Only in Izmir: Exploring the Seaside City’s Culinary Traditions

Name: Only in Izmir: Exploring the Seaside City’s Culinary Traditions
Brand: Viator
Price: 125 USD
Availability: InStock
Rating: 4.5 (17 reviews)

4.5(17)6 hoursEnglishBook 1 day aheadIzmir, Turkey

From

$125

Book on Viator

Izmir’s cuisine is unmistakably local, shaped by centuries of Mediterranean influences from Greek, Sephardic Jewish, Armenian, Levantine, Kurdish and Cretan communities.

We’ll begin in an Ottoman-era tea garden with boyoz, slow-cooked eggs and local tulum cheese, followed by a taste from a third-generation helva maker. From there, we’ll sample traditional soups, freshly made lokma and spices while exploring streets layered with Roman and Ottoman history.

Later, we’ll eat our way through a neighborhood market, stopping for seafood, Bosnian-Turkish specialties, pide and homestyle dishes at one of the city’s classic lokantas. We’ll also try Izmir’s famous söğüş, made with poached sheep’s head, before finishing with şambali, a traditional semolina dessert, and Turkish coffee prepared from freshly ground beans.

Included

Soda/Pop
Snacks
Lunch
Breakfast

Not included

Private transportation

What you'll do

The day will begin with a breakfast of boyoz, a Sephardic savory pastry found on
ly here, slow-cooked eggs and local tulum cheese followed by a slice of history from a 3rd generation helva maker. We’ll visit a workshop where lokma, a donut-like sweet traditionally served to lighten the mood at funerals, is made and explore the crumbling architectural beauty of old Izmir
2 hours
Izmir
Izmir, Turkiye
We’ll explore a residential neighborhood inhabited by migrant families from the East of Turkey before eating our way through another market filled with local culinary institutions including a fine fish restaurant, a Bosnian-Turkish gastro-café, a pide bakery and one of the best lokantas in the country.
2 hours
Hisaronu
Hisaronu, Turkiye
Izmir takes its offal seriously, so we’ll give its famous sögüs, poached sheep’s head, a try before finishing the day with a local traditional semolina dessert call sambali and a cup of Turkish coffee made from beans freshly ground the old-fashioned way, in a stone mortar.
2 hours