The Best Food in Istanbul, Dish by Dish
Pick a dish below, then open its specialist ranking for named restaurants and maps. Use the separate What to Eat in Istanbul hub when you need definitions and food families first.
Want someone else to connect the dishes, neighborhoods, and ordering? Our Istanbul food tours turn the lists below into guided tasting routes with a local.
Kebabs and meat
One ranked list per kebab, from döner to İskender to köfte.
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Best Kebab in Istanbul: Top 12 Kebab Restaurants The overview list. Twelve kebab restaurants worth crossing the city for. -
Best Döner Kebab in Istanbul: 8 Top Spots Eight places that carve döner the way it should be carved. -
Best İskender Kebab in Istanbul Five restaurants for the buttery, tomato-sauced Bursa classic. -
Best Cağ Kebab in Istanbul Horizontal-spit lamb from Erzurum, at six places that do it right. -
Köfte in Istanbul: 8 Best Restaurants Eight köfte houses, because grilled meatballs deserve their own list. -
11 Best Steakhouses in Istanbul For when you want your meat off a grill instead of a spit.
Street food classics
The dishes you eat standing up, off a cart or at a counter.
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20 Best Turkish Street Food in Istanbul Twenty street foods explained, with where to find each one. -
The Best Lahmacun in Istanbul Six places for thin, blistered lahmacun out of a hot oven. -
The 6 Best Tantuni in Istanbul The Mersin wrap of chopped, griddled beef. Six places, with maps. -
The 8 Best Kokoreç in Istanbul Grilled lamb intestines. Sounds like a dare, eats like a classic. -
6 Best Çiğ Köfte in Istanbul The spice-loaded raw meatball, at six places that bring real heat. -
Cheap Eats in Istanbul Lower-cost choices, from esnaf lokantası trays to counter food.
Breakfast and bakery
The morning table, and everything that comes out of a fırın.
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The Best Breakfast in Istanbul: 10 Places Ten places for the full spread of cheeses, olives, eggs, honey and kaymak. -
Best Menemen in Istanbul Seven places for the soft-scrambled tomato and pepper eggs. -
Best Gözleme in Istanbul Seven spots for griddled flatbread filled and folded to order. - The Best Börek in Istanbul: 10 Places Ten places for layered, buttery börek, with photos to prove it.
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8 Absolute Best Pide in Istanbul The boat-shaped flatbread from the wood oven. Eight spots, with maps. -
12 Best Bakeries in Istanbul Cakes, pastries and proper bread, twelve bakeries deep.
Soups, stews and home cooking
The lokanta side of eating: slow-cooked and ladled from steam trays.
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The 9 Best Soups in Istanbul Nine soups and where to eat them, from lentil through işkembe. -
Best Kuru Fasulye (Bean Stew) in Istanbul Eight places that take the humble white bean stew seriously. -
Best Mantı in Istanbul Seven restaurants for the tiny dumplings under garlic yogurt. -
Best Stuffed Grape Leaves in Istanbul Five places that roll their sarma right.
Desserts and sweet things
Baklava, künefe and the rest, ranked shop by shop.
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Best Desserts in Istanbul: 12 Dessert Shops The sweet overview, twelve shops across town. -
Best Baklava in Istanbul: Top 10 Shops Ten baklava shops, ranked. Pistachio arguments included. -
Best Künefe in Istanbul: 10 Places Hot, crisp shredded pastry over melted cheese. Eat it the minute it lands. -
Best Katmer in Istanbul The Gaziantep pastry of pistachio and kaymak, and where to get it. -
Sütlaç in Istanbul: 8 Best Places Eight places for properly creamy rice pudding. -
The Best Turkish Delight in Istanbul Ten lokum shops worth your suitcase space. -
The 12 Best Ice Cream Shops in Istanbul Twelve shops, including the stretchy Maraş kind. -
The 10 Best Turkish Coffee in Istanbul Ten cups worth sitting down for, and how to order yours.
Seafood
Sit-down fish dinners, the street-side classics, and the markets in between.
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12 Best Seafood Restaurants in Istanbul Twelve restaurants for a proper fish dinner. -
10 Istanbul Meze Restaurants Ten meze houses. The cold spreads come before the fish. -
The 6 Best Mussels in Istanbul Six places for midye dolma, the stuffed mussels sold by the piece. -
Fish Sandwich in Istanbul (Balık Ekmek) The grilled fish sandwich, and where it's done well.
Pizza, burgers and international
For the day you want a burger: the international lists we trust.
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Best Pizza in Istanbul: 12 Pizzerias Twelve pizzerias that take their dough seriously. -
The 12 Best Burgers in Istanbul Twelve specialist burger restaurants compared in one guide. -
The 10 Best Sushi Restaurants in Istanbul Ten sushi restaurants compared across Istanbul. -
The 10 Best Italian Restaurants in Istanbul Ten Italian kitchens beyond the hotel standbys. -
The 6 Best Chinese Restaurants in Istanbul A short list, because we kept it honest. Six places. -
The 14 Best International Restaurants in Istanbul Fourteen options for when the table can't agree on a cuisine.
Learn the dishes before choosing a restaurant
Use the broad food-family guide when you need definitions rather than rankings.
- What to Eat in Istanbul: Dishes Explained Breakfast, street food, kebabs, meze, seafood, and desserts organized by food family.
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Turkish Kebab Types Explained A field guide to regional kebab styles before choosing a restaurant. -
Turkish Offal Dishes Explained Definitions for kokoreç, işkembe, liver, and other offal dishes. -
Turkish Meze Explained What the shared dishes are and how to balance a meze table. -
Turkish Ice Cream Explained How salep changes the texture of dondurma and what the shop styles mean. -
Istanbul Fish Markets A market guide for visitors who want to understand the city's seafood supply.
The restaurant shortlist
Every list above ranks a dish; this one ranks the rooms.
