Tire: Kaplan Dağ Restoran

Wow! How this first week with the family has flown by! Next week will be even busier since we have an event or get together of one kind or another booked every day of the week … except Monday … and that’s only because mom has an appointment with her doctor for ongoing knee issues.

Nothing exciting to write about, so I took a break from FindPenguins … until today.

Tire is a district in İzmir … not the city, but the province. It is about 65 miles away. The last time I visited Tire was in 2007 … Mui’s never been; nor has my niece-in-law, Serenay. So, today we all headed inland to have lunch at Kaplan Dağ Restoran (translates as Tiger Mountain Restaurant), which is located in the village of Kaplan … high atop a mountain. The narrow, curvy road to get up there can spell disaster to someone who is prone to motion sickness … but I survived.

Aylin and Murat had made reservations for our party of seven, so our table — overlooking the expansive valley views — was awaiting us when we arrived.

We lost little time ordering a selection of small plates known as meze (think tapas) to start off. Then we moved on to a local specialty, Tire köfte (meatballs grilled on thin skewers and served with a buttery tomato sauce … also known as delikli köfte due to the hole created in the middle by the skewer). We wrapped up with three different desserts which we shared amongst the seven of us. The food, as usual, did not disappoint.

A highlight of coming to Kaplan for a meal is that most people then go off to do a short hike. … probably because everyone over-indulges and a stroll to burn off some calories does not go amiss. The last time I was here was in the fall and the chestnut trees were heavy with fruit … not this time. Instead, there were some colorful flowers to enjoy along the way.

We had a delightful family outing … which, as seems to be the case most of the time, revolved around delicious food 😊Read more