Our five-star trained captain oversees a magical kitchen, and will treat you to locally sourced and inspired meals made with wholesome ingredients and cooked with traditional methods.

You’ll feast on healthy Mediterranean-diet style foods to ensure you are fully sustained while we relax, exercise and explore beautiful new lands. All of our guests, from voracious carnivores to committed vegetarians report that the meals are an unexpected highlight of their trips. If you're having questions or concerns, please read through our FAQs or contact us directly!

The treasures that emerge from the gulet’s galley are a highlight of every Voyage. We always have requests to share the recipes. Here are a few, as told by our former cook. Afiyet Olsun (Bon Appetit)!

Dolma

(Stuffed Green Peppers—or zucchini, tomatoes, etc.)

In a bowl, mix: 1 mug of uncooked rice, chopped parsley, 2 finely chopped onions, black pepper, cumin, salt, mint, sunflower oil, small peeled and chopped tomato. Add 1 mug of water and a 3 sugar cubes, bring to the boil and then reduce the heat to low, cover and simmer the rice until the water evaporates. Remove from the heat. The rice will not be fully cooked but you don’t want it to be as it will continue to steam when you stuff the peppers, later. Mix with uncooked ground beef. Stuff in a hollowed pepper and cover with a tomato slice. Keep upright in a pan, filled with 3 glasses of water (or until peppers are covered). After water is boiling, simmer for 30 mins, until water is evaporated and rice is soft. Make 2 per person. Serve hot or cold, süzme yoghurt, and sprinkled with mint and chili powder.

Ispanak

(Spinach)

Smash a garlic clove with a little bit of salt and combine with the plain yogurt. Set aside. Wash and chop 34 ounces spinach. Chop 2 onions. Sautee onions with olive oil and 1 tablespoon tomato paste. Add spinach and salt and half a cup of rice. Cover on low fire until rice is soft and spinach water is evaporated. Serve with the yogurt sauce on top.

Fasulye

(Green Beans)

Remove the string from 1kg of fresh green beans from the garden and break into 3-4 pieces. Sautee 3 chopped onions in olive oil. Add 5 small chopped tomatoes and the beans. Add and salt. Sautee for an hour. Add a tablespoon of tomato paste. Add 5 glasses of water when bean water is evaporated. Add 4 sugar cubes. Simmer until water is evaporated. Serve hot, warm or cold with yogurt. Fantastic with rice and a salad.

Potates Salatasi

(Potato Salad)

Boil 4 big potatoes until tender. After they cool, cut them in cubes. Chop 5 pieces of parsley and an onion. Mix well without crushing the potates. Add olive oil and lemon juice. Add black pepper, red pepper and salt. Chill.

Purslane

(with Rice)

Wash 1 pound of purslane well and chop it into small pieces, discarding the large, thicker stems. Chop an onion and sauté it with the purslane for 10 mins. Add 3 chopped tomatoes, 1.5 cups of rice, thyme, 3 slices of lemon. Mix them then add tomato paste, 2 glasses of hot water, simmer for 15 minutes then it is ready. Heat olive oil in a wide pot. Stir in onion and garlic. Cook until soft. Add purslane. Stir for a few minutes until it’s wilted.

Manti

(Turkish Ravioli)

Buy manti from a Turkish store. Boil water, put ravioli inside with salt and mint. Cook 3-10 mins until the manti float. Meanwhile, melt better, add red pepper. Crush garlic and add to yogurt. Serve mani with garlic yogurt and melted butter with red pepper ladled on top.

Cacik

(Cucumber Yogurt)

Chop 2 cucumbers, 1 tablespoon of mint and 3 pieces of garlic together. Add 2 tablespoons of olive oil and 1 teaspoon of salt. Mix well. Add to half a kilo of yogurt and mix again. Chill before serving.

