Alanya Restaurants

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This is a very special place. Ravza is one of the oldest restaurants in Alanya, since 1955 at one place (Tourism started just in the Sixties) and managed in the 4th generation in the family.

Especially from grilled food and the fantastic pides, lahmacuns and Mevlanas (flat wheat bread with several toppings, a little like pizza) I can´t never get enough of. I know the most traditional food restaurants in Alanya (I live here for 7 years) but Ravza is the best. The most of the meat comes from the own farm and butcher, not from wholesale. That´s the secret of the taste...

Other specialities (beside the pides):

1. Liver
the have it not always, but you should ask for the LIVER PAN - its great.

2. Fish
From October to May you also get a perfect grilled fish for a low price (complete Menu with rice and rich salads for ~ 10 Euro)

3. Ayran
You have to try this beverage. It is just joghurt with water and salt, but they use their own homemade joghurt from the family farm. There is no better at hot days. I´m addicted to dirnk this :-)

You absolutely can be sure that they never ever cheat you, because the family is very religious and to threaten guests respectfully and honest is their first principe. That´s also the cause why you will get no alcohol there.

You will find it when you walk from the big Atatürk memorial in city direction (on the way to the harbour) opposite the Turkish Commercial bank (Türk Ziraat Bankasi). If you ask someone there - everybody knows Ravza.

Favorite Dish: Liver pan
spicy, fresh liver with vegetables on a pan will be served on open fire.

Mevlana Pide
long wheat bread from stone oven filled with cheese, tomato and little pieces of grilled lamb

Mixed grill
if you can´t decide what you want, try this. A little from everything with much salad and rice.

Ayran
You absolutely have to try this yoghurt drink!

A nice place we found right by the Red Tower & the dockyards, and overlooking the harbor was a little cafe. Since it was very sunny and hot that day, and we had been walking around for awhile, when we saw this place it looked very inviting! We sat down under the much-appeciated covering in the shade and ordered a couple of beers. They had food available, but we were content with just sipping on our beers and taking in the lovely scenery of the harbor. If you are in the vicinity of the Red Tower, and are in need of a drink, snack, or would like to relax for a little while, stop by this place! Sure glad it was there! :)

Filika restaurant is located west of the Alanya peninsula on Cleopatra beach. And when I say on the beach, I mean right on the beach. When we dined here, it was such a perfect setting. It was at sunset, and as we entered we were suprised to see that there was only one other party eating here. So we got a table on the outside terrace right in front of the sand. It was really nice to be able to watch the sunset over the water, hearing the waves roll in front of us, and sip on a much-desired Efes beer and some Turkish wine. The menu here is quite extensive, and a wide variety of cuisines are available. Italian, Mexican, and of course Turkish dishes are all available. We stuck with Turkish, and both had kebap. As nightfall came on, we were also treated to an excellent view of the Alanya Fortress above us, which is illuminated with hundreds of lights at night. Our food turned out to be really good, and the waitstaff was excellent, very nice. The prices tended to be a little more pricey here than at other places in Alanya, but to us, it was worth it just for the incredible scenery!

Food from local shops is very different to that of the UK, there are no Supermarkets except one called Afra, which is like a very small Tesco selling basic items only. The only brands we found that we recognised in Turkey was Coke, Fanta (which tastes a lot different to that of the stuff bought in the UK), Snickers, Twix, Kit Kat, Mars, Nivea, Puiz Buin, BP Petrol, weird Haribo, Carte D'or, Magnum, Carlesburg, Malibu, Smurnoff, Archers. Everything else is Turkish brands and written in Turkish. Was hard to guess what some products were - we accidently bought tomato soup thinking it was pasta sauce as it was situated right next to the pasta in the shop!

Branded items are quite expensive in lira and work out more than you would pay in the UK, as they are imported. A malibu and coke in a bar for example can cost around 14 YTL, nearly £5! Thats a rip off, in Wetherspoons (UK) it costs £1.40! Beer is your best bet - the National Beer is Efes, costing 2 YTL (66p) a can in local shops, is usually around 3.50 YTL (£1.15) in restaurants and 8 YTL (£2.70) in nightclubs!

