Eat Like Ushi

Before driving off to Dalaman airport, a perfectly timed lunch at Fethiye fish market turned out to take longer to drive through some traffic and find an appropriate parking space, after a police car moved us along from a bus zone. Luckily there's a carpark near the waterside and then the fish marketeers can show you their wares.

After ordering your seafood, they clean it and prepare it before taking to a restaurant of your choice (or their's since who knows which one to go to...) and they cook it for a minimal fee. In our case we went to Recep's Place which was across from the fishmonger. Additional salads cost extra but the meal is cheap.

Seaweed and bean salad and zucchini flowers were all lovely. The zucchini flowers didn't have much seasoning and so the flavour and cheese stood out. Surprisingly the prawns had no flavour despite being grilled. I don't really know why and I like eating the heads for maximal prawn-ness also. The squid on the other hand were lovely with slightly creamy insides. I don't mind it but others may think it's undercooked.

I'd go back but I'd find somewhere different for prawns. I suppose I was drawn to that place because it was one of the few that had prices on the seafood to know what I was paying.

The roaring fire in the restaurant actually endeared us toward the place. It was a cool October evening after the rains had passed in the recent couple of days. However sitting near the fire turned out to be a poor choice as the smoke intermittently got in the way. People also occasionally throw in the odd piece of paper which certainly doesn't help the smoke aspect at all.

Luckily the food is pretty good.

- Lentil soup 8TL - hearty soup with the lemon lifting it out of the realms of normality;
- Trout 18TL - nicely charred, not the most succulent but it's ok;
- Shrimps casserole 25TL - not as exciting as the remarkable version at Inci (http://eatlikeushi.posthaven.com/inci-restaurant-oludeniz-10-2017) but still a flavoursome dish;
- Kunufe - this lovely dessert of kataifi and stringy cheese soaked in syrup is a warm chewy and crispy way to end any good meal.

I actually wanted to go to Limon, but it didn't have a fireplace so I was overruled. The menus are generally similar so I'd give that one a try next time just to see what the difference is. Otherwise the meal at Cirali was certainly satisfactory.

For some reason the early-afternoon weekday in Cirali in October meant that this bakery had very little offerings left. I'm not sure if it's because all the range had been snapped up earlier in the day or if it was just quiet season for them.

The pastries were decent, the thicker crusts a little dry. Nonetheless close and convenient and great for the quiet beach across the road.

The TA #1 in Cirali is a pizzeria. It does seem a little odd given the predominance of Turkish pizza (aka pide) all over the place and the good quality of it too. Looking around the small eating street of Cirali, the other restaurants do seem to be very similar if not practically identical. Some have open fires, all serve traditional Turkish cuisine, and there really isn't much else.

Simge has a nice outdoor relaxed atmosphere with a definite win for the pictures along the back wall of the restaurant. The seating in the booths isn't the most comfortable with my giant legs being squeezed upwards but it'll do for the meal.

Stuffed vine leaves were a nice starter with a tangy cover. They weren't anything particularly special, just standard and fine.

The pizza has a thinnish crust and the toppings on the Smoked Aubergine (mozzarella, smoked aubergine, charred peppers, feta, parsley) YTL27 all played their role nicely. I can't say it's tastier than a good pide, but it's definitely a change.

There was something unsual about the pasta dish which I'm struggling to remember. Something along the lines that they use soy sauce for it and it tasted sweet. Either way it was fine to eat and in flavour, but just a little unexpected.

As the cool and rain continued, Enistenin was recommended by the staff at Hotel Sonne and was conveniently located a tiny walk across the road. The off season left it quiet but there were still a few groups of Turkish families enjoying their meals. The sight of kebabs in the glass and the grill behind it showed clearly what the specialty was. Additionally a pide oven in the courtyard belied another hidden talent.

We wouldn't have ordered pide if we'd known they'd give us a complimentary garlic, cheese and dill bread/pizza hot and fresh from their oven. It was lovely and soft with mild garlic flavour. When the cheese & egg pide arrived (20TL for 1 serve) it almost seemed to be excessive in the amount of bread but the quality continued and the milder flavour of egg made it possible to finish.

I asked the difference between the lamb kebabs favoured by sultan, the special with lamb, the eniste special and the ensite kebap. The answers I recall were essentially that the sultan was served on mash, the special served on tomatoes and onion and garlic, the eniste special on vegetables, and I suppose the kebap is plain.

I opted for the eniste special and the base was aubergines and onions. The meat on top was large butterflied sections of meat with herbs and vegetables within the mince. It was beautifully tender and savoury and made for an excellent sandwich on the even more bread (although this was cold) served.

The pouring rain meant that Kas wasn't going to be enjoyed for the weather or the scuba diving I had hoped. The food enthusiasm also dried up funnily enough and so the view of rotisserie chicken made for a simple lunch.

