These three small towns are very near to one another. They are all about an hour away from İzmir on the Turkish west coast. There are three places I need to mention in this area, one from each small town.
HORASAN
Horasan is a seafood restaurant in Çeşme run by a couple. The husband cooks, and his better half serves. Their place is big enough for about fifty people at a time. They are full everyday lunch and dinner in the high season of summer months. They only use the catch of the day as they were fish mongers before. They cook all the seafood as it should be cooked, and they only use local seafood and not from other parts of Turkey. They have ceviche dishes and rich seafood pasta dishes too. Come January, they close the shop for a month and travel to Europe to eat, observe and learn from other seafood places around Europe. They add new dishes each year from what they learn, to their already sophisticated menu. You may see Basque, Catalan, or Provencal inspirations in their dishes. They have a good Turkish wine and rakı menu. I wish I would live there and eat there more often.
YENGEÇ
Yengeç is a seafood restaurant by the sea in Urla, run by a father and his daughter. They both serve and also have a say in all the innovative cold and warm seafood “meze” dishes prepared by the able kitchen brigade. They have a selection of fresh fish and other seafood procured daily from the Urla fishermen to be grilled or cooked otherwise. It is a small place open all day; you may have better chances of getting a table during the off-afternoon hours during the summer months.
İNCİRLİ EV
For me, İncirli Ev is a perfect breakfast restaurant in Alaçatı, with eight beautiful rooms. Run by a couple, Sabahat and Osman, and managed by Murat, it is an oasis in the hectic historical town of Alaçatı. You need to order their “menemen” as your main course for your breakfast; you also need to taste as many as possible of the more than one hundred kinds of jams Osman prepares all the year around, using local fruits, herbs and vegetables only and just a little sugar. They go well with their local butter and also the local yogurt. Local cheese kinds and fresh fruit, including figs in august from the fig tree in the central courtyard, are served too. Stay here for two days with great breakfast feasts and two dinners at Horasan and Yengeç. I’m sure you’ll want to stay two more days to repeat the joy.