Türkiye’s western province of İzmir and its surroundings are fast-rising as a gastronomy destination, with Urla’s cluster of Michelin-starred restaurants drawing the spotlight. Yet the city and its districts hold many more flavors waiting to be discovered, and the best way to find them is to follow the starred chefs to their favorite local haunts.
Gastronomy tourism is on everyone’s agenda these days. But what really turns a city or a region into a gastronomy destination? Is it the appeal of chef-driven restaurants decorated with stars from internationally acclaimed guides? Or is it the everyday places where locals eat: those humble tradesmen’s eateries (esnaf lokantası in Turkish) serving home-style dishes, and, a common feature in Türkiye, the single-dish eateries on every corner? In truth, all have their charm. Chef-driven restaurants make headlines and give travelers, especially foreign visitors, a sense of confidence. But what really draws the crowds is the easy accessibility of street food and the relaxed, unpretentious appeal of the places where locals go.
The reality is that a gastronomy traveler wants to experience both. Depending on the length of their stay, they set aside a few evenings for chef restaurants and spend the remaining days hunting down every other kind of flavor spot, from the humble soup house to the “esnaf lokantası” or kebab joints, and from the neighborhood bakeries to the ice cream shops. In short, they plan their time according to their appetite, their capacity to eat and drink, and, of course, their budget.
İzmir is a perfect case in point. In recent years, there has been a growing number of restaurants that have made a place for themselves in the Michelin Guide Türkiye selection, especially clusters in Urla, which is only an hour’s drive from İzmir. A total of five stars are now shared between four restaurants, turning all eyes to the small town. Yet there is so much more to discover in İzmir’s center and its districts.
A list as diverse as İzmir itself
The flavor discoveries organized by Türkiye’s Tourism Promotion and Development Agency (TGA), as part of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism’s Culture Route Festival, are an important step for the development of gastronomy tourism. For every city on the festival route, a list of “Lezzet Noktaları,” or flavor spots, is drawn up, and in big cities like İzmir, it reaches well beyond the center into the provincial districts. To draw attention to the places on the list, a small group of gastronomy experts, food writers, journalists, and researchers visits these spots, guided on each route by a local host. The aim is simple: to make these places more visible, better known, and to put local flavors in the spotlight.
The İzmir list features no fewer than 110 flavor spots across the city center and selected districts. Alongside a walk through Kemeraltı, the city’s historic bazaar quarter, routes through Çeşme, Alaçatı, Urla, Selçuk, Şirince, Özdere, Tire, and Ödemiş bring forward the flavors synonymous with İzmir. There is ”boyoz,” the flaky, oil-rich pastry of Sephardic origin, and “gevrek,” İzmir’s own name for the sesame-studded bread ring known as “simit” elsewhere in Türkiye. “Kumru” is a sandwich in a sesame-crusted bun named after the turtle dove, while “söğüş” is cold boiled head, cheek, and tongue tucked into bread with tomato, onion, and parsley. To round it off, there is “şambali,” the syrup-soaked semolina cake, and lokma, the ring-shaped fritters bathed in syrup.
The home cooking of the Aegean is focused on vegetables and foraged wild greens, always cooked with ample amounts of local olive oil. The neighborhood eateries excel at cooking them in the best way; there are always cold or hot dishes with seasonal greens and vegetables. Aside from those local lunch spots, Aegean region “pide” places are just as renowned. Aegean-style “pide” is a long flatbread topped with a variety of ingredients, ranging from cheese, minced meat, and cleaver-chopped meat to spinach, sometimes with an egg in the middle. Naturally, there are also countless places serving fish, seafood, and small-plate “meze” varieties, mostly with octopus, calamari, or foraged wild greens. Beyond those, the list spans a remarkable range, from the “kelle paça” shop, serving a hearty soup of lamb’s head and trotters, extending to posh patisseries (İzmir people are so fond of their tea-time treats) and occasional ice cream shops. And when it comes to Urla, the award-winning, starred chefs step in, with restaurants featured in the Michelin Guide enriching this diversity even further.
Four chefs, five stars, five plates
Any flavor route through İzmir inevitably leads to the fish restaurants that locals have frequented for generations. Yet when it comes to İzmir, Urla is bound to steal the show. The highlight of the program was the “Michelin-Starred Chefs Gathering” dinner held at Teruar Urla. It was a special five-course tasting menu prepared by four starred chefs, namely Atilla Heilbronn of Narımor Urla, Osman Sezener of OD Urla, Osman Serdaroğlu of Teruar Urla (all holding one star), and Ozan Kumbasar of Vino Locale (holding one star plus a Green Star), holding a total of five stars between them.
What struck me most was the quiet determination of simplicity on every plate. Each chef presented a dish built on a less-is-more philosophy, letting the flavor of the ingredient take center stage. Atilla Heilbronn’s single bite burst of vine leaves on the palate with all the flavors of a classic Turkish “dolma,” stuffed vine leaf. Ozan Kumbasar topped his take on ‘kaşık salata’ with watermelon dashi, the finely chopped “spoon salad” of tomato, pepper and onion, with raw leerfish, or akya, arranged like a pale pink rose. Osman Sezener’s plate, named simply “Onion,” was as plain as its name, yet remarkably intense. Each dish reflected the self-confidence of the chef who made it. Our host, Osman Serdaroğlu, served tortellini filled with celery and wild fennel, followed by a cloud-like milk foam he called “İnci,” or “Pearl,” blanketed with milk skin & clotted cream. It was like a dream to lift you up to the clouds.
Where the stars find their inspiration
A journey to the outer edges of gastronomy at the hands of such chefs is a unique experience. But for me, the best part of these culture routes is exploring the local spots the starred chefs choose themselves, in their company. That means digging a spoon into a bowl of ‘kelle paça’ together, sharing their favorite minced-meat pide, biting into a ‘boyoz’ or a “kumru,” asking for a slice of ‘şambali’ filled with kaymak, or strolling through the streets licking a cone of “sakızlı” mastic-scented ice cream.
The inspiration for those meticulously crafted starred plates comes from the streets, too. These chefs create their dishes from the flavor heritage they have absorbed since childhood in their hometowns. In doing so, they carry gastronomy a step further and, with their starred restaurants, they turn the region into an entirely new point of attraction. The stars may shine in Urla, but their light comes from the streets of İzmir.
