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- Mar 15, 2020
- ⛅ 64 °F
- Altitude: 253 ft
- TurkeyİzmirUrla38°19’18” N 26°45’42” E
Urla: It’s All About Food
March 15, 2020 in Turkey ⋅ ⛅ 64 °F
Took advantage of a 75F day — with mostly sunny skies — to head out to Urla, a seaside suburb of İzmir. Even when a breeze came up, it was comfortable enough to wander around with just a lightweight sweater ... felt good on this early spring day ... especially since we’re expecting the temperature to drop quite a bit starting tomorrow.
First we went to the shore, parked the car, and took a stroll on the waterfront promenade. While some of the shore-side cafes and such were quite crowded, where we walked was nearly deserted. Then we found a café — Dokuz ... which means “nine” and is a reference to the building’s street number — to enjoy some beverages.
It was too hot in the sun to sit outdoors ... and it was too crowded anyway. To practice social distancing, we took a table indoors. The raspberry parfait — flavored hot chocolate — that I ordered was exceptionally tasty ... even if they were out of marshmallows.
Around 1:30p, we piled back into the car and went to Urla proper. Our destination was a restaurant that Aylin and Murat had enjoyed previously on the recommendation of a friend. Apparently they had planned to take us there for my birthday ... but that’s almost a month hence and we’ll be long gone by then.
Ortaya — which translates as “into the middle,” is a lovely restaurant. While it is possible to order individual mains, the premise is to order a bunch of dishes to share ... sort of like tapas or mezes, but with a twist on Turkish cuisine. As it was an off hour for a meal — neither lunch or dinner — we were just one of two tables in the entire place ... perfect for social distancing.
We started off with a selection of dishes called “tepsi” ... which means tray in English. It consisted of six different mezes ... all very tasty 😋 Then we ordered three other dishes to share from the mains section of the menu ... all very tasty 😋 Finally we wrapped up with three delicious desserts to share ... 😋 A long, chatty meal that was a delight to share with family.
A wonderful day amidst the COVID-19 chaos.
🌸🌼🌺🌸🌼🌺🌸🌼🌺
For those interested, I’ll note the various dishes here since there’s no way I can fit the information in the photo captions.
Tepsi (Clockwise from top left): Tsatsiki with pomegranate; smoked eggplant dip topped with fried onions; fine bulgur salad with beets; Çerkez tavuğu (a dip made with chicken) topped with sun dried tomatoes; humus with sweet pumpkin and smoked paprika; celery root with quince.
Mains: Spicy home-style potatoes in a cream sauce; rocket salad with poached quince and goat cheese ... with red wine vinaigrette; smoked beef slices.
Dessert: Quince with kaymak (cream); San Sebastian (a type of cheesecake); tart with baked tahini filling.Read more
Traveler So glad you described the dishes. Wonderful. Wishing for you a wonderful time while you are there.
Two to Travel 🙏🏻🙏🏻 doing our best to make the most of our time here.
Sonia Gelman Enjoy few more days before your flight to US. We are flying home (i hope) on 22nd.
Two to Travel 🙏🏻 and 🤞🏻for as smooth traveling as possible for us all considering the circumstances. Got BizClass award tickets ... at least fewer people in the cabin. The part of the trip I dread is Houston-Denver as that is where we’ll likely hit snags. Best to be prepared for the worst and be pleasantly surprised if it turns out to be no problem.