TRY: St. John Café
Anyone up for a dish of Swiss rosti in Selcuk, Turkey?
I can't believe I've been physically down for five days and have yet to fully recover. I've just managed to access my Blogger account again, and realised that this post should see light instead of being cooped up as a draft. Anyway, after approximately an hour flight from Istanbul Ataturk Airport to Izmir Adnan Menderes on Atlas Global, my BFF and I took the free shuttle bus provided by the airline to Selcuk, a small town in close proximity to the ancient city of Ephesus. We visited St. John's Café before going to the first inn we'd booked earlier.
I can't believe I've been physically down for five days and have yet to fully recover. I've just managed to access my Blogger account again, and realised that this post should see light instead of being cooped up as a draft. Anyway, after approximately an hour flight from Istanbul Ataturk Airport to Izmir Adnan Menderes on Atlas Global, my BFF and I took the free shuttle bus provided by the airline to Selcuk, a small town in close proximity to the ancient city of Ephesus. We visited St. John's Café before going to the first inn we'd booked earlier.
Prior to arriving in Turkey, I'd done quite a thorough research on the eateries that'd probably be worth visiting. It's said that the homely café serves good coffee.
Chicken Salad ₺12.00 (~S$5.75)
Taste: 7.5/10
Our reason for ordering a plate of salad was to fulfil our daily vegetable needs. However, we didn't expect that it'd come with a toast, considering that we also ordered another dish of toast. The vegetables were fresh, drizzled with an adequate amount of vinaigrette. While the chicken was pretty juicy, the toast could've been, well, toasted till slightly crispy at the very least.
Swiss Rosti ₺12.00 (~S$5.75)
Taste: 8/10
It'd probably be surprising that the café serves the famous Swiss dish of fried grated potatoes. It was delectably crispy and succulent at the same time, but it was a pity that it wasn't served with sour cream like the one in Marché Restaurant here in Singapore. In fact, I feel that the latter has always been better.
St. John's Toast ₺14.00 (~S$6.70)
Taste: 7.5/10
A specialty of the café, the toast was more than edible, but not that fantastic. Stacked on top of the same toast that appeared on the salad dish mentioned above were turkey ham, apple and cheese.
The sweet and salty interplay by the ham and apple was good, but I'd prefer to have a layer of melt-in-the-mouth cheese.
Kunefe ₺10.00 (~S$4.80)
Taste: 8/10
Kunefe is a Turkish variant of a Levantine cheese pastry known as kanafeh. It was my virgin experience, but apparently not for my BFF (I just knew about it at that moment), with the wiry cheese dessert that was soaked in syrup with clotted cream. Elastic in texture as a whole, the fine shreds of cheese were a joy to chew. Perhaps it could just be slightly sweeter.
Latte Macchiato ₺7.00 (~S$3.35)
Taste: 8.5/10
Many people are right about the café whipping up good coffee. Literally meaning 'stained milk', the latte macchiato was creamy, yet light on the palate. I wouldn't mind a thicker foam layer at the top, but its aroma was more than enough to make me complain no more.
Melon's Rating
Taste: 8/10
Ambience: 7/10
Service: 7/10
Overall: 7/10
For the rest of the day, I had fun exploring the small town and Ephesus, which is shown in the picture below. Pika's advice: The café sells some maps and books that you can peruse before buying. Also, the owner is a very kind man who can speak English. Do chat him up when the opportunity strikes.
St. John Café
4/C Ugur Mumcu Sevgi Road
Izmir
Turkey
(Daily: 6.00am - 3.00am)
*Prices quoted are nett prices.
Have a nice meal,
Cliff(y)
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