Milföylü Yalova kebabı
Kebab on puff pastry
Sautéed meat served on a round of baked puff pastry and sprinkled with cheddar.
Marmara Region
Yalova
At Yalova’s table, meat can meet pastry in unexpected ways. Milföylü Yalova kebabı sets sautéed meat on a round of baked puff pastry and finishes it with cheddar. Next come two dishes that take their name from Termal. Termal sarma is thinly pounded steak rolled around sautéed onion and mushroom and served with sauce, while Termal çorbası brings together potato, carrot, celery, peas, dill and garlic, thickened with flour, yogurt and egg yolk. Ispanaklı Yalova böreği offers a familiar pastry with its filling of spinach, cheese, yogurt and egg. On the sweet side, cennet küngü arrives with its spiral shape, cool syrup and crushed walnuts. The real curiosity, though, grows towards the orchards. Hayward kiwis with bright green flesh, aronia berries that stay astringent until fully ripe, and strawberries harvested in late May in Sermayecik village in Altınova invite you to get to know Yalova through its fruit as well.
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Thermal springs and orchards on the Marmara
Green hills and orchards above the Sea of Marmara.
Signature dishes
Explore a pale layered milk dessert alongside savory pastry and district cooking.
Termal sarma
Stuffed beef rolls
Thinly pounded steaks rolled around sautéed onion and mushroom, pan-fried and served with sauce.
Termal çorbası
Vegetable soup with yogurt
Soup of potato, carrot, celery, peas, dill and garlic, thickened with flour, yogurt and egg yolk.
Ispanaklı Yalova böreği
Rolled spinach börek
Spinach, cheese, yogurt and egg filling rolled in pastry, sprinkled with oil and milk, cooked and served hot.
Kaburga dolması
Rice-stuffed ribs
Ribs rubbed with salt and pepper, filled with rice, sewn shut, simmered until tender and then roasted.
Cennet küngü
Fried spiral in syrup
Dough wound on a fork as it fries, dipped in cool syrup and topped with crushed walnuts.
Locally cooked
Recipes from this city are coming soon.
Local ingredients
Yalova kivisi
Hayward kiwis with fuzzy brownish-green skin and bright green flesh, picked in late autumn.
Guide not written yetYalova aronyası
Black chokeberries, astringent until fully ripe, eaten fresh or made into juice, jam, vinegar and dried fruit.
Guide not written yetAltınova çileği
Strawberries from Altınova’s Sermayecik village, harvested in late May.
Guide not written yetYalova kestane balı
Chestnut honey from hives set in Yalova’s chestnut forests.
Guide not written yetFood culture
The mansion, city museum and Karaca Arboretum offer different ways to understand architecture, public memory and cultivated plants. Thermal tourism is also part of the provincial story, without implying medical claims for the springs. Food names preserve district connections: Termal sarma, soup and dessert are different preparations. They should not be collapsed into a single “thermal dish” or treated as identical to Yalova’s signature milk pastry.
Orchard fruit
Kiwis, aronia and strawberries are grown around Yalova and Altınova.
Termal kitchen
Termal gives its name to stuffed beef rolls and a vegetable soup.
What to bring home
- Aronia jam and dried aronia
- Yalova chestnut honey
- Yalova kiwis
- Sugören silk carpets
History & landscape
In Yalova, in the Marmara Region, history often follows the water. The hot springs of the Termal district gained importance in the Roman period, and baths built by Constantine and restored by Justinian are among the best known of them. The springs rose to prominence again under Sultan Abdülhamid and took their final shape in Atatürk’s time; Atatürk himself came to Termal often to rest. On the Çiftlikköy coast stands the Black Church, built in the early Byzantine period, and alongside it are the ruins of an ancient harbour and aqueducts.
Two mansions recall the Republican era. The Atatürk Mansion in Termal, built by architect S. Hakkı Eldem using only wood, is where important decisions were taken, such as founding the Turkish Historical Society and the Turkish Language Association. The Walking Mansion owes its name to a plane tree. Rather than cut the tree’s branches, the building was placed on rails and moved away from it.
