Tasty Restaurants
Don't know where to eat? Find the best place for a tasty meal from our selection of restaurants.
Why Turkish food is world class
When the best cuisines in the world are judged it comes as a surprise to most people that Turkish cuisine has been rated as one of the three great cuisines of the world, along with French and Chinese.
However, if you take a look back in time, the explanation for the extraordinary Turkish food is more understandable.
It was during the 500 years of Ottoman rule that Turkish culinary skills were developed.
Access to fresh ingredients was easy and infinite varieties of fish, poultry, fruit and vegetables and a countless number of spices were used.
At the same time many people from different cultures settled in the country and this brought further inspiration to the cooking.
Among other things found by archeologists was a board from ancient times and the various signs and symbols thereon have been deciphered to reveal a kind of cook book with a list of familiar ingredients and spices.
All this is ours to enjoy today! Turkish specialities are numerous and certainly worth a try.
Holiday food is cheapest in Turkey
Turkey is the cheapest place in Europe when you as a tourist buy groceries in a supermarket, writes the Danish newspaper Politiken.
Tourists who buy in supermarkets save more than 50 percent compared to back home.
The investigation has been carried out buy guides from the tour operator Spies who placed 22 known everyday necessities in the shopping cart in six different countries.
Lea and Niels have their own holiday home in Turkey and they confirm this fact. We enjoy cooking in our own kitchen and the raw materials are just perfect. Vegetables and fruit cost a fraction of what they costs back home. On the market we can get one kilo of cucumbers or tomatoes for a few eurocents, the couple explains.
Most of the times the couple cooks at home in their kitchen, but they also take pleasures in going out to eat, where the prices are equivalent low. They can among others recommend Sulu Yemek (Zulu Jemek) which is delicious readymade warm lunch dishes. You can have plenty to eat for just 7 Euros and then there is also included a beer to the meal and you are guaranteed a really great culinary experience
A health source Olive
One of the oldests tastes of the humankind which many cultures give sacred meanings. Olives and olive oil attracts attention with their history, healing power and production process.
The historians can not determine when olives appeared at first but it has been sacred in the Anatolian and Mediterranean cultures for over thousands of years and it has been popular to people with its healing oil.
Another exciting fact about olives are the thousand years old olive trees. Olive trees are one of the longest living trees in nature. The process of producing olive oil is being applied carefully to get the best taste from olives by making paste, pressing and maturing stages.
Olives and olive oil is being used mostly in Mediterranean countries. Researches show that heart diseases have mostly decreased in Mediterranean countries. Olive oil has a healing power in the upbringing of childrens growth and digestive system diseases. Also it is very useful for the skins health and has always been a favourite for womens cosmetic products.
A perfect food experience
It is evening and time to find a good place to enjoy dinner. Beforehand we had decided not to eat at one of the common tourist restaurants with all the fairy lights, the well-known dishes and the pushy where-are-you-from-my-friend waiters.The place we chose is below the level of the pavement with a cosy terrace which is covered with a vine. Decorated Calabash lamps are hanging from the green roof of vine leaves and all around are fig and orange trees.
Nothing suggests that this is actually one of the most written about restaurants in travel books about Alanya.
The first course consisted of different and truly wonderful meze dishes which are arranged on small plates and eaten with bread. Meze is the Turkish word for starters and it is said there are more than 101 different kinds.
For the main course this evening there is a choice of chicken or beef on a skewer. Every night the menu is different and although the menu is not extensive the culinary skills are great.
Making a reservation beforehand is recommended because food is prepared only for the number of reservations. However, in spite of our just dropping in we did not feel that anything was missing.
The owners name is Caglar and he is in charge of preparing all the delicious dishes which are served by his German wife, Beate. He knows how to amuse the guests with little stories about the area, Turkish culture and his big passion which is of course food and wine.
This passion is reflected in the cooking the food is really Turkish not the common variant which has been created for tourists. The fact that the wine list has been prepared with loving care and precision only makes the culinary experience better.
It had been the perfect food experience but before we left Eski Ev behind us we had relaxed a little - maybe due to the wine and we asked if we could get the recipes. This we could and we arranged that we would pick them up the next day we were going into the centre anyway to do last minute shopping before we headed back to Denmark.
At home we look forward to seeing if we have what it takes to recreate Caglars art and please our family and friends with a culinary experience beyond the ordinary.
Cooking class
Place: Eski Ev (Old House)
Time: Fridays at 1 pm (November-February)
Reservation: +90 242 511 60 54
Price: About 15 YTL
In the winter time the restaurant offers a course in cooking Turkish food where you meet, cook and afterwards eat the food that you have cooked. There is a new theme each week. You prepare the dishes together and learn how the different ingredients are mixed in the right way. When the food is ready you sit down and eat together while chatting about this and that.
It all lasts about two-three hours and you pay each time you come. A Belgian TV station once made a broadcast about the cooking class from the restaurant.