From Izmir to the sea.

"In Turkey we eat together for hours. I wanted to bring that to Barcelona."

Cem Akyüz arrived in Barcelona in 2009 from Izmir — a port city on the Aegean that gave this restaurant its name. He spent two years cooking in other people's kitchens before opening his own on the Barceloneta seafront in 2011.

The menu is neither Turkish nor Spanish. It borrows from both coasts of the same sea — the one that connects Izmir to Barcelona, that made both cities what they are. The paella uses saffron from Turkey. The börek uses olive oil from Catalonia.