3 Best Restaurants in Goreme, Cappadocia

3. Cafe Safak.

Muze Cadessi no 28 | (On the way to the Goreme open air museum), Goreme 50180, Turkey. +90 384 271 2597

It’s a family owned cafe, whereby you can sit there the whole day to just enjoy the afternoon breeze, and to avoid the strong sun at noon times. Most of the meals are homemade by the owner’s mom.

They said the most favorite menus are Latte,  The Lentils Soup and the Gözleme. so went to try it out :

Gözleme – savory traditional Turkish Pastry dish.

It’s something like Indian Prata that you can filled with various types.  we Ordered Cheese and Mushroom that time, and it was not bad at all. it’s rather dry compared to Prata.

Baklava – Turkish dessert, a Turkish sweet pastry with nuts and fillings. 

It feels like eating Bollen Bandung from Indonesia with Ice cream. The texture is Crispy outside, sofy and chewy inside. 

2. Cappadocian Cuisine

Uzundere Caddesi NO:5/B, Goreme 50180, Turkey. +90 536 964 62 25

Dont judge the book by it’s cover. The restaurant banner may not be as nice as the others, and maybe the place doesnt look fancy at all. But all I can say is, they have the most reasonable price and size for a great local taste! 

Appetizer

Lentils Soup

 Kofte Casserole – Meatballs (beef) in oval shape. 

Most meals come with free Salad, and the rice smells so nice, and very soft like Japanese rice. It looks like they are using same gravy as well for most of the meals. so, it’s like changing the meats only. 

Chicken Casserole

 Turkish Pasta

 And Highlight of the Day is : Pottery Chicken Kebab!

 The way they present the meal is very fascinating. The bowl above was already opened. So, before they open it, it looks like a giant egg. After that, they are turning the ‘big egg’ and stated knocking the spoon around the pot, until you can hear a ‘pop’ sound. and there you go, Pottery Kebab is ready to enjoy.

1. TopDeck Cave Restaurant

Hafiz Abdullah Efendi Sokak 15, Goreme 50180, Turkey. 90 384 271 2474

All i can say is, this is a must visit restaurant when you are coming to Goreme. A lovely place up in the hill and inside a cave. Yes, a cave! Cappadocia is famous for it’s cave hotel. If you want to feel how it feels like to eat in a cave restaurant, Topdeck is a right place to go.

A very traditional settings and lovely ambiance like we are dining in middle east countries. haha.  This place is rather small, so i suggest you to make a reservation first before coming. That time we came quite late for our dinner,and just nice they have a place to sit for 5 of us.

Chicken Kebab , Kofte (Meatballs) , and a free salad

All the meals here are pretty the same with other restaurants, but what makes the different is the spices that they are using. it’s feels very rich and different from the others. Same goes with the rice as well, it’s like they are putting some spices as well, not just a normal plain rice.

Lamb Shank

And Highlights Meals for the day is Lamb Borek – Lamb springroll filled with cheese. They said it’s one of the most authentic Turkish dish ever.

It feels like eating ‘Lumpia’, an Indonesian eggroll snack, but in a whole new level. Definitely, a must try!

 

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Koza Cave Hotel

History said, the city of Cappadocia formed millions years ago by volcanic eruptions.

That is why most buildings there are made from natural rocks, and surrounded by hills and valleys.

I was so excited when i know that we will stay in one of the cave hotel in Goreme, Cappadocia.

We were from Istanbul that time, so we need to take a 45-60 minutes flight from Ataturk Airport (Istanbul) to Nevsehir Airport (Goreme,Cappadocia) by Turkish Airlines.

Initially, we wanted to take public transport from Nevsehir airport to the Koza Cave hotel, but after we did our research, Goreme is not so public-transport friendly. the bus there only come every 30-45 minutes, and once you reached the bus station, you still need to drag your luggage up and down the hills to reach your cave hotel.

Finally we decided to take shuttle bus that managed by some transportation company *cant remember what company that we engaged*, it cost us about 15-20 EUR / trip if im not wrong.  Just like every shuttle bus in all around the world, they will stop in a few places (hotels) . Luckily our hotel is the first stop. hehe.. it was quite a journey from the airport to the hotel. it took us about 50 minutes to reach Koza Cave Hotel.

The great thing about the van is.. they have a WIFI in it. hahaha *first-world problem!* haha. i was quite amazed when i saw a very big user ID and password that they paste on the van’s dashboard. really like this kind of van! hahaha.

