Sep 20, 2024
Amazing traditional food experience - I had an amazing experience. I was the only one signed up for the class so as a female solo traveler I felt a little worried at first, but I felt safe and really enjoyed my time at the Etrim Village. It was nice to see the countryside of bodrum and experience how to cook Turkish food. I would recommend this to anyone!
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Jul 30, 2024
Best experience ever! - The class was amazing; I would 100% recommend, the experience was made easy to follow even for people who are not used to cooking and the food tasted even better when we had lunch. Not only that but we absolutely got more than we expected, we had a lovely tour of the Etrim village where we were able to meet the locals and see how they make rugs and dye wool for e.g. Everyone was so lovely and friendly, especiallyTony and Belgin (our tour guide & chef) made this experience so much better. Next time I’m in Bodrum I will definitely do this again :)
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Jul 13, 2024
Excellent - Overall the whole experience was fabulous. The food was excellent and the people were lovely. My sister and I had a great time!
Review provided by Viator
May 24, 2024
Impeccable, down to earth, heartwarming experience - I was the only person signed up for this tour on a Friday. I guess this is because this tour is relatively new, but I assure you, it could be the most special tour you could take in Bodrum. I, myself am a huge foodie and passionate about cooking, therefore, this is the perfect tour for me to get to learn the Turkish traditional village cooking.
On the day of the tour, I was greeted by tour guide Tony, he is fully fluent in English and gave me a very warm welcome. Unfortunately, during my visit to Bodrum, I was not very well physically due to seasonal allergies, but not only merely performing normal duties as a tour guide, Tony most certainly provided utmost care to make me feel comfortable during the tour.
Tony would tell me stories about the city, the village and everything about Turkey the country itself. It was such a pleasure to have met Tony as well as all the lovely, welcoming people from Etrim village. From interaction with the chefs and carpet makers, there was never a moment I felt I was a foreigner to them, I was being treated as one of them despite the cultural differences.
Tony is highly knowledgeable, more than qualified tour guide. Because of him, I will most certainly will return to Bordrum.
If you want to leave Bodrum feeling your heart full and warm, you need to sign up to this tour!
Review provided by Viator
May 24, 2024
Authentic cooking and village tour - Beautiful local village, visiting and seeing what life is like. You get to see how they support locals with hand made carpets and rugs. We met a local 92 year old lady in her home. Made gozeleme, halva and vine leaves. Tony was an amazing guide very humble and knowledgeable, he made us feel at ease. Would thoroughly recommend this tour. Much more authentic than a typical boat trip.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
May 12, 2024
Quality experience for a friendly moment - We went to Etrim with friends for a bachelorette party. We were able to discover the village and also cook food. Everyone was super welcoming and attentive, the meal was delicious. We were also able to see and try our hand at carpet weaving. I highly recommend this experience.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
May 9, 2024
Local flavor - Pick up was easy. We were driven to Etrim in a comfortable van and given a tour of the village, invited into the mosque (very different than the ones in the city!), visited some houses to see how people in the village previously and currently live. After our tour, we went to a restaurant of sorts and started rolling grape leaves. The lady who taught us didn't speak English and our guide who was also the interpreter flitted in and out and we could only communicate with her when he was around. We then also cut some pumpkin which we are told is used for a dessert. Afterwards we went into the kitchen and saw how they made some other things like bread (of various kinds) and they let us participate a bit by rolling the dough. After about 15-20 mins of that, we then went out into the outdoor restaurant and had a feast (though not the stuff we made). I could tell the grape leaves were not ours as I tended to make fatter ones than they did. Also the pumpkins did not make it on our menu. We ate family style with some other people who we had done the village tour with but then split off when we did the cooking but they did not sign up for that. The food was very good though and you could tell the freshness. It was a holiday so they seemed to be quite busy even though it was a weekday so I appreciated that they still had the cooking portion for us. Though the filling of the grape leaves was premade, they told us what was in it and I feel like I could try to replicate it at home with some help from google. All in all, I recommend this experience if you want something more from Bodrum than the beach resort life.
Review provided by Viator
Apr 16, 2024
More of an Eating class than a Cooking class, which isn't necessarily a complaint, lol! - It is a lovely setting with very friendly "teachers". We learned to roll grape leaves, and make Greek (not very sweet) halvah. We were provided really delicious small "plates" for lunch (with the offer of more!), which was great. We didn't actually cook very much or even see the start to finish of what we made. We cut a great squash- but didn't eat anything with grated squash. (We were given chances of squash in a sweet syrup, and we rolled a lot of dolmas, but we think we were probably given food already prepared, and not the stuff we actually made.
Like I said, the food was absolutely delicious and the setting was relaxing, but as for a cooking class, don;t expect recipes or much hands on learning.
Review provided by Viator
Jul 29, 2024
Great tour but translator/guide needs to stay - It was a good experience that needs some work. We made a ton of the same food (about 100 dolma for 2 people). The process of it should be to make 25 not 100. It was just done with no English translation. They were not even able to tell us the ingredients. Although very nice, the guide left all the time and we were with people who were not able to discuss what we were doing and it was awkward. Someone in the kitchen was trying to teach me the way to roll bead and I would do wrong and she was not able to tell me how to fix or do properly.
The food was amazing! Really amazing with a huge selection!
This was a good experience. I would probably do it again, but some tweeks are needed to the process of the tour. The major change is that a translator or guide needs to be present the whole tour.
Review provided by Viator
Aug 6, 2024
Wasn’t really cooking.... - Wasn’t really cooking. Was just helping in the kitchen.
A little unorganized but friendly people around.
Review provided by Viator