A Vegetarian’s Guide to Bodrum, Turkey
Vegetarian Mezzes in Bitez @ Bodrum’un Mezecisi
Bodrum is delicious, health-trendy not! If you are into the vegan lifestyle or organic raw or gluten-free diet, Bodrum can’t deliver. We spent two months searching for places that can provide clean health-food but alas, we didn’t have many breakthroughs. Below are reviews of the only two mainly-vegetarian restaurants on the Bodrum peninsula.
Atatürk Bulvarı No: 35 / A Konacık Bodrum, Turkey (Behind Finansbank)
+90 252 319 0096 Hours: 11am-4pm
Open only for lunch, Kismet Lokantasi is the first Slow Food restaurant on the Aegean. Located on a side street in Konacik, a 
town right outside of the Bodrum harbor, Kismet Lokantasi offers an array of Turkish/Aegean vegetarian dishes.
The restaurant is set up with a collective feel of a canteen– patrons must gesture to the manager what dishes they want from the glass counter. After the manager has written down the order, one must find a place to sit among the communal tables. There is both indoor and outdoor seating. Miraculously, the food arrives at one’s table within minutes — even though the manager doesn’t give out numbers or take a name!
tomato and eggplant mussaka, shepard salad, chickpea mash, hummus, yoghurt with mint, quinoa bell pepper salad
The scrumptious healthy home-cooked meal is served on small white plates in order for everyone in your party to share and get in on all the flavors. The manager, the waiters and the cashier are all very helpful and rich in smiles. Prices are extremely fair thanks to the fact that this lokontasi (casual restaurant) is only known by locals; in fact, each time we dined here, we were the only foreigners.
Tip: Either get here before noon or after 2:30pm as it gets very busy! Be aware that some of the dishes may already be sold out if you get here in the late afternoon.
Dont Forget! Kismet Lokantasi only serves lunch!
Tired of eating at restaurants? Head to Bitez to pick up great vegetarian take-out. Like Kismet Lokantasi, Bodrum’un Mezecisi is also part of the slow food movement but rather than serving Aegean dishes, this mezze-deli specializes in Ottoman cuisine. They offer 30 cold mezze dishes daily and one hot dish after 2pm (at the moment, it’s spinach fritters). Dishes are priced by weight so you can get exactly as much as you want.
Yes, you can dine-in at this mezze-deli but they prefer if you take out.
On the plate: Hummus, green beans in olive oil, spicy yoghurt, chinese cabbage, walnut mash
Excellent reviews!
Michael Arlen Davis
How do you know if it is an excellent review unless you have eaten there?
This is really well written. I think Happy Cow would be a great place to send these reviews