It was very nicely flavoured, pretty tender, and served with rice and salad. Cheap and easy.

Kumsal is located further away from the main throng of places in Oludeniz and perhaps that makes it fight a little harder for its quality. Granted, in a small town, further away is about 100m but still...

- Double pide (meat & cheese) 18TL - a long few layers of crisp delicious pide with lightly flavoured meat and cheese topping;
- Saksuka (aubergine, potatoes, tomato sauce) 10TL - burnt topped vegetables that reminded me of ratatouille (without the thyme) and with char cheese. It was savoury and delicious, particularly so when heaped upon a slice of pide which soaked up the juices...

An easy lunch at a wonderful price. The coffee is very bitter and they had run out of pomegranate juice (somehow?). Still worth a stop.

I didn't get a chance to have gelato at all during the trip. Turkey isn't really a place known for it (as far as I know) and on the night I wanted to go to Gelato Bianco in Oludeniz, I discovered they close at 7pm.

The young guy manning this station in Kas square didn't stand out from the other places offering the same thing, but I came across it this one and thought it was worth a try.

He mashed banana, strawberry and pineapple before pouring ladles of white liquid and nutella. Then proceeded to furiously chop and scrape for a good few minutes. The end product was pretty cylinders of brown icecream with little bits of fruit mixed in. It was topped with chocolate sauce and some wafers for texture.

It reminds me of Coldrock in Melbourne although with fruit rather than lollies. I still prefer pistachio gelato, but this will do fine.

The Turquoise Coast cooks meat better than seafood. It is probably a reflection on the Turkish way of cooking rather than the local ingredients themselves, but seafood tends to be more simple in its preparation here. Perhaps thats why my best memories of Turkish food are meat-based (and not only the 4am doner kebabs).

It was exciting to find a recommended fish restaurant (and also its sister mezze restaurant which I would liked to have had time to try too).

The setting at Bahce Balik is lovely and pleasant in the warm outdoors under lights, vegetation and English-cover music. There is a plethora of hungry street cats that do like to climb up the tablecloth or onto your lap to scavenge some bites. They are cute and harmless overall.

The cabinets of mezzes and fresh seafood catch allows you to choose what you like. The mezzes had a nice selection of many salads and small fish preparations that could be meals on their own. A pomegranate salad and local seaweed in garlic (15TL each) were chosen and served with some olives in excellent olive oil and oregano with fresh bread. A Turkish sweet white wine (16TL) was ordered also. A bottle of water was also opened upon arrival (5TL) which we didn't order - I think it they are going to automatically serve it, then it shouldn't be charged for. But it is 5TL only after all.

- Bahce Balik fish soup 15TL - an excellent soup, strong and fishy. The lemon drew out and contrasted the flavours well;
- Bahce Balik grilled octopus 50TL - I was surprised to find this was pre-cooked in the mezze cabinet. I'm unsure why - maybe for timesaving reasons. It was quite tender and charred. I do have to admit it was expensive for the dish and serving size;
- Grilled grouper 117TL (for 735g) - the staff recommended the best fish locally was the grouper and so it was an easy choice to make. It had been split in half and grilled separately to form two large portions. It was well charred, good seasoning and textured helped along by the lemon to balance out the char. Oddly it was served with one wedge of potato, peppery greens, and raw Spanish onion and a raw radish slice. A bit odd of an accompaniment.

It was the most expensive meal we had along the Turquoise Coast and I'd be keen to go back to try more mezze and the hot appetisers in particular.

It was difficult to choose between the largely identical seeming restaurants in Oludeniz all scattered along Carsi caddesi. They do seem to have identical menus serving Turkish mixed with UK-aimed spaghetti and chidren's fare. Sultan Ahmet had good TA ratings and the smell and view of the grill did work for me.

A very impressive large warm sesame bread arrived with some butter. It was a nice entry to the meal whilst waiting for the mains to arrive.

- Grilled trout 27TL - this was simply grilled with no seasoning. The lemon juice was needed to balance out the grill. The flesh was reasonable well cooked;
- Mixed grill 65TL - the piece-de-resistance arrived and it didn't disappoint. The kebab of mixed chicken and lamb was outstanding with flavours and tenderness beyond. Each of the lamb shish kebab, lamb chop and patty all had excellent flavour also. The chicken drumstick was reasonable but paled compared to the kebab chicken. Lastly the two lamb pieces at the front (perhaps the meat from lamb cutlets) was overcooked. Next time I'd ask for some sauce or mustard but even without it was great.

The service was disappointing in the end. It seemed that there were quite a few regular guests, both English and Turkish who garnered attention and discounts. It was therefore near impossible to get attention toward the end without wanting to specifically generate attention. They also had a sign advertising 10% off for the end of season, but they didn't apply it and I forgot to mention it at the end.

Both left a slightly more bitter taste, but the flavours of the grill have to outweigh that when I think about it.