Places in Bodrum

Melina Kırmacı's family-recipe Italian kitchen, set inside a mandarin and lemon orchard in inland Bitez.

Naru and Dereköy Lokantası team's all-day bistro-bar on Adliye Caddesi, DJ programme on weekends.

Mehmet and Tülin Çuhadar's seafood room at Milta Marina; Bodrum's reference fish house since the early 2000s

Hilal Tayfun's Le Cordon Bleu kitchen above the village, brasserie, artisan bakery, French patisserie under one roof

Bitez seafront kitchen next to the Yalı mosque, the bay's long-running all-day room.

Konacık's culture-and-gastronomy compound, library, kitchen, garden and a 400-capacity outdoor stage running jazz, theatre and author nights.

A candlelit garden dinner up in Müskebi, well off the marina strip

A family Slow Food winery and farm table over the vines in the Karaova valley

A small Adliye Sokak family kitchen, a meze tray and a chalkboard fish list, and a returning crowd that knows the names

Türkbükü pier institution since 1970, the bay's longest-running family-run fish house, candlelit dinner over the sea.

Köşebaşı's Bitez branch since 2022, year-round Adana-Tarsus kebap programme with a real garden.

One of Gümüşlük's oldest tables, 160 seats with a direct sightline to Tavşan Adası and the sunset

A third-generation Akyarlar fish house since 1978, on a wooded cape fifteen metres above the strait to Kos

Torba's classic family fish house, on the Kilise bay since 1987 and open through the off-season

An 18th-century-Ottoman meyhane on Cumhuriyet Caddesi with a terrace over the bay, Bib Gourmand 2026

A meyhane built into Sadun Boro's old Bodrum house, with kanun on the terrace and the castle in view

The peninsula's serious grill, dry-aged steak, kebabs and a wood-fire ocakbaşı that has held the Bib Gourmand three years running

A Roman chef's intimate trattoria in Kumbahçe, pasta alla genovese and a roof terrace over Bodrum bay