Long before Bodrum was Bodrum, there was Maçakızı. The village in southwestern Turkey already existed, of course, but it was still a fishing village when Ayla Emiroğlu arrived in 1977. Like the best bohemians of the 20th century, she recognized the laid-back beauty of this corner of the Mediterranean, invited some friends over and created an early jet-set scene around a small guesthouse in the center of the village.

The hotel’s history states: “Emiroğlu was the headmistress, the boss who spoke to the wildflowers on her property and disciplined her employees without admonition. She worked with the same people for years, and they loved her. She fed the richest people the most basic staples of Turkish home cooking, and they loved it. They loved it so much that they followed her everywhere.”

Throughout her life and to this day, she has remained the shining example, inspiration and free-spirited soul of Maçakızı. The original hotel took its name from her nickname – the Queen of Spades: a strong and intelligent woman who is creative, caring and wise.

In 1999, her son Sahir Erozan returned from a dazzling career in Washington, DC, restaurants and clubs. Together with her, he founded the Maçakızı Hotel, which exists today in Türkbükü – away from the city center, but a pioneer in the development of Bodrum as a tourist destination. The early 2000s were not the halcyon days of the 1970s, but the hotel still evokes the fuzzy, pre-Instagram lives we led 25 years ago. Excess was never the goal. Service, quality and (please excuse the word) authenticity were.

Bodrum is now a real eye-catcher – hotel brands such as Mandarin Oriental and Bulgari have established themselves, the superyacht marina at Yalikavak is lined with luxury boutiques, billionaires sun themselves in the coves and the coast is filling up with what Erozan calls Lego resorts, blocky things that you can see from miles away. But Maçakızı has retained its heart, soul and delicacy. The bougainvillea is thriving.

Management has long sought to attract wealthy Istanbulites—who make up nearly a third of guests, unusual in the region—as well as a diverse international mix of Europeans, Americans and Australians. The hotel’s glamour is understated, not label-driven. It’s still the Bodrum of old, Erozan’s mother’s Bodrum. “Barefoot luxury” has been overused to the point of irrelevance, but there’s a certain effortlessness here. Longtime general manager Andrew Jacobs makes the rounds during the day (probably barefoot) in swim trunks, a T-shirt and a floppy hat. According to the room file, he can be found on the beach or at the bar. That wasn’t wrong on my last visit, although he left both to show me the hotel’s beautiful, relatively new villa.

It’s that kind of place — no one has lost sight of the fact that hotels should be about simple pleasures. There’s no question that the people behind the scenes take things seriously, but there’s a relaxed ease that other hoteliers probably envy. (Erozan likes to say that no one wants to use an elevator on vacation.) The rooms at the late-20th-century Maçakızı are much smaller than those at the new resorts, but command higher prices per square meter. The kind of people who care more about atmosphere than huge marble bathrooms want to be here..

It also attracts the kind of people who appreciate simplicity, quality and uncomplicated enjoyment in food. Erozan points out that Bodrum’s new hotels are introducing their international culinary concepts. Maçakızı’s kitchen has no “concept”. It offers comfort – the most basic staples of Turkish home cooking, as always. Sunday lunch is legendary – table after table laden with fresh salads and spreads, with hot manti (meat dumplings with garlic yogurt sauce, reputed to be an excellent hangover dish) cooked to order.

Chef Aret Sahakyan has been the culinary soul of Maçakızı since its inception, having previously worked with Erozan in Washington. Their 34 years together have allowed for a great deal of trust and freedom. He runs Maçakızı’s kitchen with an emphasis on real food, fresh flavors and total unpretentiousness. While some chefs cook for their guests’ pleasure and others for their own, Sahakyan has been part of the former group for four decades.

And so it came as a surprise that the flagship restaurant received a Michelin star in 2023 – the first year that the guide awarded stars outside of Istanbul in Turkey. “Maçakızı is not the kind of restaurant that normally gets one,” says the chef.

Coincidentally, at the time of the announcement, Erozan and Sahakyan were already in the process of opening a second restaurant – one to which they wanted to bestow this honor. This second restaurant opened a few months ago in a stunning setting. The dining room is a sprawling but covered platform on a hill with six tables overlooking the sea and its many shades of blue that made Emiroğlu fall in love with Bodrum nearly five decades ago. Aptly, it is called Ayla.

And although the intimacy and ambition are greater, the food doesn’t try to compete with the essential Bodrum character of the place. Rather, it reinforces it. Sahakyan has written a love letter to Turkish gastronomy. In opening week, the amuse-bouche was a molecular jelly made from a traditional shepherd’s salad (tomato, cucumber, pepper), but nothing of what followed was deconstructed, reinvented or overly intellectual.

The frequently changing menu offers diners choices—something that is far too rare in today’s sophisticated kitchens—and consists of a manageable four courses (plus the usual snacks and surprises of a fine dining restaurant). Perhaps it should include a glossary, although the waiters don’t seem to mind questions.

There was pastırma (strongly seasoned air-dried salt meat) and pickled blueberry sorbet with tuna tartare. The bonito was replaced by scorpion fish. katrin (aged and pickled fish) served with watermelon and bottarga. Scallops came with corn and sucuk (spicy raw sausage). The blue crab was served with I pilaf (rice pilaf with pine nuts and currants) and zucchini flowers, as well as dry-aged grouper came with pilaki (borlotti beans and olive oil) and nettle leaves.

Even the dessert included a gastronomic lesson. The choice was ice cream with kayak (similar to clotted cream) and garnished with caviar. This was by far my favorite dessert of 2024 so far.

The whole thing is imaginative and fun. The combinations work, even if they don’t seem to follow many rules. What they have in common is freedom. After all, Bodrum meant freedom for Ayla Emiroğlu. And now Ayla means freedom for Aret Sahakyan.