What to eat in Cappadocia: testi kebab, mantı and pumpkin seeds

The Cappadocia table is the table of central Anatolia: testi kebab cooked in a clay jug and broken open at your table, mantı from nearby Kayseri, a Turkish breakfast with cheese, olives and honey, pumpkin seeds from Nevşehir and wines from the vineyards around Ürgüp. This guide goes through them dish by dish, says how to order and what to ask, and adds what the catalogue records about hotel restaurants: 29 of the 80 tick one and 66 tick breakfast included. It names no restaurants and gives no prices.

Testi kebab, the dish of the region

Testi kebab is meat, usually with tomatoes, peppers and onions, cooked slowly in a sealed clay jug called a testi. At the table the jug is cracked open and the contents tipped onto a plate, and some restaurants make a small show of it. The jug is the point of the dish: the red clay it is made from is the same clay that Avanos potters work, on the banks of the Kızılırmak, and the Avanos pottery workshop guide explains why a cooking jug and a souvenir jug of the same shape are different objects.

Two practical questions help. Ask the portion size, since a jug is often served for more than one person, and ask whether it has to be ordered ahead, because it cooks slowly. For learning to make it, the cooking class guide covers the format.

Mantı and the Kayseri side of the table

Mantı is a small dumpling, served with yoghurt and a sauce of melted butter and spices. It belongs most closely to Kayseri, the big city beside the region, whose version is made very small; the Kayseri guide also names pastırma, an air-dried spiced beef, sucuk and yağlama, a thin flatbread with minced meat. In Cappadocia you will find mantı on many menus, but ask which restaurants make it themselves, since hand-folded and bought-in dumplings are not the same.

Beyond the headline dishes, ordinary Turkish food fills the menus: lentil soup, grilled meat, stuffed vegetables, flatbreads and salads. Most of the vegetable dishes work for vegetarians; the testi kebab and the usual mantı filling do not, so say so when you ask.

Breakfast

Breakfast is the meal most visitors eat at their hotel. 66 of the 80 records tick breakfast included, and a Turkish breakfast typically means cheeses, olives, tomatoes and cucumbers, eggs, bread, honey and jam, with tea. What a hotel actually serves, and when, is in breakfast in Cappadocia hotels.

Pumpkin seeds, dried fruit and grape sweets

Pumpkin seeds are the snack you will see in village shops. Nevşehir province is widely associated with them: they are sold roasted and salted by weight, and you crack them open and eat the kernel. Ask the seller where a batch was grown.

Dried apricots and other dried fruit are sold in many shops; Turkey’s best-known apricot country is further east, around Malatya, so ask where a particular bag comes from before assuming it is local. Where there are vineyards, grapes are turned into other things too: grape molasses (pekmez) and walnuts dipped in thickened grape must (cevizli sucuk) are common village-shop items in Turkish wine areas, and worth asking for. Prices and packaging vary, and this guide gives none.

Wine and what to drink

Tea in a small glass comes with almost everything, and ayran, a salted yoghurt drink, is the usual partner for kebab. Wine is made in the region, and the white grapes Emir and Narince are the ones most tied to Ürgüp; Cappadocia wine history tells the story and wine tasting in Ürgüp explains a tasting. Three hotel records mention wine: 4 Oda Cave House (a winery on site), Ürgüp Evi (a winery next door) and Amber Cave Suites (local wine tasting). Keep alcohol away from the early mornings and the activities that need a clear head.

A day at the table

A simple pattern works in most towns. Start with the hotel breakfast, which 66 of the 80 records include. Eat a light lunch wherever your sightseeing leaves you, and carry water and a bag of pumpkin seeds on valley walks, where shops are few. Keep the afternoon for tea. Save the testi kebab or mantı for the evening, when a slow dish suits a slow table and, if you drink wine, nothing early follows. On a balloon morning, ask your hotel beforehand whether breakfast can be served early or packed; breakfast in Cappadocia hotels lists the hours that six records state.

Eating well, and what the hotels list

• Ask what is made in-house. Mantı, bread and the testi are the dishes where it shows.
• Ask about diets before you sit down. Say vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free or allergy needs up front.
• Check the menu before you order. Prices are not in this guide because they change; read them first.
• Eat where the locals do. Ask your hotel where it eats when it is not cooking for guests.

Town	Hotels	Restaurant ticked
Göreme	43	16
Uçhisar	19	7
Ürgüp	9	4
Mustafapaşa	4	2
Çavuşin	3	0
Ortahisar	2	0
Total	80	29

A few records say more. Eka Cave Maison in Ürgüp lists traditional village cooking experiences. Taşkonak Cave House lists a buffet breakfast of local and homemade dishes, Local Cave House a homemade breakfast and Arcus Cappadocia a daily Turkish breakfast with local ingredients. Leda Stone House in Uçhisar has a restaurant serving local and international dishes.

Where to stay

Four records that speak about food. Taşkonak Cave House, pictured at the top, has 10 rooms and a buffet breakfast of local and homemade dishes from 8:30 to 10:30. Eka Cave Maison has five rooms in a restored stone house and village cooking experiences. Ürgüp Evi has 12 rooms, a restaurant, a bar, a local-style breakfast from 9:00 to 11:00 and a winery next door. Leda Stone House has eight rooms and a restaurant. After choosing, you can book through gocappadocia.com, the regional booking platform created through the combined efforts of 175 Cappadocia hoteliers, with a best-price guarantee; this guide takes no commission.