties with sesame oil, various cereals, sugar syrup or honey.
Asure	:	Sweet dish made of sugar, cereals and raisins.
Baklava	:	Flaky pastry stuffed with nuts in syrup
Lokum	:	a soft, chewy and sweetish confection, also known as Turkish Delight
Ayran	:	a drink of water and yogurt and salt
Raki	:	The anisette-flavored alcoholic drink

2 thoughts on “Eating Out”

July 4, 2011
Vicky says:

Last night we discovered probably the best restaurant I have ever visited in Turkey (and is up there with my all time favourites anywhere!). If you live in or are visiting Antalya you really must pay it a visit: SERASER RESTAURANT is in Kiranlik Sokak, Kaleici and I cannot recommend it highly enough. Beautiful courtyard restaurant with inside seating area furnished with antiques. Food and service were impeccable. I had carappaccio of beef….stunning, followed by grouper with rosemary potatoes & samphire. Delicious! Give yourselves a treat. It’s not cheap but it’s worth every penny!
July 4, 2011
Billy says:

Hello Vicky.
Thanks very much for taking the time to leave some feedback on my site. I really appreciate that.
I am even more pleased that you had such a fantastic meal. You have certainly given it very high praise indeed! I hope to try it out sometime and will come back here and leave a further comment if I do.
If anyone else has visited the restaurant please leave your opinion here too.
Thanks
Billy

2 thoughts on “Eating Out”

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