T he table in front of me is plate-to-plate with food . There are platters of lemon-drizzled clams on ice, pillowy oysters baked in parmesan, dishes of bottarga and tuna tartare, and spiny sea urchins, caught a matter of miles away from my table. To me, it looks like the meal of a lifetime.
Yet, as I quickly discovered in Bodrum , Turkey , this feast, served at sea-view restaurant Orfoz, is not that unusual for the city. Added to the Michelin guide in November 2023, the city and the wider Bodrum Peninsula are dusted with starred, Bib Gourmand, and Michelin-recommended restaurants. At Karul, I found a table among the jasmine, lemon and olive trees of the restaurant garden and tore into lavash bread, puffed up like a cushion by the tandoor oven, mini lahmacun (Turkish pizza), beyti kebabs and a smoky muhammara (pepper and walnut) dip, which is so good I defended the final spoonful as fiercely as the proverbial final Rolo.
While at Tuti, I took part in a wine tasting on the terrace, trying endemic kalecik karası and narince wines, as the masts of a dozen yachts swayed tipsily in the waters of Bodrum Harbour in the distance. Read more on Turkey travel : Michelin’s arrival in Bodrum marks the latest chapter in the city’s coming-of-age story. During the 1970s, the peninsula became popular with well-to-do writers and artists seeking refuge from the heat of Istanbul .
Yet by the 1990s, the city and close surrounds had developed more of a reputation for being a budget package-hol.