Kapha Less Calory More Quality Music

Having become a member of the culinary landscape of Alaçatı towards the end of July, Kapha is a new restaurant situated in the garden of the good ol’ Fogo, a place that existed two years ago.

With some aesthetic touches and cozy details, Kapha was turned into a pleasant home style restaurant. The chef of this flavor-driven orchestra is Chef Sedat Arslan, someone I know from Izmir and I would fully trust his kitchen skills since he was one of the two professionals who have made it after the collapse of the restaurant they used to work for, which was, Çeşme Mi Casa. The other person is DJ Mono!

Fogo reminds us of the entertainment style of Momo as it appeals to taste buds with the scrumptious dishes created by Chef Sedat and to ears with a fine music performance by DJ Mono starting from 22:30.

I can honestly say that the starters and hors d’oeuvres on the menu of Kapha are the best ones I’ve come across in Çeşme so far.

The thin-baguette-like breads that kept our palates busy while waiting for our meal were another thing I found successful about the restaurant.

Following the baguettes, goat’s cheese tofu served with fig jam prepared with red wine, and bottarga made with gray Karaburun mullet’s roes and served with smeared crispy bread and butter with lime were just up-to-scratch starters.

Although I was beamed up to the Far East for a moment with tuna tataki which was born out of the yuzu sauce, soy sauce and wasabi trio and seabass ceviche bolstered up with some fresh coriander; Hisarönü söğüş (cold-served meat cuts) lying on some puffy bread brought me back to Izmir again.

Galician-style sea bass which was embellished with some Aegean herbs ground by Chef Sedat and some fish broth was also one of the dishes I just liked. The sea scallops which were cooked in their shells were smoked and served in special dishes.

The mussels sourced from Karaburun were served in two ways. Rather than the first one which was prepared with garlic, sea salt, herb paste and olive oil and then smoked, I have to confess that I liked the second one better which is called “Moules Marinière” which featured a good deal of white wine and “chimichurri sauce” made with parsley, thyme, coriander and garlic.

The addition of sage into the recipe of spiny lobster which was baked on oak branch was also a detail that I liked a lot. Made with spaghetti with squid ink, baby calamari, bottarga, wine sauce, lemon and garlic; Nero, again, was another pleasant dish on the menu. Following that; fish pide featuring red mullet, field tomato, artichoke, garlic and virgin olive oil on top of thinly-spread pide dough just like I do at home, was –I think- in accordance with the Turkish palate.

As the night came to a close with vodka and raspberry sorbet which was served in a bowl made of ice, baby lamb back ribs and veal ribs were two dishes that lowered the whole dinner experience a notch, hence, in my opinion, they need a bit of more work to taste better. With this, grouper fillet was the only dish among the main courses that saved the dinner.

The starters and hors d’oeuvres cost 36-40 liras per dish and the main dishes were between 48 and 95 liras.

With its current concept, Kapha seems to be one of those Alaçatı restaurants where you may fill your stomach lightly with a variety of hors d’oeuvres and, moreover, crown this feast with the music performances varying between Down Beat and Deep House, all thanks to Chef Sedat and the Serkan & DJ Mono duo.

Bon appétit and enjoy the taste of life...