10 Best Kadıköy Restaurants: Market Lokantas to Late-Night Kokoreç

Step off the ferry at Kadıköy and the eating starts within a block. The market streets stack a lokanta from 1919, a köfte grill from 1986, pide ovens, and a wood-fired lahmacun counter into a few minutes’ walk, with Moda’s fish tables and Yeldeğirmeni’s kitchens just beyond. It is hard to cover ten feet here without passing somewhere worth a stop.

This guide, one chapter of our Istanbul neighborhood food guides, picks the ten Kadıköy restaurants we rate highest, each with a Google Maps link.

The 10 restaurants at a glance

Restaurant	Best for	Since
Çiya Sofrası	Southeastern dishes and forgotten recipes	-
Pidesun	Samsun-style pide	2004
Kadı Nimet Bakery & Coffee	Turkish coffee, cherry cake, daytime fish	1970s stall, 2001 restaurant
Yanyalı Fehmi Lokantası	Yanya meatball, lokanta classics	1919
Cibalikapı Balıkçısı Moda	Seasonal fish and meze	-
Reks Kokoreç	Kokoreç and stuffed mussels	-
Ekspres İnegöl Köftecisi	İnegöl köfte	1986 in the market
Küff Yeldeğirmeni	World classics plus Turkish breakfast	-
Kebapçı İskender	İskender kebab	Recipe since 1867
Borsam Taşfırın	Wood-fired lahmacun	-

A dash means no founding date we can vouch for; we print years only where the record supports them.

1. Çiya Sofrası

Çiya puts the cooking of Gaziantep, Turkey’s food capital, a ferry ride away. There are two Çiya restaurants next to each other in the market, Çiya Kebab and Çiya Sofrası. The kebabs rank with the best in Istanbul, and the house lahmacun deserves its own order.

Çiya Sofrası is the rarer half. It is one of the few restaurants in Istanbul specializing in dishes from the country’s past, recipes largely forgotten through modernization and the influx of international influences.

The modest three-story building has a rooftop patio overlooking the Kadıköy Market. Plan on a second visit before you finish the first; the food stays with you that long.

Find Çiya Sofrası on Google Maps

2. Pidesun

Pidesun opened in 2004 and has served Samsun pide ever since. The ingredients come from Samsun, on Turkey’s Black Sea coast, and so does the staff. The name has nothing to do with the summer sun, either; it is a play on Samsun.

Pide is a Turkish cousin of pizza, baked in a different shape and without tomato sauce. The order to know is the Pastırmalı Kaşarlı Açık Pide, an open pide with kaşar cheese and pastırma, a cured beef that can land heavy if you are not used to spiced food.

Service runs to a high standard, and the kitchen also covers mantı, soup, pizza, salads, and a range of traditional Turkish drinks.

Find Pidesun on Google Maps

3. Kadı Nimet Bakery & Coffee

Kadı Nimet has been part of the Kadıköy fish market since the 1970s, when fishmonger Nimet Köseoğlu began selling fish here. A restaurant followed in 2001. The ground-floor fish counter is still in place, with dining floors and a terrace stacked above it.

The venue now trades as Kadı Nimet Bakery & Coffee, and the menu leans toward coffee, cakes, croissants, and breakfast. Recent reviewers keep coming back to two things: the Turkish coffee and the cherry cake. Fresh fish and seafood are still on offer.

Find Kadı Nimet Bakery & Coffee on Google Maps

4. Yanyalı Fehmi Lokantası

Yanyalı Fehmi has cooked in the Kadıköy market since 1919, which makes it the oldest kitchen on this list and one of the best on the Asian side. If you want a single dining room that covers the breadth of Turkish cuisine, this is it.

The dish to know is the Yanya meatball: specially prepared köfte wrapped in thin slices of eggplant, then baked with tomatoes.

The menu runs long. Soups, meat dishes, fish and seafood, stews, grills, pastries, vegetable dishes, and a serious dessert selection all get space.

Find Yanyalı Fehmi Lokantası on Google Maps

5. Cibalikapı Balıkçısı Moda

Down in Moda, Cibalikapı runs the old Turkish tavern formula with a modern hand. The interior is earthy, with wooden floors, building, and furniture that read warm, fresh, and clean at once.

The kitchen prepares a spread of cold and hot appetizers, then keeps the fish list deliberately short: a small number of fresh, seasonal catches rather than a huge menu.

Find Cibalikapı Balıkçısı Moda on Google Maps

6. Reks Kokoreç

Reks is one of the most famous kokoreç and mussel sellers in Istanbul, and one of the smallest rooms on this list: five tables inside, a few benches out front. The smell off the grill does the advertising.

Turks love their offal, and kokoreç is the classic of the genre, a sandwich of grilled lamb intestines with a standing reputation as hangover food. The bars and clubs nearby keep Reks packed on weekends, when locals stop in after a long night out. Our kokoreç guide maps where else to chase it across the city.

Beyond the namesake, the counter also serves stuffed mussels and sucuk sandwiches.

Find Reks Kokoreç on Google Maps

7. Ekspres Inegöl Köftecisi

Meatballs are serious business in Turkey. Ekspres Inegöl Köftecisi has served İnegöl köfte in the Kadıköy market since 1986, carrying on a family köfte tradition that goes back to 1963 in İnegöl.

İnegöl köfte leads the menu, alongside kuzu şiş (lamb skewer), piliç şiş (chicken skewer), and kaşarlı köfte. Fried potatoes and piyaz, a bean and onion salad, round out the table. Sütlü tel kadayıf handles dessert.

Find Ekspres Inegöl Köftecisi on Google Maps

8. Küff Yeldeğirmeni

Kadıköy is where the Asian side’s young crowd gathers, and that crowd eats well beyond the traditional canon. Küff, in the Yeldeğirmeni quarter, is their pick.

The menu mixes world classics with Turkish staples. Croque Madame, Mexican chicken, burritos, quesadillas, and Cuban sandwiches share the page with Turkish breakfast, pizzas, and burgers.

Find Küff Yeldeğirmeni on Google Maps

9. Kebapçı İskender

İskender kebab traces back to Bursa, where Kebapçı İskender’s founder is credited with inventing the dish, and the family has been doing it right since 1867.

Every variation on the döner stands or falls on the quality of the red meat. İskender is no different. High-quality beef and lamb cooked over charcoal gives the meat the crust the dish is famous for. We trace the full story, and where else to eat it, in our İskender kebab guide.

Find Kebapçı İskender on Google Maps

10. Borsam Taşfırın Tarihi Çarşı

Borsam Taşfırın makes a case for the crispiest lahmacun in Kadıköy. The topping is carefully selected, hand-minced lamb with parsley, ripe tomatoes, and a spice blend from Urfa, and the wood-fired oven does the rest. The result stands with the best lahmacun in Istanbul.

Order one to eat as you walk the market, or take a street table and let the neighborhood’s colors, smells, and everyday noise season the meal.

Find Borsam Taşfırın on Google Maps

Final words

Kadıköy rewards repeat visits. Breakfast spots, market lokantas, a late-night kokoreç counter, and Moda’s fish tables cover every appetite and hour, and the list above only scratches the densest blocks. For the wider map on this shore, our guide to the best restaurants on the Asian side keeps going.

If you would rather eat through these streets with a local leading the way, our Kadıköy street food tour runs Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday evenings at 18:00 and covers the neighborhood in three hours.