The food around Ephesus is Aegean Turkish cooking at its most generous: olive oil, wild greens, fresh fish, sheep cheese, figs and a long habit of eating slowly with friends. You do not need a restaurant list to eat well here. You need to know what to order, where each town shines and how a Turkish meal unfolds.
The Aegean table
The signature of this coast is zeytinyağlı, vegetables cooked in olive oil and served at room temperature. Look for artichokes in spring, stuffed vine leaves, green beans, broad beans and aubergine, and for wild greens, called otlar, boiled or sautéed with lemon. A meze spread usually includes haydari, a thick yoghurt dip with garlic and herbs, white cheese, roasted peppers and a salad of tomato and cucumber. Order a few cold dishes to share and then one hot dish, rather than one plate each.
Selçuk: simple and honest
Selçuk is the best town for everyday Turkish food at fair prices. Grilled köfte, kebabs, pide, soups and gözleme, the thin flatbread folded around cheese, spinach or potato, are all easy to find and cooked in front of you. Gözleme is the perfect lunch near the ruins, and you will often see it made by hand at roadside stalls and outside the Cave of the Seven Sleepers. The town also has a weekly market, which is the best place to see local produce, olives, cheese, herbs and dried fruit. If you want to learn the dishes, the Cooking Class in Selçuk takes you through haydari, stuffed vine leaves and a syrup dessert, and ends with everyone eating together.
Şirince: fruit wine and terrace dinners
Şirince is known for its fruit wines, made from peach, pomegranate, blackberry, apple and other local fruit, as well as grape. Shops let you taste before you buy, so try a few, expect them to be sweeter than a European table wine and look for family-run producers rather than the busiest stalls. The village is also lovely for dinner, with terraces looking over the stone roofs and a quieter pace after the tour buses leave. Many places serve traditional dishes cooked slowly, and a table with a view is worth the slightly higher price. Spend the evening there and stay overnight if you can, in a stone house such as Terrace Houses Şirince or Nişanyan Hotel.
Kuşadası: fish, harbour and bars
On the coast, fish is the draw. Sea bass, sea bream and red mullet are usually grilled whole and priced by weight or portion, so ask before you order. Waterfront restaurants are pleasant but pricier than the back streets, where locals eat well for less. A small restaurant in the old quarter often serves a better meal than a big one on the front. Kuşadası also has a lively evening scene, and the Kuşadası Boat Trip includes a lunch cooked on board, a relaxed way to eat fish by the sea.
Drinks
Turkish tea comes in small tulip glasses and is offered everywhere, often free in shops. Turkish coffee is strong, served with grounds and a glass of water, and ayran, a salted yoghurt drink, is the classic partner for grilled meat. The national spirit is rakı, an aniseed drink usually mixed with water and eaten alongside meze and fish. Turkish wines from the Aegean are also worth trying. During Ramadan, many places still serve visitors, but some local restaurants run shorter hours or are quieter in the daytime, so be flexible and discreet.
How a meal works
Start with meze, move to a main course, finish with fruit or a syrupy dessert and tea. Bread arrives without being asked and is often charged, so check the bill. Service is sometimes added, and if not, a tip of around ten percent in cash is customary when you are happy. Ask for the fish scale and the price before ordering by weight. Cards are accepted in most restaurants, but keep some Turkish lira for markets and snack stalls.
Dietary needs
Vegetarians eat very well here, since the cold vegetable dishes, lentil soup, cheese gözleme and aubergine dishes are plentiful. Tell staff clearly about allergies, because nuts and dairy appear in many dishes. Tap water is generally not drunk by visitors, so buy bottled water.
Putting it together
Eat breakfast at your hotel, gözleme or a simple lunch near the ruins, a Turkish bath or a rest in the afternoon, and a long dinner in Şirince or Kuşadası. That rhythm suits the heat and the history.
