Boyoz and Kumru

Boyoz came to İzmir with Sephardic Jews expelled from Spain at the end of the fifteenth century, and it survives essentially nowhere else. It is a plain dough of flour, oil and a little tahini, rested, stretched thin, rolled and coiled, then baked into a flaky bun with no filling and no sugar - the skill is entirely in the lamination. It is eaten warm for breakfast with a hard-boiled egg crushed over it and black pepper, standing at the bakery counter, and the old boyozcu shops around Kemeraltı open early and sell out. Kumru is younger and less refined: a sesame-crusted bread roll from Çeşme, split and filled with the local sucuk, kaşar cheese and tomato, griddled until the cheese runs, sometimes with salami and pickle added. It is the standard late-morning or after-drinking sandwich, sold from counters all over the city and along the peninsula road. Neither costs much and both are done best in unglamorous places.

Highlights

• The coiled boyoz - flaky unsweetened buns from the oven.
• The egg and pepper - the standard breakfast accompaniment.
• The kumru counters - sesame rolls griddled with cheese and sucuk.
• The Kemeraltı bakeries - the old boyozcu shops opening early.

When to go

Year-round. Boyoz is a morning thing and the good bakeries sell out by midday. Kumru is available all day and into the night.

Practical notes

Boyoz is plain by design - anyone expecting a sweet or filled pastry will be underwhelmed. Both are eaten standing up in basic shops. Fresh matters enormously; a cold boyoz is a poor thing.

Nearby

Kemeraltı bazaar has the historic boyoz bakeries; Çeşme and Alaçatı are along the peninsula.