Efes Restaurant & Bar is named after Ephesus, a historical city in the
Aegean Turkey and also from Kazim’s 1st London restaurant which he
opened in 1975. Efes was re-opened in 2021.
Kazim continues to work as a chef, which explains the consistently high
standard of the delicious and authentic taste of Turkey to be found only
at Efes Restaurant
Turkish cuisine is most sensuous by virtue of its earthliness and the
fact that the finest and freshest ingredients are prepared from scratch
on Efes’ premises. To our chefs the real beauty is in the food’s
content and its flavour which comes from thousands of years of
understanding its wants and needs.

EFES or EPHESUS in ancient times was an important city on the Aegean coast of Turkey near modern day Izmir. It was once the Roman capital of Asia.
Efes Restaurant & Bar
The archeological site is now a famous tourist attraction with many impressive ruins. The TEMPLE OF ARTEMIS
was one of the seven wonders of the ancient world but sadly is now reduced to a single standing column.
Fortunately many of the archeological remains are better preserved including the GYMNASIUM OF VEDIUS,
a combined gymnasium and baths dating from AD. 150, and the THEATRE. This is a massive tierred
area carved out of the side of Mount Pion seating 24,000. The Theatre is still in use for the Ephesus Festival.
The MARBLE ROAD leads from the Theatre past the LIBRARY OF CELSUS with its beautiful marble facade to the
BATHS OF SCHOLASTICA. These baths are an impressive example of Roman Baths which had cold, tepid and
hot areas and were heated by circulating steam. Near these Baths are the remains of the TEMPLE OF HADRIAN,
well preserved with many rows of columns and sculptures. The PYRATHE-RIUM housed the holy light which was a
flame kept burning all the time to allow the people to obtain fire to light their lamps and stoves.
This flame was guarded by girls of the noble families known as The VIRGINS OF HESTIA.
Ephesus has many early links with Christianity. The legend of the SEVEN SLEEPERS says that in AD.250, seven Christian
youths, and their dog Kitmir, hid in a cave in order to escape religious persecution. They fell asleep for 200 years
and the first to wake went to the baker for bread where he was told the money he offered was 200 years old!
Fortunately by this time Christianity was the accepted religion in the city. When the seven eventually died a church
was built on the site of their graves and is now an important place of Christian pilgrimage.
The Virgin Mary is said to have spent the latter part of her life at Ephesus after coming there
with St. John, and her house is now a shrine.
The goddess Artemis predates Christianity to the time of the Ancient Greeks. Her name
derives from an ancient Anatolian language and the Romans knew her as Diana. She was a diety
who represented fertility and plenty and although a virgin was a mother and a helper to women
in childbirth. These qualities are paralleled in many ways by the Virgin Mary of Christianity. In
statues, Artemis of Ephesus is represented with many breasts, symbolising fertility.