Since I’ve came to Marmaris my sleep schedule has completely changed, I find myself waking up at 11am ravenously hungry ready to take on breakfast. Then I eat till I’m stuffed and I’m ready for a nap again. Below I’ve listed a few of the more memorable places I’ve eaten in the past few weeks whilst exploring.
Balhisar
This very pretty looking restaurant is around a 20 minutes drive from Marmaris. We visited this place on my way to Selimiye which is half way. It has a perfect green lawn surrounding the outdoor seating area, a shop selling local products and it offers a gorgeous Turkish breakfast. The breakfast comes with a large variety of all the usual favourites; jams, olives, bread, tomato, cucumber, eggs and honey as well as a variety of cheeses including halloumi and white cheese. We also ordered menemen, börek and yoğurtama as extras so we basically had a feast. All of the food was absolutely delicious and we probably went a bit overboard but for around £5 per person you can’t really go wrong.
Çınar
20 minutes north of Marmaris centre this all you can eat breakfast costs only 45TL per person. Sitting on a huge property this restaurant is very popular with locals and also has bungalows at the bottom to rent, making it a busy place. You get eggs, olives, jams, honey, bread, cheeses, nuts, peanut butter, salad, aubergine in yoghurt, and watermelon. If you finish a dish you can request more but the portion sizes are already large so you may not find you need to, personally we only ordered more bread and tomato. As someone who isn’t a fan of hot drinks, I had some lovely freshly squeezed juice here whilst my friends had chai, there was a kettle of this sitting on a hot plate by the table so asking and waiting for refills was not an issue. I visited this restaurant during Bayram and it was packed, however the staff were all wearing masks, the tables were spaced apart with a good enough distance and sanitiser was available so I personally felt safe.
West Cafe
This cafe had the largest menu I’ve seen serving everything you could think of from quesadillas to pasta, pizza and even pancakes. The breakfast options are quite impressive too. We ordered avocado toast, crispy oven baked simit with cheese, eggs benedict but much more is available as well as the traditional Turkish breakfast. We all thoroughly enjoyed our food, with the only complaints coming when a pancake was ordered for dessert and it was much thicker and more bread like than expected. The location is perfect as the seating area sits on the crystal clear, ice cold river that runs through Akyaka and offers a wonderful view while you eat. This restaurant also has a small shop as you come in selling local products to Muğla such as jams, honey and oils. This shop also has other franchises in Marmaris, İçmeler and Armutalan.