İzmir and Bodrum added to the MICHELIN Guide’s Turkish map

Highly rooted in Turkish Aegean and Mediterranean culinary traditions as well as local terroir, İzmir and its surrounding, including the charming district of Urla on the wine route, offer many food possibilities. From gastronomic and trendy restaurants, to modern coffee houses, to traditional and popular eateries, İzmir shines by the diversity of its culinary offer. Often run by local young chefs, who are particularly eager to valorize their heritage in a modern way, numerous restaurants propose Aegean flavours, freshly caught fishes and rich mezzes.

In Bodrum, one of the most famous Turkish high-end tourism destinations located in the city of Muğla, a great blend of Turkish restaurants praising authentic and sea flavours, with eateries offering international cuisine – of which Asian and Italian are the most popular – shape a particularly interesting food scene. Here, luxury resorts concentrate the finest dining experiences as well as the most creative ones.

Gwendal Poullennec, International Director of the MICHELIN Guide commented: “After a first stop in İstanbul last year, our inspectors are delighted to put İzmir and Bodrum on their roadmap. Indeed, these two places are not only great places for memorable cultural and touristic experiences, they also boast culinary scenes that deserve to be discovered. If İzmir and its surrounding offer exciting restaurants which praise local terroir and demonstrate high-level gastronomic skills of many young chefs, Bodrum shines by the diversity of its eateries, of which many traditional and accessible ones are located in the city-center when innovative concepts are to be found in luxury resorts. By adding these two new territories to the MICHELIN Guide family, we sincerely hope to worldly spread the message Türkiye is a not-to-be-missed gastronomic destination”.

Mehmet Nuri Ersoy, Minister of Culture and Tourism of the Republic of Türkiye, added: “We are happy that after İstanbul, İzmir and Bodrum also come to the fore as ‘gastrocities’. We will be able to showcase the richness of our culinary culture, which has the concept of sustainability at its core, to the world thanks to our talented chefs who blend the most qualified products of the region with their farm-to-table approach. Visitors who will arrive in İzmir and Bodrum to taste these delicacies will be surprised by the turquoise waters of the Turkaegean, the deep historical heritage, the quality of the facilities and the limitless possibilities ranging from cruise tourism to blue voyage (gulet). We are delighted about these two new additions, which show the growing potential of the Turkish culinary scene, and we strongly believe that many other cities will be added in the coming years”.

The MICHELIN Guide İstanbul, released for the first time in 2022, has been demonstrating the gastronomic potential and culinary diversity of the metropolitan of Türkiye, recommending 53 restaurants of which 5 MICHELIN Starred ones (1 Two MICHELIN Star, and 4 One MICHELIN Star), 1 MICHELIN Green Star and 10 Bib Gourmand ones. The MICHELIN Guide İstanbul has highlighted a variety of seasonal and specialty dishes, as well as shaded a special light on different types of restaurants – from gastronomic bistro to luxury restaurants to traditional ones.

As it is the case in all the destinations it covers, the MICHELIN Guide will highlight the culinary scene of İzmir and Bodrum and recommend the best restaurants they offer based on the historical and universal methodology of the MICHELIN Guide. Deployed by its team of anonymous and independent inspectors, all former professionals of the industry and nowadays full-time employees of the Michelin Group, this methodology only focuses on the quality of the food proposed, assessed following 5 criteria:
– the quality of the ingredients;
– the mastery of the cooking technics;
– the harmony of flavours;
– the personality of the chef through the cuisine;
– the consistency both over time and across the entire menu.

The full restaurant selection of the MICHELIN Guide İstanbul, İzmir, Bodrum 2024 will be unveiled on November 9th 2023 during the MICHELIN Guide Ceremony hold in İstanbul. The selection will be available on the MICHELIN Guide website as well as on the free mobile App for iOS and Android.

Hero image: Bodrum // GoTürkiye