Where to eat: Rize city center
When traveling one of the last things you want to do is pick a bad restaurant. You only have a limited number of opportunities to sample the local flavor, so answering the Where should we eat? question is a high priority. I’ve selected a few of my favorite restaurants that will satisfy your appetite when visiting Rize city center and given each restaurant an award based on what they do best. Click on the restaurant name for their website.
The Local Tradition Award: Evvel Zaman (“the old times”) serves up some of Rize’s finest traditional dishes: muhlama, sac kavurma, lahana sarması, and mısır ekmeği (click here for descriptions). The food is not the only thing traditional about Evvel Zaman. Just walking into the restaurant is taking a step back into Rize’s history. The building is an old traditional house, with each room providing a small, intimate dining environment. Antiques ranging from Ottoman dress to old tools to typewriters make up the decor, and food is served in locally-made copper bowls. For a select taste of the Black Sea kitchen and a low-key, nostalgic atmosphere, you can’t do better than Evvel Zaman, conveniently located near the main square next to the Şeyh Mosque and overlooking the main Atatürk statue.
The Best View Award: If you want to take in the best view in Rize while eating some of the city’s most delicious food, you’ll need to trek up to Dağhan Restaurant. Located on the peak of Şahin Tepesi (“hawk hill”), Dağhan offers a splendid view of the sea and the city on one side and the breathtaking beauty of the Kaçkar mountains on the other side. Offering a selection of local traditional foods as well as a variety of kebabs and a weekend breakfast buffet, Dağhan will not leave you disappointed.
The “Has Everything” Award. Huzur Restaurant is considered the “go-to” restaurant for locals because of both its quality and wide selection. Huzur offers almost everything: pide, “home foods”, soups, grilled kebabs, and döner. All of it is good, but I highly recommend the kavurma pide, taze fasülye (green bean dish), and kuru fasülye (white bean dish).
The “Hole in the Wall” Award. Sometimes you want a good meal in an out of the way place, somewhere only the locals know about. Fatma Abla’nın Ev Yemekleri (“Sister Fatma’s Home Food”) is just the place. Located just down the street from the university, Fatma serves up homemade local delicacies daily. Fatima’s place is a favorite lunch spot for nearby university professors.
The Faster Food Award. If you want something really tasty and fairly fast, I suggest grabbing a tavuk durum (chicken wrap) from Meydan Döner. Or if you’re feeling spicy, try a bomba tost, their special grilled cheese with special sauce, peppers, french fries, hot dog slices, and—seemingly—whatever else is lying around.
The “I Want Meat” Award. If meat is what you’re after, Rize has several good offerings. Ziyafet Mangal (located across from Huzur) is the best full kebab restaurant in Rize. I recommend their Adana kebab. Sefam Iskender and Kebab Steakhouse grills up quality meats and has the best Iskender Kebab is Rize. As a bonus, one of the owners is fluent in English having lived in the United States for a while. Lastly, the kavurma (roasted beef tips) over rice at Liman Restaurant is tasty enough to rival a Southern grandmother’s Sunday pot roast.
The Seaside Award. On a sunny day it’s hard to beat eating next to the sea. Yayla Evi brings mountain highlands culture to the coast with its architecture, decor, and menu. Their gözleme is our family’s favorite (think quesadilla, but flaky flatbread instead of a tortilla, stuffed with choice of cheese, ground beef, potatoes, and/or spinach).
The Breakfast Award. Turkish breakfast is deservedly famous. Your hotel will likely provide a good-enough breakfast. But let’s say its a weekend morning and you want to see what all the breakfast fuss in Turkey is about. Sea Garden (located by the water) and Carpe Diem (located above the Kale grocery store in town, but with a great sea view) offer two of the best breakfast buffets, with over 100 items on their spreads. It’s best to go about 10:00 am and let it count for both breakfast and lunch.
The Local Nightlife Award. You’ve checked into your hotel, you need dinner, and you want to check out one of the local hang-out spots, the place where friends meet up after work. Neva Park, located on the bottom floor of the Kültür Merkezi (Cultural Center) is just the ticket. With a spacious dining area, wide selection of coffees and teas, patio seating, a variety of foods served (including non-Turkish dishes), and live music Neva Park is a favorite of young professionals.
There you go. The best twelve restaurants in Rize Merkez. Afiyet olsun!