Agrilia at Buradan Vineyards

Melih Teksen opened Agrilia in Alaçatı's old town in 1999 and ran it for twenty-five years. In early 2024 he moved the whole operation — kitchen, wine list, regular guests — to the Buradan Vineyards ten minutes outside town, and the move has been universally praised. The new room sits under chestnut trees on the edge of the vineyard; dinner watches the sun set behind the vine rows; the wine comes from 80 metres away.

The format is tasting-menu only: five courses (TRY 3,500 / €95) or seven (TRY 4,800 / €130), both with optional Buradan wine pairings that showcase the estate's Vermentino, Assyrtiko, and Bornova Muscat. The cooking is Aegean-modern — raw levrek with fennel and citrus; grilled octopus with smoked aubergine and lemon confit; slow-cooked lamb shoulder with bulgur and pomegranate molasses; a cherry-and-mastic sorbet that finishes every menu since 2003.

Buradan itself is one of the three serious vineyards on the Çeşme peninsula. The Vermentino is the regional benchmark; the late-harvest Bornova Muscat is poured at Istanbul's two-starred Neolokal; the Chardonnay from the north-facing slope is the wine most Istanbul sommeliers are trying to get a case of in 2026. The sommelier will walk you through the vines if you ask.

The room seats 60 under the chestnuts, another 20 inside for cooler evenings. Service is bilingual Turkish-English and unpressured — dinner runs three and a half hours and the kitchen expects you to take it. This is the Çeşme dinner you take clients to when they have flown in from London.

Impressing clients on the Turkish Aegean requires a venue they cannot have experienced elsewhere. Agrilia delivers it: the vineyard location, the estate-paired menu, the chef's twenty-five-year provenance — all signal that the host knows Turkey's serious dining scene beyond the Istanbul tourist beat. Pre-order the seven-course with pairings, book the corner table under the oldest chestnut, and let Teksen send the cheese course before dessert.