Once we arrived in Koza Cave Hotel, It was scorching hot outside. it’s like the sun is just shine right above you. i thought it will be better inside. so, we quickly went in to the Lobby, which looks like a normal living room and did our check in.

I was surprised that the lobby doesn’t have any air-con, but have the cooling feeling, even though i still feel very hot and humid inside. what made me even more surprised is the have no air-con inside the room as well. i asked one of the hotel owner (it’s run by one friendly family), why there’s no air-con over their place? they said, because it’s cold at night and the rocks will give you the cooling feeling.

and you know what, when i touched the room walls (made from rocks).. it really is cold.. and i was shivering at night because it is too cold.. haha.. luckily they already provide us with a thick blanket to sleep in. haha..

*itu fenomenal aneh bngt menurut gw.. siang.nya puanas bngt udara di luar.. dan pas masuk cave.nya tuh jadi adem2 gimana gt. haha.. udah kyk udara di gurun pasir deh pokok.nyaa.. *

and all that i can say is please do stay at cave hotel when you are staying in Cappadocia.. it’s a very rare and great experience that you will be having. hehe.. especially for us who stayed in Asia i may say.

below are some pretty photos from Koza Cave Hotel.

 

The view opposite the hotel

 

That’s our room on the left side.. and you can hang around outside.. *ngobrol2 cantik gt di sofa.nya.. hehehe*

*romantic ambience in the room*

 

*open concept bathroom. haha.. everyone must go out first if someone do their big business. muahhahaha. tapi kalo lagi mandi aja enak wangi.nyaa. hehe*

 

*a little ‘santai’ corner*

pretty isnt it? Major Love! ❤

 

 

ATV Ride in Cappadocia

My heart was aching when we know that we could not ride the Hot Air Ballon that time.

We only stayed in Cappadocia for 2 days 1 night, and only have that only morning to fly and see the beauty of Goreme, Cappadocia.  Everything has been booked for the balloon ride that morning. Samed from Koza Cave Hotel *a very pretty cave hotel* helped us to arrange a ride with Butterfly Balloon. 

we already woke up at 4am, got ready and waiting eagerly at the lobby by 4.20am. waiting for the driver to come and pick us up at 4.30am. not long after that, the driver come with a paper and talked with Samed’s father (the hotel owner) in some local language.

The hotel owner said that we could not go for the hot air balloon because of the bad weather. and the driver also added this statement

‘Go up Okay, Go down Problem’

haha.. very funny statement yaa..

oh yaa.. the people in Goreme are all very nice and helpful, eventho they speak little english..

me and amel was very sad to hear that.. there gone our wish to see beautiful sunrise in Cappadocia.. =(

But luckily few hours before the disappointment, we already went for the ATV ride.

Actually this ATV Ride was also an impromptu one.

we never plan to have any. only when we walked down to Goreme Open Air Museum, we saw people are riding and ATV and saw ATV rental around the corner.

we came to visit and asked how much does it cost, blablabla..

i cant remember exactly on how much we spend for the ATV, it was not that cheap too.. i think around 40 Eur if im not wrong for an hour ride.

we were lead by the local youngsters to see a sunset on a hill.

there’s an option whereby you can rent the ATV for a day and go around Goreme too.

riding an ATV was very fun experience.  it’s like driving a big motorbike with 4 wheels. haha..

The youngsters lead us to 3 places.

– The local church, a place where no one of wanted to go, because we must hike up. haha.. so we just stay there for a while and go again to the second sightseeing place.

– The Second place was a higher ground where we can see some valley from there.

 

*they gave us shower cap before putting on our helmet. haha.. so cute!*

– And the third last place was our final destination. The Sunset Place.

There’s a funny story.

Raimond found this place so pretty, and so did we.

so he go and ask 1 of the youngsters this question.

‘ What’s this place name?’

‘ My name is … ‘

‘ No.. this place, what’s the name?’

‘ Ohh.. Sunset Place’ *smiling*

hahahaha.. yahh kurang lebih gt deh ceritanya.. lupa2 inget. hahaha..

 

Yes, it is a hill for us to see the sunset, but we dont know what’s the name of the place until today..  haha..

Pretty, isnt it?

oh.. the one thing that i dont like while driving ATV was the sand that keep going in to your eyess.. gahhh..

i already wore a spectacles that time, cannot imagine if im using my contact lense.

and you can share the ATV if you want to cut the cost. hehe.. anyway, after a while your hands will get very tired, especially your right thumb because you must keep pressing for the gas. haha..

but overall, it was such a great great experience, something that you must do if you are visiting Cappadocia.