Where to Eat
Where to Eat in Dalyan
Dalyan eats out of its own water. The lagoon between the lake and the sea produces grey mullet, sea bass, prawns and — since it arrived and refused to leave — blue crab, which has gone from a pest to the thing people order. Anywhere you sit on the river will feed you well enough. Knowing what to order is what separates a nice dinner from the one you remember.
What Dalyan is actually good at
- Blue crab (mavi yengeç)
- An invader from the Atlantic that took over the lagoon and is now the local speciality. Usually served grilled or in a garlic and butter sauce. Messy, worth it, and the single most Dalyan thing on any menu.
- Grey mullet (kefal)
- The fish the town was built on — “dalyan” means fishing weir, and the weirs across the channel are still there. Grilled whole is the way.
- Mullet roe (havyar / bottarga)
- Pressed, salted, sealed in wax. Sliced thin as a meze. Expensive and completely unlike anything you will eat at home.
- Prawns from the lagoon
- Casseroled in a clay pot with tomato and cheese (güveç) is the standard, and the standard is good.
- Breakfast
- A Turkish village breakfast is fifteen small plates and unlimited tea, and it is the best-value meal in the town by a distance. Go hungry, allow two hours.
How to read a Dalyan menu
- Fish sold by weight is normal — but weigh it
- Ask for the price per kilo and ask them to weigh the fish in front of you. Every honest restaurant expects this and does it without blinking. The ones that hesitate tell you what you need to know.
- A photo menu in six languages is a warning, not a service
- Not always bad. But the places locals eat in have a short menu in Turkish and a waiter who tells you what came in this morning.
- “Fresh” and “farmed” are both fine — just ask which
- Farmed sea bass is honest, consistent and cheaper. Wild lagoon fish is a different price for a reason. A restaurant that will not tell you which is which is the problem.
- Meze first, then decide
- Order four or five cold meze and a bread, eat, then order the fish. You will spend less and eat better than ordering everything at once.
- The bread and the water are not free
- They are small charges and they are normal here. It is not a scam; it is the local convention.
Beyond the river
- Gözleme by the water at Yuvarlakçay
- Half an hour away, under plane trees, trout from the stream. Half the reason to take the jeep safari.
- Köyceğiz on market day
- Monday. Worth the trip for the produce alone.
- The beach café at İztuzu
- Better than a beach café has any right to be, and the only food on four kilometres of sand.