An Island Memory in Bozcaada: Madam Antula
Bringing Bozcaada’s Turkish and Greek heritage together around the same table, Madam Antula carries the memory of a beloved island woman, a seafaring family’s legacy and a commitment to local production into the present.
As Bozcaada’s wind moves through the island’s streets, it carries more than the scent of the sea. At times, it brings back the memory of an old neighbourhood; at others, the aroma of preserves simmering in the same kitchen for years or an island story passed down from one generation to the next. Located on Değirmenler Street, with views of Bozcaada Castle and the windmills, Madam Antula is a table built around just such a story.
A Restaurant Named After an Island Woman
Madam Antula’s story begins long before the restaurant opened in 2022. The daughter of Afrodidi and Haralambo, Antula was born in 1944 on Bozcaada, historically known as Tenedos. Known for her warm smile, generosity and skill in the kitchen, she became especially renowned for her preserves and liqueurs, which grew into some of the island’s most cherished flavours.
Yet it was not only her cooking that made her special to Bozcaada. Carrying the spirit of a time when Turkish and Greek neighbours shared everyday life on the island, Antula earned a lasting place in the community’s memory through her kindness and solidarity. It is precisely this legacy that lives on today in the restaurant bearing her name.
Madam Antula’s connection with the Ermiş family also has a beautiful story behind it. In 2006, while building the hotel next to what would later become the restaurant, the family spent a long time searching for the right name. According to local lore, Antula dreamed of the name “Panorama” one night and called the family the following morning to share it with them. She thus became the person who gave Panorama Hotel its name. Years later, when the same family opened their new restaurant, they named it Madam Antula with her blessing.
A Family Story Leading from the Sea to the Kitchen
The story of Batu Ermiş, who brought Madam Antula to life in 2022, cannot be separated from Bozcaada’s relationship with the sea. After working as a captain aboard long-distance vessels, Ermiş eventually left life at sea behind and returned to the island. The local saying “the island draws you back” finds its meaning in his story.
His father, Ayhan Ermiş, worked for many years as a captain on the ferries connecting Bozcaada with the mainland while also pursuing fishing. His grandfather, Baki Ermiş, was likewise one of the island’s long-established seafarers and fishermen. The family’s connection with the kitchen comes from his mother’s side: Batu Ermiş’s grandfather, Nihat Şenoğul, known locally as “Hafız,” was one of Bozcaada’s former restaurateurs.
Madam Antula is therefore more than a recent restaurant venture. It is a contemporary expression of a family heritage shaped by seafaring, restaurateurship and island hospitality.
A Different Interpretation of Bozcaada’s Cuisine
An evening meal on Bozcaada usually brings fish and traditional island meze to mind. Madam Antula steps slightly outside this familiar pattern, presenting a more contemporary, meat-forward table inspired by Aegean and Mediterranean cuisine. Here, locality is more than part of the story; it defines the way the kitchen works.
Vegetables grown in the garden are used throughout the menu, from sauces to main courses. House-made preserves range from fig and tomato to grape and poppy. Some of the cheeses are also produced by the team, while the olive oil is pressed from the family’s trees in Bozcaada and Geyikli. Wild herbs growing naturally on the island’s slopes join the table when they are in season.
This approach defines Madam Antula’s kitchen through its relationship with ingredients rather than through elaborate presentation. As the seasonality of the Aegean meets techniques drawn from European cuisine, the result is an experience rooted in Bozcaada yet distinct from the island’s more familiar offerings.
More Than a Name
As the evening air begins to cool, Madam Antula’s view brings together different faces of Bozcaada within a single frame: the castle, the windmills, the stone streets and the sea. Yet what truly distinguishes the restaurant is the human story behind that view.
To sit at Madam Antula’s table is to encounter the kindness of an island woman, the memory of Turkish and Greek neighbourliness, the heritage of a seafaring family and a kitchen closely connected to the land—all within the same story. Perhaps this is why Madam Antula is more than a place to eat in Bozcaada; it is an elegant doorway into the island’s memory.