4 Best Restaurants in Ankara, Cappadocia and Central Turkey

Devrez serves reliably good Turkish fare in a no-frills environment. Kebabs are the star of the menu, alongside Turkish classics such as köfte and pide. Open 24 hours a day, Deveraz attracts patrons from every milieu. In the afternoon, it’s filled with families and those on their lunch break, and in the early hours of the morning, groups of the city’s Western crowd flock in for a classic Turkish way to end a night of drinking: with a bowl of soup.

This charming spot just off fashionable Tunalı Hilmi Caddesi specializes in nicely prepared Aegean-style mezes and seafood dishes, such as Cretan-style cubed cheese with herbs or octopus with thyme. The design—painted wooden chairs, blue-and-white walls with seashore motifs, and maps of the region painted on the ceiling—transports you straight to the Aegean Islands. In summer, it's good to sit out on the vine-covered patio.

Sitting just beneath Ankara Castle and with an incredible panorama of Ankara, this Turkish-style brasserie couples excellent food with first-rate service. The menu offers a blend of Turkish and contemporary cuisine, with local specialty Ankara tava, slowly cooked lamb over a bed of bed of seasoned rice. Starters include shrimp casserole with porcini mushrooms. An open kitchen gives way to an elegantly furnished dining room with floor-to-ceiling windows, and the views continue on the restaurant’s large outdoor patio, where guests sit before white tablecloths and underneath oversized umbrellas.

Ankara may be landlocked, but Trilye serves such impressive fish and seafood dishes that you wouldn’t know it. Opened in 2002 by Turkish food writer Süreyya Üzmez, the stylish restaurant has an extensive menu of creative mezes—such as prawn in avocado sauce, or marinated artichoke hearts with sesame seeds—and well-prepared main courses. The hot appetizer of grilled octopus, brought to the table still smoking inside a glass, is a sight to behold—and taste. The rather expensive menu comes with prices of most seafood dishes listed by the kilo, so make sure you know what you’re ordering.