Best by dish
The Best Food in Istanbul, Dish by Dish
This page is the index of every ranked food list we publish, and one rule covers all of them. We eat at a place before it goes on a list. We go back and check it again. When a spot closes or slips, it comes off. That's the whole method.
We've run food tours in Istanbul since 2013, in groups of ten or fewer, with guides who live and eat here. More than 50,000 guests have come along so far, and the eating we do between tours is where these lists come from.
If you already know the dish you want, you're in the right place. Pick it below. Each list gives you specific places, what to order at each one, and how to find them.
Kebabs and meat
Kebab is a family of dishes, and Istanbul argues about every member of it. Start with the overview if you want the lay of the land, or jump straight to your kebab if you already know it.
- Best Kebab in Istanbul: Top 12 Kebab Restaurants The overview list. Twelve kebab restaurants worth crossing the city for.
- 20 Best & Most Famous Turkish Kebabs The field guide to kebab types, useful before you commit to one.
- 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. Cheap, fast, and some of the best eating in the city.
- 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.
- Offal Dishes in Turkey: 11 Foods to Know The explainer for kokoreç, işkembe and the rest of the offal canon.
- 6 Best Çiğ Köfte in Istanbul The spice-loaded raw meatball, at six places that bring real heat.
Breakfast and bakery
Turkish breakfast is an event, and the city's ovens keep going all day. These lists cover the morning table and everything that comes out of a fırın.
- 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.
- 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 Istanbul eating. Slow-cooked, ladled from steam trays, and exactly what you want when it's cold outside or very late at night.
- 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
Sugar is serious business here. Dedicated shops do one thing for decades, and the difference shows. Start with baklava and künefe, then work outward.
- 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.
- Baklava Types: 14 Kinds of Baklava The explainer that gets you ordering past the basic tray.
- 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.
- Turkish Ice Cream: What Makes It Unique? Why dondurma stretches and chews. Read before you watch the show.
- The 10 Best Turkish Coffee in Istanbul Ten cups worth sitting down for, and how to order yours.
Seafood
Istanbul is a fish city with two seas and a strait running through it. These lists cover sit-down fish dinners, the street-side classics and the markets in between.
- 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.
- 12 Most Delicious Turkish Mezes The meze explainer, so the waiter's tray makes sense.
- 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.
- 5 Fish Markets in Istanbul Five markets, if you'd rather pick the fish yourself.
Pizza, burgers and international
Sometimes you're four days in and you want a burger. No judgment. The city does international food better than most visitors expect, and these are the lists we trust.
- Best Pizza in Istanbul: 12 Pizzerias Twelve pizzerias that take their dough seriously.
- The 12 Best Burgers in Istanbul Twelve burgers, ranked by people who eat köfte for a living.
- The 10 Best Sushi Restaurants in Istanbul The ten sushi spots we'd actually go back to.
- 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.
Eat through half this page in one day
The Taste of Two Continents tour starts with breakfast near the Spice Market, crosses the Bosphorus by ferry, and works through tastings in Kadıköy and Moda on the Asian side. It runs daily at 09:30, 10:30 and 11:30, costs US$135, and groups cap at ten people. Free cancellation up to 24 hours, and no booking fees when you book direct.
See the toursQuestions we hear a lot
How do these rankings work?
We eat at a place before it goes on any list, and we go back to re-check. When a spot closes or the quality slips, we take it off. The lists change because the city changes.
What should I eat first if I only have two or three days?
Döner at lunchtime when the spit is busy, lahmacun from a wood-fired oven, künefe served hot, and a balık ekmek by the water. Those four cover meat, bread, sugar and fish, and none of them needs a reservation.
Are the places on these lists stops on your food tours?
We keep our tour routes private, so we won't confirm or deny any specific stop. The lists stand on their own. They're where we send friends who visit.
Do you have all of this in one download?
Yes. The free Istanbul food guide PDF at /free-istanbul-food-guide/ covers the dishes worth planning around. The lists on this page stay the longer, more current version.