Mel's Restaurant

This small, female-run restaurant is a Cappadocia mainstay that serves traditional dishes in a rustic atmosphere. The space is cavernous by design and yet flooded with natural light, and there is a quaint outdoor terrace for the warmer months. This terrace is also home to an open-air oven, which Mel and her team use to prepare much of the menu, including the testi kebap, a traditional Turkish dish cooked in a sealed clay pot until it is cracked open and served. Not only is the testi kebap a must, but all the food here speaks for itself; the lamb literally falls off the bone, and the eggplant starter has the capacity to change your perspective on food entirely—and that’s all without mentioning the bread pudding for dessert. A meal at Mel’s will leave you wanting to return, or at the very least, walk away with a recipe (though you’ll be hard-pressed to get Mel to tell you what exactly goes into her dishes).