Turkey: Delve deeper into Izmir’s surprising and growing fine-dining scene

Your support helps us tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, the Independent is on the ground when the story develops. Whether it is investigating the finances of Elon Musk’s pro-Trump PAC or our latest documentary ‘The A Word’, which shines a light on American women who fight for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to analyze the facts from the messages.

At such a critical moment in American history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to send to journalists to speak on both sides of the story.

The independent is trusted by Americans across the political spectrum. Unlike many other quality news stores, we choose not to block Americans from our reporting and analysis with pay walls. We believe that quality journalism should be available to anyone paid by those who can afford it.

Your support makes the difference.

WOmen Peel -Tamatly under early morning sunshine in a large walled courtyard that looks like the Mad Hatter’s Tea Party. Beds, baths, lamps and mirrors are sprinkled around a grease eating tables, conservatory, stacks of vintage cutlery and vegetables.

The temperature is in the early 1930s, the focus at the restaurant asthma Yaprağı is on the tomatoes – it comes at the end of the season, so they are peeled, chopped and put in endless pots of sauce.

This more organic view of Turkey is far from what the country is largely known for: the Kebab. While changing, it is difficult to remove the impression of a satisfying juicy donor to an evening. That’s why I was intrigued to visit Izmir, and more specifically Urla, a region less than an hour’s drive west of the city of Izmir and one who quietly gets a name for itself as the country’s rising gastronomic star. Since 2023, when the Michelin guide decided to expand its coverage further than Istanbul, seven restaurants in this community have mentioned, while three stars have received.

Tomatoes ready to become in asthma yapragi, a proud owner of a green Michelin star, in bottle sauce (Aisling O’Leary)

Ayşe Nur Mıhcı, co-founder of Asthma Yaprağı (half an hour’s drive from Urla in Alacati) and holder of a green Michelin star for the restaurant’s sustainable practices, proudly serves a variety of dishes for a traditional Turkish breakfast.

Boards of homemade spicy tomato sauce, seasoned cows’ cheese with mulberry jam, kayak with honey, all to visit bite (Fried sweet dough). It is accompanied by the choice of either eggs or potato omeletes, rinsed with hourglass cups Turkish black tea. In addition to her son, Kerem, who runs the business aspect of the enterprise, has been in the area in the farm-to-table philosophy for the past 15 years for the past 15 years. Items are obtained from their farm as well as local producers to ‘give our recipes a more seasonal character’, she says.

Read more:The winter sun escapes perfectly for family well -being this winter

Working with local producers is crucial to these chefs. During lunch at Teruar in Urla, Chef Osman Serdaroğlu had a regional map drawn to accompany the menu in which he acquired his ingredients: olive oil from the nearby Uzbas farm, Blue Tail of Özbek and Aubergine of ̇çgeler. The holder of a Michelin star, Teruar, offers only one eatery option: its tasting menu (about £ 100 per person). Again, tomatoes are a major event and form the backbone where the other 12 dishes turn. Highlights include an okra caponata with a crunch similar to Halva and the Tempura bluefintuna with Samphire on a fresh green pepper sauce. Wine, like everything on the table, comes from a small vineyard just 10 minutes away, with the indigenous grape, Calkarasi.

Tempura Bluefin Tuna on a green pepper sauce for lunch at the Michelin star Teruar (Aisling O’Leary)

Whether it is written on the map or used in conversations to talk about the region, the one thing that is striking about the chefs and producers is their tendency to refer to their country as Anatolia, and acknowledge that the country’s history extends far beyond contemporary Turkey. The past is very present in the wineries of the region, no more than one of the largest, Urla şarapçılık. What initially began when an arboretum developed into something greater, as the owners discovered the ruins of ancient vineyards, in addition to more surprises underground.

“We dug with a machine when we hit something,” recalls co-founder Can Ortabas about a wine tasting with some of the winemakers of the area before lunch. “We stopped so we could dig by hand and found amphorae [ancient jars or jugs]. Initially, we thought we would beat gold. But we’ve hit better than gold because gold can spend you, but wine you can’t spend. ‘

Archaeologists found that the amphorae contains traces of wine and dates back to the ionic period about 6,000 years ago, when Urla is known as Klazomenai, which motivates orthabas to do more research on the history of the peninsula. “Seventy-two million liters of wine were only produced per year on this small peninsula between çeşme, Alacati and Urla. Just last year, the entire Turkey produced 69 million liters of wine, less than this small peninsula. “

Ayşe Nur Mıhcı, co-founder of asthma Yaprağı, combat the farm-to-table way of eating (Aisling O’Leary)

Read more: The overload where you can find Maldive-like winter sun closer to home

Ortabaş is aware of the importance of viniculture of his journey to Tuscany, Napa and Bordeaux, and created the Urla wine route with other winemakers in the area. Ten years later, it had 273,000 visitors last year, according to Urla Vineyard Route Management, with almost half of the visit to Urla winery, making it one of the most visited in Europe. Ortabas drive around in a car and stop to point out the clay limestone soil, which is perfect for winemaking with the dry and sunny climate. From the top of the hill I can make up the Greek island of Samos in the distance, the winds of the nearby Aegean Sea that are important to the vineyard’s award -winning fat red.

“Wine is just a small picture in the big picture,” says Ortabas. ‘Making wine affects so many things. For example, there is an incredible food culture in South Anatolia, but there is no wine. If there is no wine, it can never be international; Wine is the best friend of gastronomy. That’s why we all try to welcome the chefs, and now they arrive. ”

OD Urla has a zero waste policy and sources many of its ingredients from its agricultural land (Aisling O’Leary)

One such chef is Osman Sezener, who probably had the biggest role in putting Urla on the culinary map with his restaurant OD URLA, which has since won a Michelin star and a Michelin Green star. Tables are filled around an olive collar where fairy lights shed a soft glow. After training at French Culinary School in New York and worked abroad in various kitchens, Sezener returned home in 2018 to open OD Urla, where he was a zero waste policy.

“It is our philosophy that it is the farm to table service, from farmers to consumer,” says Sezener. Indeed, every single plate uses one or more of the ingredients of OD Urla’s 345 hectares of agricultural land, otherwise it is local ingredients of a nearby producer. From the tasting menu (from £ 87 per person; there is also an à la carte option), the excel is three-three: soft cheese in fig leaf oil, savory fig cream ice cream on a crumb base, and another cloud of soft cheese under an established fig. For those who want to go from farm-to-table-to-bed, there is a guest house with eight rooms.

Read more: Turkey’s best -kept secret lies in the northeastern playground of perfect snow

Isabey is one of Turkey's largest wine exporters — Isabey is one of Turkey’s largest wine exporters (Isabey Vineyard)

The next day I leave Urla in the direction of Izmir to Isabey Vineyard. Aircraft fly from nearby airport overall while the third generation owner, En is Güner, tells me how his grandfather helped increase the growth of Muscat grape in the region. Isabey is one of Turkey’s largest exporters and produces more than 17 million bottles annually.

To fully appreciate the wine, visitors can accompany it with food from the vineyard restaurant, which is mentioned in the Michelin guide – but Güner has his sights on a star. I am sold alone by the smoked calamari. It is cooked on a wooden fire, and sits on a bed of sourdough crumbs that are butter -like in a pool of local olive oil, garlic and parsley, honed by the sharp sauvignon blanc of the vineyards a few meters away. If the chefs keep coming, it’s only time before more visitors do.