Denizli

A flat, wide kebab made from ground lamb mixed with onion and local spices, cooked directly on the grill rather than on a skewer. The lamb from the hills around Denizli is leaner and more flavourful than lowland alternatives. Served on flatbread with roasted tomato, thin-sliced onion and sumac. Found at the better kebab restaurants in the city centre and at the lokantas around the bazaar area.

The Denizli Province has been a wine-producing region since antiquity - the ancient Laodicea was renowned for its wine trade. Today, several small producers around Pamukkale village make wine from local grape varieties including Kalecik Karası and Sultaniye. A few restaurants in Pamukkale village serve local wine from the area. The volcanic-influenced soil gives the wines a mineral edge worth noticing.

A fermented soup made from dried yogurt and wheat flour, tarhana is a distinctly Central Anatolian preparation that appears across the inland Aegean. In Denizli, the tarhana is prepared with local red pepper paste and dried mint and serves as a warming winter breakfast soup. Available at traditional lokantas in the city, particularly in the older bazaar area. Order it with a side of fresh bread and a drizzle of extra olive oil.

Lamb suspended on hooks inside a clay-lined pit oven and slow-cooked for several hours over wood embers - no liquid, no spice beyond salt, just smoke and time. The result is meat that falls apart at the touch, with a thin crust where the surface touched the dry heat. The Denizli and broader inner Aegean tradition keeps a few specialist kuyu kebabcıs going; they typically open at lunch and sell out by mid-afternoon. Served on lavaş with the rendered juices spooned over.

Roasted chickpeas in many variations: plain white, yellow with husks removed, salted, sugar-coated, or coated in chocolate. The Çorum region is more famous for leblebi production but Denizli and the surrounding Aegean towns have their own bakery tradition, with several producers in the city centre that have been roasting for decades. Sold by weight from open sacks, eaten as a snack alongside tea or rakı. The yellow husked version is the standard.

Eggplants charred whole over open flame until the skin blackens and the flesh collapses, then peeled, chopped roughly and folded into thick strained yoghurt with garlic and olive oil. A meyhane standard across western Turkey but Denizli's version benefits from the local sheep yoghurt and the smoky eggplants of the Aegean valleys. Served cold as a starter before the kebab arrives. Finish with a drizzle of paprika butter and a few chopped walnuts.