Çiğ Köfte in Istanbul: 6 Restaurants Still Making the Raw Meatball With Meat
Six Istanbul restaurants still making çiğ köfte the authentic way, with raw meat, plus the vegan chains across the city and how locals eat it.
Most çiğ köfte sold in Istanbul today contains no meat at all. The original recipe, raw lamb cured in hot spices, has been banned from commercial mass production for health reasons, so the authentic version survives in a handful of sit-down restaurants. This guide lists the six that still make it with meat, then the vegan chains you can find on almost any street. Often mistaken for a version of steak tartare, çiğ köfte stands on its own with its fiery spice, its sweet yet sour pomegranate molasses, and its smooth texture, and it has earned a seat among the best food in Istanbul.
The method is simple and old. Finely ground fatless lamb, bulgur, onions, garlic, tomato, and hot pepper paste are kneaded with extremely hot spices (isot, pul biber) until the spices cure the lamb. Nothing touches a flame, which is why it has to be consumed fresh. With its wavy ridges and lettuce coat, the dish is a shared tradition among Turks, Armenians, and Arabs.
Çiğ köfte is sold all around Istanbul and is one of Turkey’s most famous street foods. You can hear how to pronounce it here. And if you came looking for the cooked kind, the grilled Turkish meatball has a guide of its own.
The six restaurants at a glance
| Restaurant | Çiğ köfte detail | Also order |
|---|---|---|
| Develi Kebap | Hand-minced meat, lettuce served alongside | Beyti kebab, a Turkish wine to match |
| Çanak Kebap & Katmer | Evenings only, under lettuce and pink turnips | Dry eggplant stuffing, homemade pickles |
| Köşkeroğlu | Green onions in the mix, fiercely spicy | Köşkeroğlu kebab, cold-brewed licorice tea |
| Çiya Sofrası | Fridays only | Perde pilavı, fig ice cream |
| Kaşıbeyaz Florya | Hot enough to pair with a cold beer | Tahini profiterole, Wednesday ekşili köfte soup |
| Pirpirim Gaziantep Mutfağı | Pairs with walnut and pomegranate lahmacun | Adana kebab, menengiç coffee |
1. Develi Kebap
Perhaps it’s the history stretching back to 1912, but this place really knows how to host a feast. They favor hand mincing their meat instead of using machines to lock in the juiciness.
Appetizers and meze here are no afterthought. Develi believes each one should be eaten slowly and with the utmost pleasure, which may be why their raw meatballs are presented so proudly and so openly, lettuce on the side.
The English-speaking staff at this stylish spot are genuinely helpful, so ask them to recommend a good Turkish wine to go with your meal if you’re not drinking the fresh orange juice. For the main course, the Beyti kebab arrives golden with fresh green herbs on top. Leave room for dessert.
2. Çanak Kebap & Katmer
If you’re exploring Istanbul with kids and just want a quiet meal, this pretty yet humble restaurant has a children’s playpen and doesn’t hit the wallet too hard. More places that go easy on your budget live in our cheap eats in Istanbul guide.
They only serve çiğ köfte in the evenings. Miss the window and the nettle soup is a fine consolation. The blushing çiğ köfte hides underneath a quilt of lettuce and colorful pink turnips, and the menu carries plenty of no-fat meat dishes that take it easy on your waistline.
If eggplants are your enemy, this is the place to reconcile, either through the dry eggplant stuffing or the eggplant dessert, which tastes far better than we expected.
When you’re done, you can grab homemade items to take home, like the pickles, free of artificial preservatives.
3. Köşkeroğlu
If you know the secret to taste is onions, you’ll be glad to hear this refined neo-baroque spot adds green onions as well as the normal kind to its çiğ köfte. Fiercely spicy, it goes well with their cold-brewed licorice sweet tea to cool yourself down.
After çiğ köfte as an appetizer, it’s a hard pick between the Köşkeroğlu kebab, with grilled cheese, finely chopped pastrami, and pistachio embedded in the meat, or the Chef’s Special Kebab, with cheese and nutmeg in the meat, topped with basil yogurt and a tomatoey hot sauce. If you go for the latter, ayran is your best friend.
When you’re done, try the thyme tea to help you digest everything.
4. Çiya Sofrası
This quaint, unassuming spot changes its menu by the day of the week. On Fridays, and only on Fridays, you can get çiğ köfte, while your vegetarian friend works through a long selection of vegetarian and vegan dishes.
Arrive on the wrong date and the fig ice cream (think evaporated milk with fig inside) will soothe the disappointment. The sour, slightly tangy okra is scrumptious if you like tart food, and the Tas kebab with its tomatoey sauce runs more savory than sour. The Perde Pilavı (curtain rice) is like a lava cake or souffle, except it holds rice, raisins, crunchy pine nuts, and almonds. Yum.
5. Kaşıbeyaz Florya
This flamboyant, almost Edwardian restaurant must love nature, given how the interior is decorated and how naturally the kitchen approaches its dishes.
That may be why you’ll find seasonal fruit juice, seasonal fruit salad, and even seasonal fruit desserts here. If your favorite fruit isn’t in season, the tahini profiterole is a creamy touch of heaven.
Every day of the week brings a different special. Visit on a Wednesday and get the sour small meatball soup (ekşili köfte); Saturdays bring lamb cubes drizzled with buttery thyme and served with yogurt.
If you really want to amp up the spiciness of the raw meatballs, a crisp Turkish beer will have you calling the fire brigade. Reserve early and this high-class restaurant can seat you in a private family booth, at least while your kids are busy in the playpen.
6. Pirpirim Gaziantep Mutfağı
This is another place where the çiğ köfte presents itself loud and proud. Tasting like that, how could it not? It pairs excellently with the lahmacun, especially the one with walnuts and pomegranate molasses for a touch of spicy, sweet, and tangy.
Throw in one of the many colorful salads and you may not have room left for a liver kebab. If you want to keep things spicy, though, the Adana kebab will have you sweating as if you just finished up at the gym.
The desserts come in two sizes, so if temptation is a problem, go small. This could also be your first chance to try menengiç coffee, a caffeine-free cousin of Turkish coffee made from wild pistachio.
Vegan Çiğ Köfte Places
Our vegan friends are far more fortunate than devoted carnivores, because a huge selection of chains and franchises have veganized the çiğ köfte recipe without sacrificing the taste. These chains and many smaller çiğ köfte shops are scattered all around Istanbul and easy to find.
Start with Tatlıses Çiğ Köfte, founded by the famous Kurdish singer Ibrahim Tatlıses, a.k.a. The Emperor. There’s also the similarly red but more serious Komagene, and the lime green Oses Çiğ Köfte.
Meşhur Adıyaman Çiğ Köftecisi runs slightly milder and quite sweet with its pomegranate molasses.
Çiğ Köfteci Ömer Usta is famous for its gigantic portions.
Çiğköfteci Ali Usta may be the exception, with only one branch, beside the Sirkeci tram stop. The showmanship at the counter made the shop famous, and it remains a Sirkeci institution.
Çiğ köfte sits firmly in the canon of Istanbul’s iconic foods, and the easiest way to eat through that canon with a local is our Kadıköy street food tour, three hours on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday evenings with groups capped at ten.
