Sakız

Sakız — named for the mastic of Chios, the island twelve miles across the water from Çeşme — is chef Çiğdem Seferoğlu's long-running love letter to the Greek and Levantine cooking that has always been part of Izmir's dining inheritance. The room on Şehit Nevres Bulvarı is small, unfussy, painted white; the patio in summer is one of the loveliest dining spaces in Alsancak.

The menu works a modern-Aegean line with unusual clarity. Stuffed zucchini flowers with rice, herbs, and pine nuts. Octopus braised in its own juices with yellow peppers and vinegar. A signature karides güveç — shrimp clay-pot with tomato, mastic-scented white cheese and baked eggs — that has been on the menu since opening. Mezze travel lightly; mains are restrained; desserts lean to mastic ice cream and Aegean fig preserves.

Wine is almost exclusively Turkish and closely chosen: small-producer bottles from Bozcaada, Urla, Mürefte, with a serious rose bench for summer. By-the-glass is generous. Rakı pours are correct.

Service is calm, well-informed, and treats a first dinner the same way as a second anniversary. A full dinner for two with wine lands at 2,400–3,400 TL.

Sakız is the first-date room in Izmir. The room photographs without feeling staged, the menu gives a table plenty to share without forcing commitment, the wine list keeps an evening moving, and the patio in summer is the best setting in central Alsancak for a slow conversation. It is the restaurant returning guests book first.