ggrace

We will be in Turkey for 8 days splitting the time between Istanbul and Cappadocia. There are several recommendations for restaurants in Istanbul. We will be staying in Goreme (no car). Can anyone suggest some inexpensive, but good restaurants in town?

Thanks.

yorkshire

Goreme Restaurant was my favorite--it's kinda hokey with the floor pillows and musician, but I would have eaten there every night had I known how good it was going to be.
I found Alaturca over priced and over rated. I think Dibek was where we had the clay pot cooked meal--not over the top good, but quite enjoyable.
Kelebek Hotel has great breakfast by the way.

waggis

Thank you for posting, yorkshire!
Did you eat any other meal than breakfast at the Kelebek Hotel?
How far is the Goreme Restaurant from the Kelebek?

Turk_Aussie

Orient restaurant has superb meals, definitely worth a try. They have a terrace with nice views but I prefer to sit outside in the garden. Its 200 yards from the town centre.

ms_go

Our favorite from a visit last year was Nazar Börek. From our trip report...

In just three days we managed to find a favorite hang-out for drinks and snacks or light meals. Nazar Börek is a tiny little place on the main street that has a few tables in the store front and a nice little “remote” seating area across the sidewalk. Specialties are the pastries: börek, gözleme and sosyete böregi—no, not health food, but they were good! Very friendly hosts, and we often found ourselves sharing stories with travelers from various countries. Nazar Borek also serves breakfast, but we were covered for that.

ggrace

We will be staying at the Kelebek Hotel, so it's nice to know their breakfasts are good. Any other suggestions? We'll be there for 4 days.

BTW, has anyone done any quad biking in the area? We have 2 teenage boys who would enjoy the activity.

yorkshire

I think we had snacks there too. All of the restaurants I mentioned are walking distance from the hotel--the town is really small.

Great choice--Kelebek was outstanding, and they are really helpful with advice. We booked a driver through the hotel who took us to an underground city and to the Ilhara Valley as well as a few other stops. I did not do any biking, but the hiking is amazing.

waggis

Thank you all - greatly appreciated.
Will be there 5/13, can hardly wait

Michael

I would recommend the Old Greek House in Mustafapasha.

http://www.oldgreekhouse.com/

Aduchamp1

Of course, I did not note the name of the restaurant in Goreme, but here is a description of the food from my trip report.

We eat in the town of Goreme, as we will find out it is the custom here to eat on a terrace overlooking the scenery. This night we are given a long warm Turkish bread called lavash which bears a resemblance to the Indian bread naan. You spread some butter and then sprinkle on the Turkish version of parmesan cheese. It is fabulous. I had the grilled meatballs and Andrea orders a casserole with pastrami. Pastrami is a regional food and a legacy of the Armenians who once lived in the area. While the fava beans in the casserole were excellent, pastrami in a casserole to this Jewish NY’er is simply awful. We are given bakalava as a free dessert and the woman who served us is delighted that Mrs. Adu is tying to speak Turkish and introduces us to the owner, who is also delighted. They meal once again, save for the few strips of pastrami, is fresh, well prepared, and satisfying.

We also at the Old Greek House and it was a very good meal, if not more money than others meals we had in Cappadoica.

yorkshire

Another dish to look for is manti.
I was also there in May and I hope the weather is great for you too! It was sunny but not hot, and only occasional sprinkles, and cool in the evening.

Michael

From my trip report; just click on my name to find it:

We ate well in Cappadocia. Interestingly enough, because the general quality of Turkish food is quite good, I would not say that the fancier restaurants were that much better than the average ones. The family restaurant in Avanos was as good as the restaurant in Ürgüp, but the surroundings were much plainer. But here are the places I recall:

The café central in Uçhisar had a fabulous eggplant salad. My wife wrote down the ingredients to try to recreate the dish. The café has a large outdoor area which is very pleasant.
The Old Greek House (http://www.oldgreekhouse.com/) (recommended in Fodor's) is one of the few restaurants with set menus ( a 25 TRY and a 32 TRY prix fixe) which were very good and eliminated the problem of choice. The guidebook mentions sitting on cushions, but I believe that this is mainly for tour groups. At any rate, they have standard tables in their covered courtyard. The meal was very good.
I am not sure that the Hotel Pacha offers meals to outsiders, but I recommend their meal--not as fancy as The Old Greek House's--for 20 TRY per person. It's good home cooking.
We had a nice meal in the center of Ürgüp--Sömine. (I suddenly realized that it was the Turkish spelling of cheminée).
Our one big disappointment Alaturca was what was called the best restaurant in Cappadocia. It wasn't, although the service was excellent. The most interesting dish was the butter we had with the bread--it was goat butter. We might have ordered wrong, but my impression is that it was simply a restaurant for those (Turks and small tour groups) looking for an upscale experience.

propertravel

Seten at Kelebek and Dibek in town is good choices too, for good steak Orient is still the best. Alaturca is getting there after a big fall last few years....
Happy travelling,
Murat