Image credit: fanfoAmidst Istanbul’s tapestry of rich history, colorful architecture, vibrant night life, and warm, smiling locals is a cuisine that just as remarkably dynamic as its other treasures.
Turkish cuisine is known for its seemingly infinite breadth of flavor imparted by herbs and spices such as mint, parsley, cinnamon, cumin, garlic, and dill. What’s remarkable is that even with the wealth of flavors, the Turks are able to maintain a balance of tastes, never overpowering.
Turkish cuisine is diverse, a wonderful exposition of the abundant flora and fauna with which the land is blessed. When in Istanbul, expect to indulge in delicious vegetable-based dishes, lamb, breads and pastries, cheeses, and yogurt.
Worried about gaining too much weight from all the good food in Istanbul? Burn the calories by walking around the city and admiring its gorgeous sights.
Enjoy this guide to the best food in Istanbul and where to get them at reasonable prices:
Image credit: Volkan_83If you’re used to a grab-and-go kind of breakfast, kahvalti will take you by surprise. Kahvalti is not just a dish; it is an experience to savor. Let’s start with the Instagram-ready presentation of a pot of tea, little plates of olives, cheeses, delicately-cooked eggs, tomatoes and cucumbers, cream and honey, an assortment of jams, yogurt, and fragrant, freshly baked bread. The culmination is a wonderful cup of local coffee.
Kahvalti is a meal of grandeur, but what’s even grander than the breakfast spread is the tradition of family gathering enclosed in the experience. When in Istanbul, strike a conversation with the locals and invite them to a traditional breakfast.
Here are the best places to have kahvalti in Istanbul:
Image credit: leeseanIf you belong to the type of people who can’t fathom other people’s fascination with eggs, Turkish omelet, or menemen, will definitely help you understand. In this dish, the eggs are lightly scrambled in creamy butter with onion, tomatoes, and green pepper. The tomatoes are cooked through to impart a saucy zing to the omelet.
As with most Western restaurants, menemen is usually served with a side of meat. In Istanbul, the common accompaniment is sucuk, a kind of a beef sausage that is both spicy and succulent. An accompaniment is not necessary, but more yummy food is always better. Besides, breakfast in Istanbul always means a feast.
Here are the best places to have menemen in Istanbul:
Image credit: byheavenA popular misconception about meze is that it is an assortment of side dishes and/or appetizers, akin to South America’s tapas, Korea’s banchan, and Italy’s antipasti. The truth is that meze is a meal itself, often served with traditional alcoholic beverages such as raki, arak, and mastika.
Meze is a smorgasbord of traditional Mediterranean dishes served in small platters, a hodgepodge of hot and cold dishes, of seafood, meat, cheeses, vegetables, and dips. Meze favorites include souvlaki (grilled meat on skewers), halloumi cheese (either grilled or fried), pastrami, sarma (grape leaves stuffed with lamb, rice, and herbs), tarama (mashes potatoes with olive oil and fish roe dip), and artichoke salad.
Here are the best places to have meze in Istanbul:
Image credit: ECV-OnTheRoadDoner kebab is Turkey’s greatest gift to the global culinary map. “Doner kebab” loosely translates to “rotating kebab” as it is a gigantic stack of meat roasted vertically in a rotating manner.
The most popular variant of doner kebab in Istanbul is a mixture of lamb and beef, with the fat melting away as if to marinate the leaner parts of the meat to result in succulent, flavorful, melt-in-your-mouth layers of charred meat.
There are several ways of serving doner kebab – on a plate with a side of onions, tomatoes, pickles, and yogurt; rolled in flatbread; and naked – with no sides, no garnishes.
Here are the best places to have doner kebab in Istanbul:
Image credit: Scott DexterIstanbul boasts of a wide variety of kebabs, and iskender kebab is one kind that you must never miss. Named after its inventor, Iskender Efendi of Bursa, iskender kebab is basically lamb kebab lovingly smothered with tomato sauce, topped with warm sheep butter, and finished off with a side of yogurt.
What you may notice is that people in Istanbul can be a bit intense about iskender kebab, with several eateries claiming to be the birthplace of the well-loved dish, or at least, to be a descendant of the great Iskender Efendi, who changed the landscape of kebab in this wonderful city. It is that good!
Here are the best places to have iskender kebab in Istanbul:
Image credit: Kirk KAdana kebab is named after the city of Adana, one of the famous “kebab cities” of Turkey. Adana kebab is minced lamb meat on a skewer. It might look like just another skewer of meat, but the preparation it entails is nothing short of remarkable.
Traditional adana kebab is made from young male lamb, carefully minced and mixed with tail fat and red peppers. The addition of tail fat guarantees that the meat doesn’t dry up as it cooks; the red peppers, on the other hand, lend a welcome kick to the kebab. Have your yogurt shake ready to cool off your tongue!
Here are the best places to have adana kebab in Istanbul:
Image credit: Garrett ZieglerManti has been the subject of debate among foodies – is it pasta? Is it dumpling? A little bit of both, perhaps? While the preparation appears to largely be of Chinese influence, the way it is served is unmistakably a lot like pasta.
Just like its history, manti preparation varies from place to place. Turkish manti is boiled and rather smaller in size than elsewhere, where it is steamed and significantly bigger. All over Istanbul, the most common variant you’ll find is generously stuffed with lamb and chickpeas, drizzled with yogurt, and finished off with hot butter, chili powder, and ground sumac. It’s also easy to find vegetarian options such as potato- or chickpea-stuffed.
