One Night In Kabak - The Turkish Food Bit

So let us continue from where we left off yesterday. Yesterday, we told you about our experience of staying overnight at the Olive Garden in Kabak. It was photos of scenery, swimming pool and bungalow - but we decided to save the food bit for this post. It certainly deserves its own post.

When you stay overnight at the Olive Garden, the price is for a set evening meal, your bungalow and then your breakfast the morning after. As it was a set menu, we weren't expecting too much - but, as always where food is concerned, we were looking forward to it and were curious to see what we would get. We've done a post before about the fabulous Olive Garden food we've eaten from the usual menu - so from that, we were at least hoping for something slightly tempting.

Tonight's menu at the Olive Garden

And, as the sun became lower in the sky and the cliffs of Kabak took on a whole new early evening glow, the menu board was placed by the bar. Ohhhh, interesting: four courses. We took a seat and ordered a drink while we were waiting. I went for a glass of wine instead of the usual beer...well, it was Barry's birthday. Let's be civilised.

Soup starter at the Olive Garden

And then the food procession began. First up was a large bowl of potato soup served with a basket of crusty bread. We're familiar with portion sizes at the Olive Garden so resisted eating too much of the bread...but you've got have at least one slice with soup, haven't you? The soup was lightly spiced and the added dill wasn't overpowering - just enough. 

Meze plate at the Olive Garden

Next up was the meze plate. We were glad we held back on the crusty bread with the soup! With a main course and a dessert yet to come, we once again resisted the urge to tear the bread and dip it into the Antep Ezmeii, the hummus and the haydari. 

What else did we have on there? Sigara böreği and then three big slices of a most intriguing börek; the type of börek I had to start pulling to pieces with my fork to work out was going on. We want to make this - it's a winner. Shredded, sautéed vegetables; definitely some Indian spices in there. Was it rolled in egg and coated in breadcrumbs before being deep-fried? We're not sure but we'll definitely experiment. 

And to top all that off, we also get a biber dolması (stuffed pepper). If you've ever eaten stuffed peppers before, you'll know that a whole pepper stuffed with rice is very filling...and we've already had soup and devoured the börek. Everything is so tasty and we keep eating...and the main meal is yet to come.

Birthday lamb

Okay, yes we know this doesn't look anything like chicken, rice and salad. It's a heavenly leg of lamb that's been slow cooked over wood (it tasted just like lamb tandır) and was served to us with roasted potatoes; potatoes that had been roasted in the lamb juices. This was Barry's very generous birthday treat and, once again, as with the night at Kabak, I got to benefit from it, too. 

We did crane our necks to see what everyone else's grilled chicken looked like and that too looked great - not sure those eating it would have been too pleased if I went over to their table to take a photo of their meal, however. You'll just have to look at all of these food photos and trust us on that one. And, slapped wrists for being a bad blogger. We were so full after all this that I couldn't even look at my carrot cake - so that means no photo of that, either.

After enjoying a gentle couple of drinks, we retire to our bungalow...and when we open our eyes in the morning, it's breakfast time. Food time again. A glass of fruit juice is brought to our table and we can help ourselves to tea and coffee. Then the waiter arrives with a tray and places honeydew melon on the table. Then a breakfast plate each of honey, jam, fried helim (halloumi) cheese, white cheese, sigara böreği, black and green olives, butter and tomato and cucumber. 

Türk Köy Kahvaltısı - Turkish village breakfast

Of course, there's the obligatory basket of bread to go with this. You can't have a Turkish breakfast and not have bread. Usually, with a Turkish breakfast, you'll get boiled or fried egg and, if you're lucky, your fried egg will have sucuk in it, too (sucuklu yumurta). We didn't get any of that at the Olive Garden, but that's not a complaint because we got this instead:

"Omelette" or breakfast on a plate.

Fried mushrooms, tomatoes, a smattering of barbunya beans and salami was all brought together by cracking eggs over the top and serving it as one dish. We heard another guest enthusing over it asking the waiter what it was called. "Omelette," he replied. Well, kind of. And we just couldn't resist but use our bread to accompany this! Full again...

Olive Garden, Kabak - Useful Information

• In high season (2013) the dolmuş goes from Fethiye to Kabak from 7am through to 6pm. They are every hour, on the hour, apart from 8am and midday when there isn't one. The last dolmuş back from Kabak to Fethiye is 7:30pm. The Olive Garden and other camps in Kabak usually have an up to date timetable to hand.


• In 2013, high season, 1 night at the Olive Garden for two people staying in an en-suite bungalow is 180 TL. That includes evening meal and breakfast the following morning.


• The Olive Garden is marked here on our map of Fethiye