As eating out is one of the things that makes a holiday for me, we went self catering with a plan of occasionally using the basic cooking facilities to make breakfast (pasturma is a favourite of mine at home so it was great to buy the real stuff in Turkey) and spending the rest of our time (and money) eating out. It turns out the breakfast and bread are about the only decent things I ate while in Dalyan. Perhaps this was due to bad choices from the menu but in general most menus were the same. My fellow diners seemed more tolerant of the food but agreed that it was not the best they'd eaten. I found myself dreading the evening meal every day...
A selection of the delicacies I ate:
Full Turkish Breakfast
This I loved. I'm a big fan of breakfast anyway and this is definitely my kind of breakfast; I had variations of it in several different places (sometimes boiled egg, sometimes fried) but each time I enjoyed it massively. In particular, Ceyhan restaurant by the river where they fed the turtles each morning was a highlight.
Cheese Pies and Greek Salad
This was nice but nothing spectacular. The feta in the salad wasn't actually feta but rather a Turkish cheese known as 'White Cheese' as far as I could gather. Not bad but a slightly flabby texture.
Chicken Shawarma
This may have been one of my worst meals. I've had shawarma before and was very excited about trying it in Turkey. Unfortunately it was deeply disappointing. The chicken was over sweet with cinnamon and came with a sweet chilli style dipping sauce-hardly traditional. If you want to taste a decent shawarma then get yourself down to Edgeware Road and avoid this abomination. The rice was lovely though; I think it was cooked in butter.
Bread
The other highlight of the Dalyan delicacies. A lot of the restaurants had proper wood fired pizza ovens and therefore this delightful, puffy pitta was a great start to most meals.
Beef and Aubergine Stew
I can't remember the actual name of this but it was mediocre. The beef was quite tough and I think if it was made with some nice tender lamb it would have been much better. Many of the dishes were topped with the other popular Dalyan cheese, 'Yellow Cheese' which didn't really suit the dish. The sauce, though ok to taste, was slightly watery and greasy. Yum.
Ottoman Chicken Stew
Again, the name may not be accurate but this stew was again ok. It had quite a nice taste to it but just wasn't anything special. It was also disappointing as we were searching for Pide (Turkish pizza) in particular and the restaurant tout promised that they served it. He was very apologetic that we didn't get it but considering the amount of hassle you get to go in each restaurant, I really wasn't best pleased.
Side Dishes
Pide and Lamacun
These are both types of Turkish style pizza and were quite tasty.
Steak
I hate myself for doing this but I gave up on the Turkish food and had a steak. Cooked medium rare as requested and it was tasty but I must state that I would never normally have a steak on holiday (unless I was in Argentina or France).
Sea Bream
I was slightly wary of the fish as all of the restaurants had the same few options which made me wonder if it was frozen. This was cooked simply and tasted fresh so my wariness was uncalled for.
Chicken Schnitzel
Why I chose this I do not know. Not only is it not Turkish (and therefore I feel ashamed for picking it) but it was also pretty bland. I didn't enjoy it but one of the many stray cats couldn't get enough of the stuff.
Turkish Tea
Another of the positive things about Dalyan was the tea. Black tea but slightly more fragrant than the leaves you get here, this was a perfect way to end a meal.
Although Dalyan itself is a nice place to holiday, the food was so mediocre (and at times dire) that I wouldn't return. I think I'll try a different part of Turkey next time...
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