My Turkish top fives - starting with where to eat.

It would be remiss of me to come all the way to Asia-minor and not give a full briefing of the food situation by commenting just on my birthday meal. So, I'm going to outline my top fives of my time here in Antalya. The easiest to begin with is the restaurants or rather, places to eat. Antalya has a burgeoning tourist trade, with it's beautiful old Town Kaleici where Gipsy spread and I stayed, its coastal location and many many fantastic historical ruins, Ottoman, Roman and Lycean. The eateries are influenced by a large variety of cuisines and cater for all needs. I, in particular love mezze and tapas and was not disappointed in Turkey. So, I present, in no particular order my top five places to eat in Antalya.

1) Seraser
Ok, I did have to put this one first as its a fine dining venue, where I had my birthday meal and is generally regarded as Antalya's finest (for a fusion feast). The setting was lovely. With the choice of al fresco dining or the interior with its opulent decor, we chose the latter. The food was more Mediterranean than simply Turkish, but made the best of Turkish produce. It was all beautifully presented as can be seen below. As is to be expected when fine dining, we were bought out a minute falafel hors d'oeuvre each prior to the starters.

We knew the Antalyan province grows amazing tomotoes, but the sweetness and the tang of the tomato sauce for the tortellini  is unrivaled (I use the usual balsamic for mine and also chopped capers). The pasta was also delicate, airy and light. My main was technically a starter, but that was more than enough for me. I still don't know how the aubergine was inserted into my delightful soufflé; it was as if by magic as I could taste it.  Gipsy spread had a very large starter of carpaccio of beef, followed by sea bass wrapped in vine leaves, which he enjoyed thoroughly. Our shared dessert was a beautiful meringue and strawberry inspired ice cream, dressed with a strawberry coulis and shard of sugar. This was elegantly creamy, with the true comfort that comes like a big hug from good strawberrys. The service was also superb, with attentive, helpful and friendly staff. I always love to experience fine dining in foreign country's - so far I think the seven course degustation menu in Bali on new year's eve still leads as my favourite (I might yet do a retrospective of my favourite meals), but this was also excellent and made me feel special on my birthday.

 

 

 

 

http://www.seraserrestaurant.com/

2) Hasanaga
The simplest way to describe this place is rustic and traditional. The interior of the restaurant is rustic, with a very traditional Turkish menu and entertainment. This is simply the only place to go for Turkish food in Antalya. It's the best, with an extensive enough menu that you can eat here every night. The sign outside is not wrong (see below) - in case you can't read it, it states that 'when you come to us, you will come again and again'. This restaurant is an institution, which has been in the family for generations and is also where the locals eat. There is traditional live turkish music every night and it has a wonderfully canopied outside seating area.

 

There is a set selection of mezze appetizers on the menu, but I'd recommend the mixed starter; where additional dishes to those on the simgle starter menu are available and change daily. A self selection of these and a basket of bread and I'm done! I did try the mezze elsewhere, but what I liked about Hasanaga's in addition to the variety was the sense that the spices had not been compromised for the tourists (a real bug bear of mine of some Indian restaurants) - the flavours had real depth of spice, a good kick and hit of heat in some, but which was then balanced by the very menu yoghuty dishes.

They also have a fantastic vegetarian casserole. I couldn't identify the spices in this, so now have a plan to recreate this fragrant vegetable and cheese dish, with my Ottolenghi cook books and recently acquired sumac and pomegranite molasses on standby. Gipsy spread had one of the recomended kebabs, as he always gets to share in my food as well.

 

Before, we could even say 'dessert', (each of the three times we visited!) we were brought out a wonderful fruit plate. The beautifully ripe cherries, kumquats and watermelon were a very welcome end to the meal, just right in size and tone. We also spent some time guessing the other fruit and were eventually informed that these were baby plums.These are very tart and quite sour in flavour, but with the crispness and water content of a chinese pear. These were again very refreshing in the heat after all of the beautiful spices.

3) Vanilla
This restaurant and seperate lounge bar are owned by a British ex pat chef and his Turkish wife. The food again is more Mediterranean, but I'd recommend the high quality lunch menu of salads and pizzas al fresco, with a nice glass of rosé. The decor is modern, but relaxed and the owners are always on site with the family. I would have tried dinner here, but another bug bear of mine is chefs laziness when the only vegetarian option on offer is a risotto. Regrdless, the pizza's were very nice, again showcasing the best of the anatolian ingredients.

 

http://vanillaantalya.com/

4) Oszut and Firin
I don't know why I was surprised, but Turkey makes excellent ice cream. It can be found on lots of street corners and Cafe's, but the place I liked the most, we found on our walk from the old town to the beach. Not only was there a huge range of ice creams, but ice cream cakes and a range of desserts, including the more traditional. If you have a sweet tooth, I'd recommend a visit here. My favourite ice cream is pistachio and I don't consider it to be a good pistachio ice cream unless there are chopped nuts in there. The one here was amazing, I don't think I've had a better pistachio ice cream (including in Italy). They also did a range of gorgeous looking ice cream cakes, cakes and more traditional puddings. Sadly, my camera couldn't capture pictures through the display case, but there's a sample of a (yes, it's pistachio!) cake, below.

5) The bakery around the corner from our hotel (any good bakery really)
Big holiday breakfasts often mean that we don't need a big lunch, but just something to tie us over until dinner. The bakery around the corner from our hotel had a host of treats on offer to satisfy our hunger and curiosity for the unknown. Here we sampled many delicious savouries including spinach and (feta like) cheese pastries, Turkish pancakes (fillings included, spinach, cheese or spicy potato and some kind of sausage (although not pork) roll. We also had sight of the breads we were served at breakfast, my favorite of which was an olive brioche; although there were also cheesy brioche breads, sesame surrounded bagels and an array of other breads we ran out of time to sample. The sweets are also nutty, spicy (cinammon), gooey and delectable.

Ok, well that's enough for now from me. I'll be back with my top fives to eat and drink in Turkey soon. There is likely to a bit more of some of the above.