Calis Beach and Fethiye Turkey Discussion Forum
Calis Beach Forum => Calis Bar and Restaurant Questions and Discussions => Topic started by: Scunner on May 11, 2014, 18:34:40 PM
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I was thinking about some great places to eat that are now gone - bars too maybe - and I thought I'd share:
Sultans Restaurant - now Bella Mammas - did the "standard" Calis menu but everything was brilliant. Staff, meals, drinks, portions - a classic.
Otantik - became the first home of the Bus Stop. Lovely place, remember Tony Bennett being the head waiter.
Birlik (possibly) in Fethiye. PTT behind you, cross road and up side road facing you, last corner of first block on right side. Wonderful lokanta.
Birlik (definitely): On Koca Calis beach - brilliant place, especially in winter when you ate inside. If you were lucky someone would have raked the floor for you.
Susuz - on Dolphin Roundabout next to Meri Bar. Used to be low quality Indian restaurant I think ;) - too big to get an atmosphere but some of the food was out of this World, I used to lunch there almost daily.
Lighthouse - A revelation in it's heyday - modern dishes all cooked wonderfully and the bonus of Louise (oh ok and Phil).
Sardunya: All too brief a life - had some great meals and some equally great nights in there, with the charming Cihan in charge.
Kale Park: Ended up as a bit of a joke but at one time was the best service and food combo Fethiye had to offer - magnificent.
Harem Loved it, the food was always good, without being great but worth it just to spend your money with a great man - we loved chatting with Mehmet.
Bars:
Post Office: Ok no the "original" one but the one last on the right before the bridge. I doubt anyone who remembers it would omit it from their list of gone but not forgotten faves.
Bus Stop: The original bus stop, in it's early times was fab - we were there the day it opened.
Hopefully some memories stirred there - please add others :)
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Kale Park Really miss that place.
Caddie Cafe, a chilled out place with a lovely top floor restaurant with great views of Fethiye Marina. Pity the earthquake took that place away
La Teras. My most favourite place ever to eat in Calis Beach. Loved to sit up there and people watch. The food was lovely and the staff absolutely perfect.
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Sardunya: ...and some equally great nights in there
.... a "just one more" kinda place for sure :)
Post Office: I doubt anyone who remembers it would omit it from their list of gone but not forgotten faves
We certainly wouldn't - a great place. :)
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Ah, nostalgia just isn't what it used to be ! ;) 8)
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Ah got a bit nostalgic there for a minute. Got to agree with most of those Keith but have to add Orient 25 years ago with a young non English speaking Mehmet followed by a very good English speaking Falcon! Ee them were t'days! The Sultans was very upmarket wasn't it. Loved the lighthouse too the food and presentation was so innovative not to mention the fab espresso! But the harem with cafer and latterly Mehmet , ahh it's just not the same without him on the prom is it?
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No it isn't - Mehmet going was a huge loss to the prom, such a good and charming man. I remember the night I met him, giving him a credit card to pay the bill - well that didn't go down well :D Mehmet just told me to relax, pay tomorrow. A man he had only just met, ate and drank (with his wife and kids) and he'll trust me to return tomorrow to pay for it?
As for Falcon he was the best - certainly the best front of house. We used to sit at the Harem or later the Bus Stop and watch the families and groups stroll down the prom, all the 'hunters' would approach and engage, but we used to say wait till they reach the Orient, Falcon will take them in. And he nearly always did.
People in recent times may find it difficult to believe that the Orient was once the place to be (I know I've written this before) but it really was. In Calis it was number 1 by miles. I guess the Turkish way of copying your competition did for them - in the end everyone had a similar offer to the Orient and their edge eroded. But also the prices went up and up and the meal sizes reduced, sometimes alarmingly. Interestingly, after Falcon left.
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Liman on Koca Calis beach.Ramazan served good food and was a really good host,shame it only had a short life!
