İzmir travel guide

Kumru (Cesme sandwich)

Izmir's own fast food creation — a toasted sesame-studded bread roll filled with salami, sucuk (spiced beef sausage), kashar cheese, tomato, pickles and isot pepper; originally from nearby Çeşme; ubiquitous at stalls around Konak Square; the defining street food of the city; each stallholder claims their version superior to all others

Midye dolması (stuffed mussels)

A Bosphorus and Aegean classic that lines Izmir's piers and bazaar streets — large Black Sea mussels packed with aromatic spiced rice, currants, pine nuts and allspice, squeezed with lemon; sold from floating boats and street carts; the vendor opens each mussel to order and counts the shells so you pay per shell

Lokma (syrup-soaked doughnuts)

Izmir's most charitable food tradition — lokma fried doughnut balls soaked in syrup are made in enormous vats on the street and distributed free to passersby as part of religious charitable giving traditions (hayır); the etiquette is to accept graciously and eat immediately; particularly prevalent around mosques and during religious celebrations

Boyoz (Izmir's Sephardic pastry)

A gift of Izmir's large Sephardic Jewish community — descended from Jews expelled from Spain in 1492 who settled in Ottoman Izmir; a coiled, laminated pastry made with sesame oil and tahini; almost nothing like anything else in Turkish cuisine; eaten at breakfast with tea; the Tarihi Bucalı Boyozcusu near Kemeraltı is considered the definitive source