Vine Leaf

Ayşe Nur is a true volunteer of the Aegean and Alaçatı. She is a woman who is unpretentious, unhurried, hardworking, patient and very attentive. She is someone who says, 'Let the stove burn all the time, summer and winter, so that those walking on the streets of Alaçatı can eat at a warm guest room table.'

I first met Ayşe Nur at Alaçat Cafe on Çamlık road with her legendary breakfasts. Then, Alaçat Kır Evi, which she opened together with Destina, became our go-to place. Now, we are passionate about the flavors of her newly opened Asma Yaprağı. Ayşe Nur is a true Aegean and Alaçatı volunteer. She is an unpretentious, unhurried, hardworking, patient and very attentive woman. She is someone who says, 'Let the stove burn all the time, summer and winter, let those walking on the streets of Alaçatı eat at a warm guest room table.' She loves to cook, she knows it very well, she devotes herself to what she does and shares it with people. She does not chase after fan fin background decorations, menus or dishes, she offers the essence of Alaçatı, the Aegean. Ayşe Nur keeps her passion, which she gets from the unique recipes of the family elders who are passionate about Aegean flavors, and from family meals that are lived like a ceremony on long tables, alive in a tiny two-story stone house. In the kitchen, decorated with enamel plates, glass jugs and glasses, saucepans, bowls, jams, cranberry sherbets, the stove starts burning early in the morning, and what delicious things are cooked there all day long! When you enter, you are filled with the smell of delicious food. All the ingredients are selected locally and according to the season; you find yourself fainting with pleasure after trying the appetizers such as sinkonta, çalkama, stuffed zucchini flowers, broad bean and artichoke pilaf, lamb and cinnamon meatballs in the oven, pumpkin and carrot dessert and beet brownie. Asma Yaprağı in Ayşe's words 'My very dear son Kerem... My very dear Ayşe whom we work with... And I am Ayşe Nur... We are together in Asma Yaprağı... We are a team that wants peace and shares peace... We are the ones who enjoy reflecting the spirit of Alaçatı... Offering Aegean flavors... Listening to the music of both sides of the Aegean... Setting Aegean tables... Knowing the value of these tables... We are the ones who are grateful for the food we cook and the tables around which our loved ones gather'