Mucver

(Zucchini Fritters)

Grate 5-6 small zucchinis, 3-4 small onions, tomato, carrot, ¼ cup mint, 1/3 cup parsley and 1/3 cup dill. Add red pepper, cumin and salt. Add an 3 eggs. Add 1 cup feta cheese. Add 4 cups of wheat flour. Add milk to get a good consistency. Heat a good amount of sunflower oil in frying pan. Form patties. Fry both sides. Drain excessive oil by placing fritters on paper towels. Serve with plain yogurt or garlicy yogurt sauce.

Brokoli

(Broccoli)

Boil water with salt. Add broccoli for 4 minutes. In a bowl, add smashed garlic, olive oil and lemon and salt and stir until white. Drain the broccoli and pour sauce on top.

Bulgur

Chop zucchini, eggplant, carrot, red pepper, green pepper in small pieces and fry in sunflower oil. Add tomato. Add butter. Add a cup of bulgur and 2 cups of water. Add salt. Stir and simmer.
Chop zucchini, eggplant, carrot, red pepper, green pepper in small pieces and fry in sunflower oil. Add tomato. Add butter. Add a cup of bulgur and 2 cups of water. Add salt. Stir and simmer until the water is evaporated.

Kofte

(Meatballs)

Make breadcrumbs by breaking up 2 slices of stale but not dried out whole wheat bread. Add 1 pound of lean uncooked ground beef and/or lamb and one egg.

In a bowl, mix 2 tablespoons chopped parsley, chopped onion, ½ teaspoon black pepper, 1 teaspoon ground cumin, ½ teaspoon salt, 1 teaspoon mint, 1 tablespoon sunflower oil, tomato paste, 2 cloves of garlic. Mix with meat, and form into into balls or finger shaped patties using dampened hands; fry in hot oil. Serve the meatballs hot or at room temperature. Lovely with yogurt. 

Musakka

Wash and peel 4 medium-sized eggplants on 4 sides. Slice them like rings. Keep them in salty cold water. Heat a glug of olive oil in a frying pan and fry the rings in batches. Remove them from the pan and leave them to cool on a paper towel so that excess oil will be absorbed by the towel.

Slice one onion, three green peppers, one carrot, two tomatoes. Put them all in a pan and add half glass of water, half kg mince meat, one tablespoon tomato sauce, some black pepper, and salt. Then fry it all. Place the eggplants on tray, put fried vegetables and meat over eggplants, add a cup of water, put in oven. Cook around half an hour. Serve with yogurt and bread.

Borek

(Turkish Pastry)

Heat oven to 250 degrees. Brush a pan with sunflower oil. Place a layer of phylo dough on the pan. Cover with feta cheese, parsley and spinach. Add another layer of dough. Repeat twice. Add a top layer of dough. Brush surface with oil, one beaten egg. Put in oven, reduce temperature to 200 degrees and bake for 30 minutes.

Helva

Combine 2 1⁄2 cups of flour and 250 grams of butter. Sautee until flour changes color to yellow. Add 2 cups of sugar. Stir until sugar dissolves. Add 1 1⁄2 cups of milk and 1 1⁄2 cups of water. Stir 3 times. Remove from the heat, cover, and stir from time to time. After 10 minutes, turn into a lightly buttered mold. Chill overnight. Unmold, sprinkle with cinnamon. Slice thinly and serve with whipped cream.

Saksuka

(Eggplant and Tomatoes)

Peel four sides of one kg of eggplant. Cube eggplant, put them in salty and cold water for 30 mins. Rinse the eggplant. Heat 5 glasses of oil in deep pan and fry eggplant until golden brown. Cook 5 sliced tomatoes and finely chopped peppers and some garlic in another pan, then add fried eggplants, cook them together around 5 minutes. Add 3 cube sugar, take off the heat and leave it to cool. Serve with bread and yogurt.

Swinging Sultan

Welcome Cocktail

Combine 2-parts vodka, 1 part pomegranate juice, ½ part Triple Sec and ½ part lime juice in a large shaker with ice. Shake vigorously for five to ten seconds. Pour into martini glasses. Spritz raki over surface of each drink, 1-2 spritzes per glass. Add orange twists and serve immediately.