Tekins also on Koca Calis beach,more of a bar really,possibly the best host ever,often at his cost.
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The Harem is the place I miss the most without a doubt. Mehmet is a true gent and the food was to die for. Falcon too is someone I miss seeing on a regular basis.
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Anatolian - restaurant on the prom run by Ersin Gul. All the bills said it was The Change Office because the change of name wasn't registered. Ersin said the original name didn't work since people came in to change money but not to eat and drink. I didn't really believe him.
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For me it has to be Il Fiore Ristorante in Paspatur, great Italian food, beautifully presented.
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Il Fiore for me, best Italian by a long way, also Orient with George and all the crew
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OMG colwyn, that's reminded me. Knew Ersin long before the change office which was a daft name! He was a waiter at the Mutlu, threw Moes Kenny in the pool! We celebrated our 10 th wedding anniversary in his place, 16 years ago! He's more recently popped up on Facebook. We could've been there at the same time, when it was there we used it as our base. As for il fiore got to agree it was very stylish, particularly the evening we were dinning and an Alsation ran in jumped in the fountain and did a lap of the pool! Hysterical
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The Albatross - run by Murat's brother Fuat - you were picked up at the Post Office & taken by pony & trap & returned in a pink Cadillac - our girls loved it & the food was good too! Also Murat's restaurant along at klub Karia - past the Letoon - he was first to serve meals done in clay pots with delicious sauces!
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And another memory! Albatross was very innovative in its day. Remember the transport in fact there's a photo on here somewhere. Friend and I in the trap , Shaun on the back and cowboy riding behind and the horse kept putting his head perilously close to Shaun's 'bits' , not laughed as much!
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The Albatross - run by Murat's brother Fuat - you were picked up at the Post Office & taken by pony & trap & returned in a pink Cadillac
Being picked up in Calis back then in a pink Cadillac - who's going to believe that!
(http://www.calisvilla.co.uk/image_5.jpg)
Taken from the Topic "Old Calis Photos" - always worth another browse: http://www.calis-beach.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=23306.0
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I still call it The Birlik in Koca Calis but it's something else now. Can't remember the name. Still go but it's not as good.
The Birlik was the first place we ever went for lunch and we were taken by our estate agent. I think it was a local haunt for a few of them at the time.
Dermus (spelling?) the owner was as dodgy as they come (in a nice way) and always looked after us. He even arranged deliveries for us in bad weather - a sort of Birlik takeaway :)
He was also good for impromptu lira exchange and always gave us the same rate as the guy on the front.
What happened to the Far British Corner? I met a few Calisites in there but it didn'r last long at all.
The Lighthouse was excellent for many reasons.
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Our first meal in Turkey was at Susuz. We were taken there by Cenk from Interturk.. He introduced us to Pide... We went there several times that week as there were very few places open at the beginning of april. It was a great sun trap and the food was brilliant... I remember Emrah who worked there and came from Eskisehir.. He kept us amused the whole week...
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talking about the Orient, don't forget George who took over the 'pulling-in' after Falcon moved on. A charming man who was there a number of years and then moved to England. He visited the Orient a couple of years ago and got a very good reception from lots of Brits...including us. Didn't see Falcon last year, he used to run the 'bookies' just off the main street. Maybe he's playing estate agent again.
Slightly off-topic, does anyone know what the man who collected the sunbed money for years is doing now? Still remember the greeting 'Welcome to Calis Beach' as his hand came out for the money; he probably thought he had a job for life!
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Remember George very well, he was working at the orient in 89 as the 'chicken boy' he used to thread the chicken on the rotisserie . Latterly we were neighbours as he lived by our complex. Lovely fella!
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Yep a gent of Calis, a tough act to follow indeed from the legendary Falcon, but in his own way he did that.
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We used to like going to the Vadi garden restaurant - it was a lovely setting with delicious food - they always gave you the puffy bread with goats cheese as a starter - yummy.