I don’t usually do a lot of food photography, but it was my half-birthday last week, and I couldn’t resist picking up a cake from The Cheesecake Lounge. It looked great, and it tasted okay, but honestly it didn’t hold a candle to the cheesecake at Vanilla Lounge, which is still the best in Antalya, by far.

We’re finally starting to get some great Istanbul chain restaurants down here. I never thought I’d be so happy to see a chain, but SushiCo is certainly a welcome sight.

Fresh sushi hand-rolled by real Japanese sushi chefs.

They serve all kinds of Japanese, Thai, and Chinese food, and so far everything I’ve tried is amazing. SushiCo is a bit pricey, but if you want decent Asian cuisine in Turkey, you pay what you have to.

I know I keep going on about this restaurant, but believe me, it’s worth it. What’s so strange is that usually when you go to these little tourist towns, all the restaurants are pretty much the same. They look the same, the menus are the same, the quality is the same, and so forth. So I had always assumed that was the case in Kaş, as well, as Lola is in an area where there are lots of other restaurants that look just like it. Thankfully my friend Mar pointed out this hidden gem, as the food is above and beyond.

The beautiful outdoor dining area:

If you’re ever in Kaş, you must must must have the tavuk sarma at Lola. Don’t even bother with any other restaurants. I’ve eaten Turkish food a million times at a million different places, and Lola’s is so above and beyond the others that it feels wrong even to try to compare.

For once I managed to get a photo of my meal before I destroyed it.

Summer breakfasts: heavy on the fruit. Cherries are beautiful this time of year.

Yesterday I ran across this photo of some kind of tomato dessert. The photo is by Levent Şen, one of Antalya’s most prominent photographers, and it’s a gorgeous capture of a dish I’ve never even heard of before. I have no idea if this kind of dessert is common or not around these parts— I’ve certainly never seen it on a menu. Many of the best Turkish dishes, though, are things that are normally only made at home.

Traditional wine made in the homes of the Süryani Christians in Mardin. It’s a very special and very flavourful wine, and we order it as often as possible. It’s fermented for only 40 days in ceramic casks, but tastes surprisingly mature.

We got a little decorative Turkish coffee set recently. I love it.

I keep meaning to mention how much I love Burcu’s blog over at Almost Turkish Recipes. As a foreigner in Turkey, sometimes my fusion versions of Turkish dishes get frowned upon by purists. But I like the idea that cooking is organic in nature, and when you have two or more different cultures that play important roles in your life, it’s nice to be able to mix things up. Burcu does do traditional Turkish dishes, as well, but my personal favourites are the ones where there’s a little bit of this and a little bit of that. I find her cooking style both interesting and enticing. Link

Hürriyet Daily News reports that Turkey has signed some sort of agreement with Chile, by which we will be seeing a lot more Chilean produce imported into Turkey. I was hoping this would mean we could finally get things like limes or maybe even blueberries, but no. So far they’re sending nuts, apples, kiwi, grapes, pears, cherries, peaches, and plums— all things we already have. I get that it’s a way for both countries to have fruit year-round, but honestly I like the fact that fruits are seasonal. I’d prefer to have a greater selection of fruits and vegetables instead. I’ve always found it ironic that although we live in Asia, there are no Asian markets here like there are everywhere else in the world. If you want things like pak choi or durian, the closest place you can get those is Europe.