Scappi: Where to Eat in Izmir

Nine floors above Izmir’s waterfront, inside the Swissotel Büyük Efes, a dining room named after a sixteenth-century Italian chef has become the reservation everyone in the city is suddenly trying to make.

Bartolomeo Scappi cooked for popes in Renaissance Rome and wrote one of the first great printed cookbooks, the kind of figure whose name a hotel restaurant borrows when it wants to signal ambition rather than novelty. That’s the joke and the pitch of Scappi: old-world Italian cooking, delivered from a room with a very modern, very Aegean view.

The room and the view

Scappi sits on the ninth floor of the Büyük Efes, one of Izmir’s landmark hotels overlooking the Gulf of Izmir. The floor-to-ceiling outlook over the bay is the restaurant’s defining feature, and it’s what people are posting about as word spreads.

Sunset is the obvious hour to angle for. As the light drops over the water and the city’s waterfront promenade lights up below, the dining room is doing exactly what its ninth-floor position was built for. Ask for a window-facing table when you book, since not every seat gets the same angle on the gulf.

Why the name matters

Naming an Italian restaurant after Bartolomeo Scappi is a deliberate flex. He was chef to Pope Pius V and author of Opera, a landmark Renaissance cookbook that documented Italian court cooking in unusual technical detail for its time.

A hotel restaurant that reaches back to him is telling you it wants to be judged on technique and history, not just on having “Italian” in the description. Whether the kitchen fully lives up to that reference is worth judging for yourself, but the ambition is the point of the branding.

A newcomer on Izmir’s dining map

Scappi is genuinely new, and that shapes how you should approach a visit. It hasn’t had years to settle into a fixed identity, so expect a menu and service style still being refined, and expect enthusiasm from early visitors to run ahead of long-term consensus.

That freshness is also the appeal. It’s quickly become one of the more talked-about sunset dining spots in Izmir, the kind of place locals and hotel guests alike are recommending to each other right now rather than a fixture that’s always been on the list.

Because details like hours, seating, and menu pricing are still likely to shift as the restaurant beds in, treat anything you read online, including here, as a starting point. Confirm directly with the Swissotel Büyük Efes before you plan an evening around it.

Booking a table without the guesswork

Given the buzz and the limited number of window tables on a single ninth floor, reservations matter here more than they would at a larger, longer-established restaurant.

• Book through the Swissotel Büyük Efes directly, either by phone or via the hotel’s own channels, rather than assuming a walk-in table will be available.
• Ask specifically for sunset timing when you call, since that’s the window everyone wants and it will book out first.
• Request a table by the windows rather than deeper in the room; the view is the reason to choose Scappi over another hotel restaurant.
• Reconfirm your reservation the day before, standard practice for a newly opened venue still finding its rhythm.

Dressing for a hotel rooftop dinner

Scappi’s setting inside a five-star international hotel brand suggests smart-casual is the safer read, leaning slightly dressier for a sunset dinner than you would for a casual harborside meal elsewhere in Izmir. Layer for the evening: ninth-floor dining rooms with large glass frontage can run cool once the sun is down and the air conditioning compensates for the daytime heat.

Payment at a hotel restaurant of this caliber will follow standard international hotel practice, with major cards accepted alongside cash, and a service charge sometimes already folded into the bill. Ask when the check arrives if you’re unsure whether tipping further is expected.

Getting to the Büyük Efes

The Swissotel Büyük Efes sits centrally in Izmir, within easy reach of the city’s Konak waterfront district and the broader Alsancak area, both worth combining with a Scappi dinner if you’re spending an evening downtown. A taxi from most central Izmir neighborhoods should be short, and the hotel’s central position makes it a reasonable pre- or post-dinner base if you’re also exploring the seafront.

Because Scappi occupies the hotel’s upper floor rather than a street-level entrance, plan to check in with the hotel’s front desk or lobby staff on arrival, who can direct you to the elevator bank for the ninth floor.

Making an evening of it

Pair a Scappi reservation with a walk along Izmir’s Kordon waterfront promenade beforehand, watching the same bay you’ll later see from above catch the last light. The contrast of street-level harbor bustle followed by the elevated, quieter vantage point from the ninth floor is part of what makes the visit feel like an occasion rather than just a meal.

Given how recently Scappi opened, the smartest move is treating your visit as a discovery rather than a sure thing: book ahead, confirm hours the day before, and go in curious about how a Renaissance chef’s name translates into a plate on Izmir’s Aegean coast in 2024.