Izmir: Culinary Backstreets - Only in Izmir Food Tour

Discover the flavors of Izmir on a guided food tour. Enjoy a breakfast of boyoz, slow-cooked eggs, and local tulum cheese, and try sögüs, poached sheep’s head, and a semolina dessert.
Begin your day in an Ottoman-era tea garden with a breakfast of boyoz, a Sephardic savory pastry found only here, slow-cooked eggs, and local tulum cheese. Then, visit a 3rd-generation helva maker to learn about this traditional sweet.

Stop by a local soup master to taste some of their classic broths, then head to a workshop where lokma, a donut-like sweet traditionally served to lighten the mood at funerals, is made. Explore the crumbling architectural beauty of old Izmir, looking at sites that date back to Roman times, and then stop by a decades-old spice vendor, where you’ll sample flavors from Turkey and beyond.

Explore a residential neighborhood inhabited by migrant families from the East of Turkey before eating your way through a market filled with local culinary institutions, including a fine fish restaurant, a Bosnian-Turkish gastro-café, a pide bakery, and one of the best lokantas in the country.

Izmir takes its offal seriously, so give its famous sögüs, poached sheep’s head, a try before finishing the day with a local traditional semolina dessert called sambali and a cup of Turkish coffee made from beans freshly ground the old-fashioned way, in a stone mortar.

To guarantee availability book as soon as possible. Early booking is worth consideration especially if you planning the trip during high season like public holidays or weekends.

This excursion you can cancel with no cost up to 24 hours before the start of the trip. If you cancel it after 24 hours or not show up on the excursion you will still be charged the full price of the activity. Being late on pick-up or departure will be considered as not showing up.