Food shopping!

[bex]

Hi!

We are returning to Kalkan next week. Previously, we have booked with Tapestry and Exclusive Escapes so we havn''t had to worry too much about food. This visit we have decided to do it ourselves and have a booked a villa.

We plan to eat out most night, but would like to make breakfast and lunch ourselves as we have a BBQ! I was wondering if anyone could recommend where we can buy our basics from? E.g. fruit, veg, bread, fish, meat etc...

I know the market is brilliant, but we arrive on a Saturday and only staying for a week, so we wouldn''t be able to wait until Thursday!

Thank you!

Bex xx



Linkback: https://www.enjoykalkan.com/forum/index.php?topic=1525.0

[Blue Lizard]

we buy our fruit and veg from the little greengrocer by the old dolmus station,....at the side of where the station was are some steps...go down and you will see it,the butchers is in the small shops before the post office..he is good for trays of chicken etc...there is also a butchers at the top of the road by berzigan retaurant...but you will find the supermarkets sell everything if you don''t want to shop around..we use "Yali" the big one on the way to the market on the left as you come out of the village...you do realise that now you have booked a villa for yourselves there is no going back!!!it''s great,we used to go with tapestry but for some years now have gone on our own..we find the privacy and costs far better and have stayed in some cracking places
                                                                     ta ta for now
                                                                              lizard
                   
                                                                         

[felicity]

I''m with Blue Lizard here...the fruit and veg down the steps is great - and they tend to supply the supermarkets - so get it cheaper and fresher direct!  The new butchers on the roundabout - Tavuk Et Galerisi (or something like that) is really nice and clean and good meat.  Otherwise - I tend to use the Yali coz it seems to be the biggest and has most variety and they keep adding things all the time!  Bread is sold in all the supermarkets - so probably just use the one nearest to your villa and if you have a lot of shopping - they will probably deliver your shopping home but not you anymore... 

Enjoy DIY - it gives you so much more freedom and space and privacy!

[Kalkan regular]

A new fruit & veg shop has opened a little bit further up the road from the Kaya bar and almost opposite the Kartin supermarket and his produce was very good and at a good price. The new butcher between the two roundabouts is very good, I think he used to be down in the veg market near the taxi rank.

[kevincat99]

Up to date information from a yerli ..........................
One of the fruit / veg sellers originally down the steps below the old dolmus stands has now moved along with the butcher {Bullent} to the little arcade of shops right opposite the central roundabout.
This has created a sort of mini shopping arcade there along with the Burger Bar..so you can shop and eat at the same time if you have a mind too  

[bex]

Thank you for all that really helpful information!!

Just one question.. where is the old dolmus station?!!

We are really looking forward to having our own villa this year! We found it really irritating that we couldn''t even take bottled water into the hotel last year! They wanted you to buy the ridiculously expensive stuff from the bar instead.... (we got very good at smuggling it in tho!!) It has worked out so much cheaper too! Fingers crossed it all works out!

Thanks again. xxx

[Blue Lizard]

old dolmus station is at the top end of the village where the spikes are in the road to deter traffic

[Alfaman]

Bex,
name and shame that hotel! Having spent money at the bar every night, being petty over the odd bottle of water and wine isn''t exactly good customer relations and will send more people to self cater.

[bex]

Hmmm.. not sure I want to ''name and shame!'' But.. it is a very popular Tapestry hotel!

We have stayed their twice now and absolutely loved it.. The issue over bringing bottled water in was the only complaint that we have had!

We didn''t feel that the policy was justifiable in the heatwave of last June, when water was not a luxury but a necessity!
xx

[Shirley Burley]

I think you would be hard pushed to find a hotel in Kalkan - or, in fact, most of the world - where you are encouraged to bring in your own food and drink.  There are signs in almost (and I stress almost, as I''m sure I will have a barrage of ''no, my favourite hotel LOVE IT if I bring in my own drinks'') every hotel in Kalkan asking you (politely) to respect their policy of not bringing in your own food and drink.

[bex]

I wasn''t suggesting that people should be allowed to bring in their own "food and drink".
I was simply stating that I disagreed with the hotel''s strict policy on bringing in bottled water.
It was very expensive to purchase from the bar and we needed to drink a lot of it (in our room) due to the heat. When we sat by the pool we brought it from the bar.

[clooneyrooney]

I feel that if a hotel customer buys their own food or drink to use in their own room or balcony then that is quite acceptable but if they bring their own food and drink and sit by the pool or other hotel public area then the hotel has every reason to object.
Last year I stayed at the Pirat, bought food and drinks from the bar while I was at the pool but bought water for use in my room from the local shop. This was never a problem with the hotel staff as they saw me taking it up to my room.

 
 

[Kalkan regular]

Buy a big bag & you can take what you want up to your room & no one is any the wiser. We even took well wrapped fish & chips up to our very posh hotel room in Dublin in my large bag. We even took the evidence of the paper wrapping back out the same way.

[Blue Lizard]

one thing we have noticed on our travels to Turkey is the monster size of the fruit and veg compared to that we get at home(UK)..that is until you see the weeny sizes of the cucumbers!! why are there no giant cucumbers ?we end up buying 3 or 4 little ones.

[Chucky]

They are courgettes

[Alfaman]

And if even smaller - Gherkins!

[Blue Lizard]

we go to the same man on the market..he laughs at us because we jokeabout the size of his cucumbers!!(Smashing man & cracking fruit & Veg) even though i must say  the small ones are very tasty!!as a cucumber has a high water content like a melon...looking at the size of the melons in Kalkan ...shouldn''t the cucumbers in theory be massive as well? just a thought......now i''m going for a lie down!! 

[Lantana]

Hi Blue Lizard
 The cucumbers are not courgettes, they are a variety of dwarf cucumbers. All cucumbers here are grown in greenhouses. The dwarf varieties which are cultivated here ripen in a much shorter time - 48 days - the long cucumber varieties take about 65 days, this makes a big difference to your earnings when you have a cash crop. The dwarf varieties can also be grown vertically like vines, so you get far more cucumbers in the available growing space. Long cucumbers are grown horizontally and therefore require much more room, again this makes a  big difference to your earnings if you have a greenhouse. And finally, the dwarf varieties have a thinner skin which is less bitter, so making them more palatable.

Hope you will no longer be puzzled by the size of our cucumbers.
Lantana

[itstime]

Thanks for that Lantana. It probably explains why I love cucumber in Kalkan but can''t stand them back home. Always puzzled me and every time I come back from Kalkan I try to eat it here but always the same result 

[Blue Lizard]

Thanks Lantan...as someone who is vertically challenged ..i can honestly say small things are far nicer..i can now chomp on my cucumber safe in the knowledge that i''m not eating baby ungrown cucs....it''s also noticeable that stuff in kalkan keeps twice as long as the stuff at home that has been blasted with all sorts of things