We mainly survived on loaves of bread with cream cheese, salami, cheese slices, lettuce and crisps for lunch. We didn't trust the meat - and there is hardly any pre packaged meat - no ham, corned beef, tins of tuna, baked beans etc! For breakfast we ate fruit from the shops (some is extremely mouldy so you have to pick out the best yourself) until we discovered cereal! They did have the equivilent of Corn Flakes, Coco Pops and Cheerios in Turkish, but due to the regular Powercuts experienced on the first few nights in Alanya, the milk had gone sour! We were gutted, but bought some more which tasted alright (not as good as Kelloggs or Nestle though!)

Favorite Dish: We drunk loads of different kinds of fruit juices - our particular favourite was 'Apple and Kiwi' or Nektar (orange, lemon, lime, peach, apple, pineapple mixed as one). It is so cheap to UK prices, each 1 litre carton costing 2.50 YTL (around 85p). It tastes fantastic mixed with Bazooka Vodka costing 18 YTL (£6) for a litre bottle! We bought loads of this as it was cheaper than keep buying cocktails from the bars (each one costs around 16 YTL - £5.30).

For dinner we ate pasta, chilli con carne (using burger meat!), homemade chips from potatoes (they don't have chips!). We bought supplies for the Supermarkets which are more like little corner shops we would have in the UK. They don't have tills to pay at - its just a drawer to put the money in and they add everything up on a calculator and show you the price. We were weary of this as they could be overcharging us deliberatly - so keep a tab on how much you are roughly spending.

We found one supermarket where the owner had a computerised system much like the UK and had the prices written in £, $, YTL and Euro. It was more professional and many of his products were kept in chiller cabinets to keep them fresh, unlike many of the stores. Also he didn't pester us and follow us all around the shop. We shopped there most of the time and he was very polite and courteous. I would recommend this shop - called the Semiz Supermarket. Top man!

God the food in Turkey is awful! Thats why i stuck with Big Ben's (english food!!!) just don't try the english breakky its seriously weird. To enjoy Turkish food you need and aquired taste wich i haven't aquired yet. but i did find a delightful little Turkish resturant at the end of the harbour, i could actually stomach some of the food there and it's really cheap!!! I just advise you to avoid resturants around Alanya centre as they are a tad pricey

Favorite Dish: Big Bens my favourite dish is anything that tastes english. And the cute little resturant at the end of the harbour its got to be chicken kebab with pitta bread,rice and salad thats really nice but if all else fails there is a macdonalds!

This restaurant looked very popular and although the hotel we was staying in was only round the corner we never actually ate there, everytime we walked past the waitor would thrust another card in our hands and offer us more discount for eating there, perhaps next year

Favorite Dish: If you decide to eat here they sometimes offer some good deals, we was offered free drink
free starter
free dessert
and 10% discount

The selection of restaurants listed from this point on are restaurants we saw in Alanya but not tried, i did however try to pick out the best ones and in my opinion looked the best for quality

This is simply the best restaurant in Alanya.
I was a bit surprise that it hasn't been mentioned before in virtual-tourist...but it's understandable.When I came to alanya I made sure that our local guide understood that I was serious about finding and tryng out the best turkish cuisine available. After some some prodding I got the name...KervanSaray. The guide , but also locals agreed that this was the premier resaturant in Alanya.

Even though it's on the main avenue of alanya it doesn't really cater towards tourists but is the place to eat for the locals or knowledgeble expats. What sets this restaurant apart from all other establishments...there are NO touts trying to coax people in. And it starts to get busy pretty late well after 8/9 pm. Turks eat out late. But than it gets bustling. The price is a bit higher than the local restaurants.but it's worth it. I tried other restaurants, but none could come even close.
This is a true kebab/grill specialist. I know what people say...how difficult is it to grill meat? That's what i thought too. All I can say is...eat here. And you will understand just how special it is.
Making the difference between good and great is the most difficult with the easiest food.
The meats here are not only prepared and grilled to perfection, but the ingredients are of the highest quality. I am used to steakhouses that take there meat seriously, but here they take the lamb just as seriously.

This truly is one of the best places I have ever eaten. And even if you are not a serious foodie..this is a place that you truly must try out. It's easy to find too...because EVERYONE in Alanya knows about Kervan Saray. Even though they will be suprised that a tourist knows about it.

Favorite Dish: I just love the Mixed grill. It has different kinds of meat with a little salad. Kebabs, Shaslicks etc.The portions are not that large...but when you take into account the delicious and fresh complimentary bread...more than enough. The meat is so flavourfull and tender...absolutely beautifull.

Also good is their speciality of the house Iskender Kebab. Is mince meat kebab on a bread with special sauce on it.