Cuisine
The cuisine of Antakya is renowned. Popular dishes include the typical Turkish kebab, served with spices and onions in flat unleavened bread, or with yoghurt as ali nazik kebab. Hot spicy food is a feature of this part of Turkey, along with Turkish coffee and local specialties including:
Sweets
Künefe - a hot cheese, kadaif-based sweet. Antakya is Turkey's künefe' capital; the pastry shops in the centre compete to claim being kings Turkish: kral of the pastry. The secret is in the light yellow cheese which they use.
Müebbek - rings of deep fried pastry.
Savories
Pomegranate syrup, used as a salad dressing, called debes ramman, a traditional Levantine Arabic dressing.
Semirsek, a thin bread with hot pepper, minced meat or spinach filling
Içli köfte and other oruk varieties: varieties of the Arabic kibbeh, deep-fried balls of bulgur wheat stuffed with minced meat.
Spicy chicken, a specialty of Harbiye
Za'atar (Zahter) a traditional Levantine Arabic paste of spiced thyme, oregano, and sesame seeds, mixed with olive oil, spread on flat (called pide or in English pita) bread.
Fresh chick peas, munched as a snack.
Hirise, boiled and pounded wheat meal.
Aur, meat mixed with crushed wheat, chickpea, cumin, onion, pepper and walnut
Meze
Hummus - the chick-pea dip
pureed fava beans
Surke - the spicy sun-dried cheese
Çökelek - dried curds served in spicy olive oil
Eels from the Orontes, spiced and fried in olive oil