We'd had a pretty busy day hiking (more like getting lost) in the valleys around the town of Goreme. For our last evening, I thought we'd have a nice dinner. I asked the ever helpful Mustapha and he recommended a restaurant just up the street (hill) called Nostalji. They had only been open for a couple of months at the time, but Mustapha told us the food is pretty traditional for the area. So we headed up the hill past a couple of streets, about the equivalent of a block here in the US. Of course if you passed this on your way to dinner it might get your attention here in San Diego.
The really nice gentleman stopped, smiled, and waved at us. Remember this four legged fellow, you'll see him again later in the post.
Walking up the street we thought we had missed the place until we saw the sign posted on one of the walls.
There was no one around as we walked into the courtyard past the oven…..
There was a whole lot of construction going on up above. We found out later that they were building a hotel and restaurant above. It's probably complete and opened by now….
A few moments later a gentleman walked out the door, grinning from ear to ear, welcoming us to Nostalji. He asked us into the kitchen where we could check out what was being made for dinner. In the kitchen, three women spanning two generations were hard at work making boregi. They were very warm, gracious, and really made us feel welcome.
They happy showed us what they were making….after this, how could we not eat here?
The dining area was through a set of doors in what was obviously an old residence. It was charming, though a bit dark and crowded. But that was no problem. This was when I opened my big mouth….looking at the patio I mentioned to the man, "you have such a nice view here and such a big patio, when the weather is good you should have tables out there." He turned, laughed and said, "you want to eat out there…no problem…." I protested, we didn't want these folks working so hard, but before I could complain too much a table was set up for us on the patio. It was pretty amazing……
Since it was early, there was no one in the restaurant….we had the whole place to ourselves, impromptu al fresco dining and all! The view was quite nice…..
With the sounds of children playing below……
We started getting the feeling that this was going to be one of those really memorable meals.
Nostalji specializes in set meals, sort of in a prix fixe manner and testi kebab – pottery kebab. But since we hadn't ordered it ahead of time the oven would stay cool for now.
Instead we went with one multi-course meal to share supplemented with a couple of other dishes.
The Missus started with a glass of the house made wine……
Which tasted like it had been made in someones home! Still, we were having such a great time it didn't matter. I had some ayran, which was light and frothy, not overly salty, and perhaps the nest I had on the entire trip.
We took in the our surroundings and really enjoyed the scenery and in a couple of minutes our meze arrived in pretty little bowls.
Green peppers in olive oil.
The Missus loved the dolmalar, stuffed grape leaves which I thought were a bit too thickly wrapped.
I loved the acili ezme, a bit spicy, a hint of sweetness, with a nice smoky background.
I thought the haydari, the yogurt dip was delicious, nice and tangy……
Of course, this is Turkey and you will get an entire loaf or two of bread with your meal!
Which was quite good.
After watching the women in the kitchen making these, how could we not order some of the cheese filled boregi?
This was wonderful. I'd expected it to be similar to a cheese pie wrapped in filo, but this was surprising. The outside was crisp and light, while there was a thin layer of yeasty "bread". I expected a simple white cheese like Beyaz Peynir, but this was more of an aged yellow cheese with plenty of character. It was, simply put, delici-yoso!!!
The Missus also ordered some dolmalar of the stuffed pepper variety.
And of course there was the inevitable coban salatasi, shepherd's salad.
The meal also came with a soup. On this day it was yogurt soup. I wasn't quite sure if I really liked this….hot, runny, yogurt. Amazingly, the Missus, who usually wouldn't want something sour, milky, warm, and runny, loved this. She is full of surprises.
The white beans had been cooked in a clay pot in the oven and was all the world better for it.
And the main course, the kofte was pretty darn good as well.
The meal ended (or so we thought) with some fairly decent baklava.
And of course Turkish tea…….
Our check arrived and was placed under this covered plate.
When we opened it…….
It was a plate of Turkish Delight. We're not big fans of lokum, but these were quite good, maybe our favorites of the trip. It was a very nice touch.
By the time I paid our check, which if I recall was very reasonable, we were in a hurry to head back to the hotel. The sun was setting and I wanted to watch it go down on the hotel's terrace.
On the way back we ran into the guy who rode the horse past us earlier. He smiled and pointed at the doorway of what looked like a flat on the ground floor of a building.
I peeked in….and discovered it was a stable for his horse…..
Aaahh…Cappadocia, "Land of beautiful horses……"
We scrambled past the fowl…..
And made it back to the Arch Palace with minutes to spare. I walked up to the terrace, ordered an 
Efes and settled in to watch the sunset. The Missus, who didn't quite understand my obsession with watching the sunset on our last evening in Goreme, inspired by the lokum, decided to head down to town to check out some of the shops.
Meanwhile, I just enjoyed my beer and watched the sun slowly set on Goreme.
With the call to prayer going off, the shadow of the minaret of the mosque, and fairy chimney's in the background, this just seemed so exotic…..
As the lights of the main square slowly came on one by one, the Missus returned with some Turkish treats………
Most of which reinforced my belief that I still hadn;t acquired a taste for them.
We hit the sack early. I had scheduled an early flight to Istanbul before I realized that it's a two hour drive from Goreme to Kayseri, we'd have to get up at three in the morning and leave before four….note to self…next time fly into Nevsehir….
I've come to the realization that our trip to Cappadocia would not have been half a wonderful if not for the owner of the Arch Palace hotel, Mustapha. Part travel agent, tour guide, concierge, and what not, I was amazed watching him work the room during breakfast, taking time with each table, calling for tours, making dinner arrangements, drawing out maps that were several times better than what you could buy in any of the stores. He was constantly shuttling his clients off to various valleys and seemed to know everyone in the town. The Arch Palace might not be a four star accommodation, but we sure got five star service.
We had done a lot in Cappadocia, from a early morning balloon ride to visiting an underground city, scrambling up to a monastary dug into a hillside to hiking through valleys rich in history. It made me realize what a very lucky guy I am……very lucky….
Thanks for reading!
On one occasion we couldn't believe how busy the place was. And everyone seemed to be eating tons of food. During that evening, the rice that came with the Kuzu Incik (the lamb shank dish pictured above) was covered with tasty stewed white beans. When I noted how busy the place was, the owner's daughter told us, "yes, it's Ramadan." Duh, I should have known.