Here are the best places to have manti in Istanbul:
Image credit: Sudharsan.NarayananKunefe is an ancient dessert with a history that goes as far back as the 10th century. A sampling of kunefe is mandatory when you’re in Istanbul, not only because of its role in Turkey’s culinary history but because it is really, really good.
Kunefe is warm, crispy, sweet, cheesy, syrupy, doughy, and a little savory from the crumbled pistachio nuts sprinkled on top. It is best consumed right out of the oven when the kadayif cheese is still hot and stringy. This delightful Turkish dessert resembles a cheese tart but instead of a pastry base, it has shredded dough protecting the gooey cheese inside. It is definitely the perfect, sweet ending to a spicy kebab meal.
Here are the best places to have kunefe in Istanbul:
Image credit: David WhiteBaklava is Turkey’s most popular dessert, bearing historical significance which goes as far back as the 8th century. Several countries claim to be the birthplace of this sweet dessert, but no historical account seems reliable enough to be taken as fact. One well-embraced fact, however, is that baklava is a definite must whenever in Istanbul.
It is believed that in the ancient times, baklava was fit only for royalty due to its richness and complexity. Fortunately, in the 21th century, baklava can be found in every corner of Istanbul – even outside of Middle East. It is layers upon layers of flaky filo dough bound by rosewater syrup or honey, and filled with ground nuts in the middle.
Here are the best places to have baklava in Istanbul:
Image credit: Garrett ZieglerCulinary purists argue that lahmacun is not exactly pizza in the truest sense of the word; for the rest of the foodies, however, it’s a simple case of “tomato, tomahto”. This Turkish pizza makes use of a thin flatbread as base, which is then topped off with minced beef or lamb, vegetables, herbs and spices. Lahmacun is good as a snack, an appetizer, or as a meal itself – any time of the day.
Several variants of lahmacun have emerged in the foodie market, but among the favorites are garlicky, doused with red chili flakes, and really crispy. All these are worth a try, but you can’t go wrong with the classic, either.
Here are the best places to have lahmacun in Istanbul:
Image credit: Stijn NieuwendijkSimit is a popular street food that you’ll find in every corner of Istanbul. From afar, it looks like a chocolate-glazed donut, but it is actually fluffy bread with a crunchy sesame exterior.
It’s common to see street carts and vendors peddling simit, but for simit in its most perfect state, you have to go straight to the bakery and get your stash as soon as the Turkish bread is ushered out of the brick oven.
Freshly baked, simit has that distinct roasted sesame aroma to stir your senses, only to be lulled by the soothing warmth of chewy dough. Simit is definitely delicious on its own but feel free to smear spreads, jams or pair it with cold cuts and vegetables.
Here are the best places to have simit in Istanbul:
Image credit: Garrett ZieglerDurum is common Istanbul fare. It is one way of preparing kebab, in which the grilled meat is wrapped in a flatbread called lavash. Lavash is excellent for durums as it is sturdy enough to hold in the meat, veggies, and sauce but not too thick that it becomes a bread-y experience. Lavash is light, chewy, and is the perfect complement to the flavorful grilled meat.
Durum is considered a complete meal in itself as it has bread, meat, and vegetables. The sauce – usually yogurt-based, perfectly binds the whole components into one delectable experience. Some durumcus amp the experience by grilling the durum before serving it – this gives it an extra crisp and a layer of charred, smoky flavor.
Here are the best places to have durum in Istanbul:
Image credit: Chantal RenaudEating balik ekmek (grilled fish sandwich) on a warm, sunny day must be on the top of any Istanbul travel itinerary. Selling balik ekmek by the Bosphorus strait is a half-century old industry. Back when fishing was the main source of living of Istanbulites, fishermen sold grilled fish sandwiches on their boat to augment their livelihood.
You can get your balik ekmek at fish markets or from makeshift food carts on boats by the Galata Bridge or Ataturk Bridge. Traditional balik ekmek consists of grilled whitefish, lettuce, and a drizzle of lemon, but it has evolved to include pickled vegetables and grilled chilies.
Stroll the beautiful city with a balik ekmek in hand – you’d want to be doing it over and over until you leave.
Here are the best places to have balik ekmek in Istanbul:
Image credit: Thomas StellmachSelling potatoes on the streets is nothing new – we have fries and chips everywhere but Istanbulites always have to take things to higher levels – potato not excluded. In Istanbul, there is this popular street food called kumpir, or loosely translated, “maxed out baked potato”.
Kumpir is definitely not your ordinary baked potato. It starts with a ginormous potato, which is sliced in the middle for a generous smearing of butter and cheese, and is finished off with an overwhelming assortment of toppings. Common toppings you’ll see at street stalls are corn, pickled vegetables, pickled beets, olives, hotdogs, kisir, and a dollop of yogurt.
Kumpir is great whenever you feel like just sitting and enjoying the refreshing Istanbul scenery.
Here are the best places to have kumpir in Istanbul:
Image credit: Kirk KKofte, just like pretty much any food in Istanbul, is a big deal in this city, so much so that it is almost as sacred as religion. You’ll find restaurants claiming to have the best kofte in town, and you can’t find it in you to disagree because it’s practically impossible to find Turkish meatballs in Istanbul that you wouldn’t end up loving.
Historically made with scrap meat, onions, and spices, kofte was invented as a means of stretching a Turkish family’s food budget. Nowadays, choices for meat are beef, lamb, pork, and chicken. These are then grilled atop hot coals which render a deep, smoky flavor that make it distinctly Turkish in nature.
Here are the best places to have kofte in Istanbul:
