Best Seafood in Side: The Honest Fish Guide (2026)

Eating fish by the sea it swam in is one of travel's oldest pleasures — and one of its most frequently ruined. Overcooked fillets, freezer calamari rings, "catch of the day" that never met a boat. Side deserves better, and so do you.

Hawaii Restaurant & Bar has served the coast since 2000, and our sea section follows one rule: good fish needs very little — fire, salt, lemon, and a kitchen with the confidence to stop there.

The Mediterranean two

Grilled sea bass (levrek) and grilled black bream (çipura) are the twin royalty of Turkish coastal cooking — mild, white, sweet-fleshed fish that grill beautifully whole. If you have never ordered whole fish before, this is the place to start: the waiter will happily deal with the bones, and the flavour repays the small ceremony.

The rest of the boat

• Grilled trout — the mountain-river alternative: clean-tasting and familiar to northern European palates.
• Fish fillet — boneless simplicity for the cautious.
• Salmon plank — salmon served sizzling on a wooden board, the sea's answer to our plank steak.
• Grilled prawns & fried shrimps with garlic — sweet, garlicky, gone in minutes; the shrimp cocktail starter is the retro classic done straight.
• Calamari — crisp as a starter, or slow and tender in the calamari casserole; the shrimps casserole bubbles in the same tradition.
• Mixed sea plate (for 2) — the whole answer on one platter; the sharing guide explains it.

How to spot a kitchen that respects fish

• Simple menus. Fish drowned in heavy sauce is usually hiding something.
• Whole fish on offer. Fillet-only menus outsource the truth.
• Honest seasons. Ask what is best tonight — a good waiter answers specifically.

Drinking with fish

Cold Kavaklıdere Çankaya or a Sultaniye white — see the Turkish wine guide — or an honest cold Efes. Rakı with grilled fish is the full Turkish ritual: anise, salt air and time.

We are metres from the old harbour, open daily 10:00–02:00 — book a table for sunset.