A few years ago, it was probably easier for the English national football team to win the FIFA Football World Cup than for ordinary tourists to find a restaurant in Antalya that served western food which are up to international standards. I have always wondered why, for a country with more than 31 million foreign tourists every year, it has been virtually impossible to find restaurants which conjure up some kind of decent international cuisines in major tourist cities such as Antalya or Istanbul. In fact Antalya is probably the only major holiday city in the world without any palatable French, Italian, Thai, Indian or Japanese restaurants, even if you are willing to spend a fortune for your dinner.
And it seems this lack of variety in terms of foreign cuisines is endemic to 99% of towns and cities in Turkey. Even in Ankara, the capital of Turkey and home to a large number of foreign diplomats, one struggles to find a good restaurant with authentic Asian or European food. But why is there such a dearth of foreign restaurants in Turkey? Does it have anything to do with the general Turkish populace's apathy or outright reluctance to try out anything which is non-Turkish?
Fortunately, in the last 2-3 years, there has been an increasing number of Turkish restaurateurs who are willing to jump into uncharted territories by investing huge sums of money to open up chic restaurants that serve international cuisines at prime locations in some of Turkey's top tourist destinations. One of them is the Vanilla Lounge in the old town of Antalya, situated in a beautifully restored old Ottoman mansion, right across the street from the main building of the elegant boutique hotel Alp Pasa.
The restaurant is actually separated into two parts: the coffee and bar lounge, which is located at the ground floor of one of the side buildings of Hotel Alp Pasa, and the dining room, located at another side of the same building. Both sections are not interconnected. But it is not a problem if you order something from the kitchen and choose to have your dinner in the lounge-bar section. The lounge bar is very tastefully decorated with nice comfortable sofas, a fireplace, nice chairs and plenty of space for customers to sit back and enjoy their food.
For those who prefer just a cup of coffee and some cakes, Vanilla Lounge has a good selection of western-style desserts and cakes available. They also serve Movenpick ice cream as well as coffees made with Lavazza beans.
Compared to the elegant interior decors of the lounge, the dining room section, which is attached to the kitchen, is a more modest affair. But one does not go to Vanilla Lounge's dining room to sit on its sofa. The primary purpose is to try out the international fusion cuisine this place offers.
Being one of the very few places in Antalya or even Turkey that offers alternative fusion foods, prices do not come cheap at Vanilla Lounge, as many of the main ingredients have to be imported from abroad. The chef is a young British guy married to a Turkish lady, and two of them have started this place in order to provide a change of taste for holidaymakers who are getting fed up with eating Turkish foods for two weeks in a row while on holidays in Antalya. After a while, the place has gained quite a bit of a following among expatriates of different nationalities living in Antalya, who yearn for something more thrilling and exciting for their tastebuds than the omni-present kebabs and meatballs.
Menus at Vanilla Lounge change on a frequent basis, depending on the seasonality and the ease/difficulty to obtain certain types of ingredients necessary for certain dishes. In addition the chef also tries his best to develop new signature dishes every now and then to satisfy some of his more discerning clients. One of my favourite dishes is the Malay style curry, which proves to be such a welcome relief after weeks of home-made Turkish food. Too bad that dish has been taken out of the current menu, hope it will find its way back to the scene anytime soon.
For those who like meat, Vanilla Lounge serves one of the best beef capaccios in Turkey, and their beef steaks are worth a try too. As their menus are constantly being updated, it is advisable to check up their website http://vanillaantalya.com/ and see what is on offer at the moment. Some people might find the choices of dishes available on the menu a bit limited, but one can always discuss it with the chef, and if the ingredients are available in Turkey, he is more than willing to try his best to conjure up some more special and unique.
Address: Barbaros District Hesapçı St. No:33 Kaleiçi
Antalya, Turkey
http://vanillaantalya.com/
http://vanillaantalya.com/
Tel: 0090 242 247 60 13
Copyrights@2012. All text and photos by YC Cheng. All Rights Reserved.
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