Best Soup in Istanbul: 9 Soul-Warming Soup Restaurants
Where to eat the best soup in Istanbul: tripe at Lale İşkembecisi since 1960, trotter soup at Hünkar, and 20 to 25 daily pots at Ayık in the Kadıköy market.
A Turkish meal traditionally starts with soup, and in Istanbul soup also stands alone as a full meal. Locals eat it for breakfast at dawn, for a quick lunch on a market run, and after midnight on the way home. The nine restaurants below cover that entire clock. Some ladle classics like lentil and tomato; others specialize in tripe, trotter, and the rest of the offal repertoire. The best pots sell out early, so timing matters as much as the address.
Soup is one chapter of eating in this city. For the whole table, start with our guide to the best food in Istanbul, and if a bowl here follows you home, our list of Turkish soups and their recipes covers the classics one by one.
List of best soups in Istanbul
| Restaurant | Area | What to order |
|---|---|---|
| Hünkar | Nişantaşı | Lamb trotter soup |
| Shorba | Ataşehir (Asian side) | Oxtail soup, seasonal pots |
| Karaköy Çorba Evi | Karaköy | Lentil or Analı Kızlı, at lunchtime |
| Lale İşkembecisi | See map link | Tripe soup with garlic and vinegar |
| Kanaat Lokantası | See map link | Trotter soup, before noon |
| Paçacı Mahmut Usta | See map link | Trotter soup, ezogelin |
| Sarıhan İşkembe | Karaköy | Boncuk tuzlama, beyran |
| Şayan | See map link | Soup with kokoreç on the side |
| Ayık | Kadıköy | Whatever fills the day’s 20+ pots |
Every entry below includes a Google Maps link for the exact location.
1. Hünkar
Four generations of one family have run Hünkar, in operation since 1950. The menu draws on Ottoman palace dishes that go back centuries, and the kitchen makes three different soups fresh every day.
The one to order is the trotter soup: a rich, hearty broth with generous pieces of lamb trotter.
Location of Hünkar:
2. Shorba
Shorba is a small, cozy restaurant built around soup. The menu carries Turkish soups you will rarely find anywhere else, such as oxtail, next to international bowls like a Thai soup made with coconut milk. The lineup rotates with the seasons.
Portions are enormous. One bowl here is a full meal.
Location of Shorba:
3. Karaköy Çorba Evi
Karaköy Çorba Evi is a refuge for anyone who needs something warm in the belly. The long soup menu runs from tomato, yogurt, and mushroom to traditional Anatolian pots like Analı Kızlı, all made from fresh ingredients.
The most popular soups, lentil and chicken, are gone before evening. Come at lunchtime if you want the full choice.
Location of Karaköy Çorba Evi:
4. Lale İşkembecisi
Lale İşkembecisi has been an address for soup lovers since it opened in 1960, and the dining room wears those decades well.
The specialty is tripe soup, made from fresh, thoroughly cleaned tripe and served with garlic sauce for a kick and vinegar to sharpen the flavor. If the bowl wins you over, our Turkish tripe soup recipe walks through making it at home.
Location of Lale İşkembecisi:
5. Kanaat Lokantası
In business since 1933, Kanaat Lokantası opens its doors at 06:00 every morning, because soup is the first meal of the day for many of its regulars.
The paça çorbası (trotter soup) is so popular among locals that it sells out before noon every single day.
Location of Kanaat Lokantası:
6. Paçacı Mahmut Usta
The name translates as “trotter soup master Mahmut,” which tells you exactly what to order.
The kitchen works with Balıkesir lambs, considered some of the best in Turkey, seasoned with buffalo yogurt. The preparation takes many hours and an experienced butcher to get the balance right in every bite.
The ezogelin and mercimek çorbası (lentil soup) are very good here too.
Location of Paçacı Mahmut Usta:
7. Sarıhan İşkembe Karaköy
Sarıhan İşkembe serves warm soup 24 hours a day, which makes it the address to know after midnight. It ranks among the most popular soup restaurants on the European side of Istanbul.
Boncuk tuzlama is the house specialty, and the menu also carries traditional Turkish soups like beyran, tomato, and village chicken.
Location of Sarıhan İşkembe Karaköy:
8. Şayan
Şayan is the soup stop celebrities head to when they need to land softly after an intense night out.
For a fuller meal, the menu adds grilled meat and kokoreç to the wide range of soups, and there are some vegan options too, so a mixed group can all eat well.
Location of Şayan:
9. Ayık
Ayık is the one restaurant the Kadıköy market cannot live without. The menu lists 20 to 25 different soups each day, and it caters to every palate, with many options for people who pass on offal soups like tripe.
The restaurant sits in the center of Kadıköy, easy to find on a market walk. If you are spending the day on that side of the water, our guide to the best Kadıköy restaurants covers where to eat before and after the soup.
Location of Ayık:
Final words
Nine soup houses is more than one trip needs, so choose by craving and by clock: tripe at Lale İşkembecisi, an early trotter bowl at Kanaat before it runs out, or a slow tour of Ayık’s twenty-plus pots in Kadıköy. Whichever you pick, do it the local way and order soup as the meal itself.
If you would rather eat through the city with a local leading the way, join one of our Istanbul food tours. We have run them since 2013, in small groups capped at 10 guests.
