Meşhur Hisarönü Söğüşçüsü
Kemeraltı's kelle söğüş master since 1975
İzmir's centuries-old working bazaar, best explored on foot for esnaf lokantas and courtyard coffee.
Kemeraltı is the old covered market that has been İzmir's commercial spine for centuries, a maze of arcades, hans and narrow lanes that still functions as a working bazaar rather than a museum. You come here to eat: searing-fast esnaf lokantas, boyoz and gevrek for breakfast, şambali and Turkish coffee in the historic Kızlarağası Han, and counters of pickles, dried fruit and spice. It rewards wandering with no plan, ducking into a courtyard café when the lanes get hot. The energy is everyday and tradesmanlike, and the food is honest and cheap.
5 Mekane
Kemeraltı's kelle söğüş master since 1975
Bib Gourmand Bosnian börek inside a 17th-century Kemeraltı han
İzmir's defining tradesmen's esnaf lokanta since the 1930s
İzmir's söğüş benchmark since 1975, by Hisar Mosque
Aegean home cooking tucked inside a Kemeraltı han
4 Mekane
Hand-pounded dibek Turkish coffee, three generations deep
Kemeraltı's reference kumru, sourced ingredient by ingredient
Sand-brewed Turkish coffee inside the 1740s caravanserai
İzmir's classic patisserie and boyoz, since 1957