Best Stuffed Grape Leaves in Istanbul: 5 Places for Yaprak Sarma
Where to eat the best yaprak sarma in Istanbul: 5 restaurants for stuffed grape leaves, from Kadıköy meze bars to Nişantaşı lokantas. Meat and vegan.
Plenty of people leave Istanbul saying they never ate stuffed grape leaves. They were busy with kebabs and döner and skipped one of the great treasures of Turkish cuisine: stuffed grape leaves, or yaprak sarma. Here are five places in Istanbul that do it well, with both meat and vegan versions.
These small parcels are called “yaprak sarma” (literally ‘wrapped leaf’), or just “sarma,” in Turkish, “dolmades” in Greek, and “warak enab” in Lebanon.
Two recipes run side by side in Turkey: “etli sarma,” with a minced-meat filling, and “zeytinyağlı yaprak sarma,” eaten cold and cooked with olive oil. Both are equally popular. The cold, vegan option is as fragrant as wine, and the meaty version is just as enticing.
Sarma is one of Turkey’s most popular dishes, meat or not. It is also a fixture on any good meze table. Unlike the Greek dolmades and Lebanese warak enab, the sarma in Turkey should be as thin as your little finger. That is the rule.
Best stuffed grape leaves in Istanbul at a glance
| Restaurant | Area | Sarma styles served | Good for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Çiya Sofrası | Kadıköy (Asian side) | Vegan meze + meat main | A wide regional table |
| Deraliye | Old city | Ottoman-style meat version | A sit-down Ottoman menu |
| Fıccın | Beyoğlu | Meat and vegetarian | A mixed meat-and-veg table |
| Tuşba Uzman Mezeci | Take-away only | Meze specialist, take-away | A picnic or hotel-room spread |
| Hünkar | Nişantaşı | Etli yaprak sarma (meat) | Classic lokanta home cooking |
1. Çiya Sofrası
This Kadıköy spot serves traditional Turkish food, and visitors often meet dishes here they have never seen before. What we like most is that the veggie options are not limited. Start at the meze bar for the sweet, vegan stuffed vine leaves, or take the meat version from the main courses section for a more savory plate. It anchors any walk through the restaurants of Kadıköy.
It is no wonder this place was featured on Netflix’s Chef’s Table, from lamb chops with quince to the vegetarian Roasted Fig. That fig dish is a real plate with savory pepper, onion, and garlic, a hint of sweetness from the figs, a touch of sour from the pomegranate sauce, and freshness from the parsley. Another standout, the tangy yet sweet tomato dessert, still has no rival.
2. Deraliye
This Ottoman-styled restaurant in the old city is a colorful banquet fit for a king. The dishes hail from different eras, with notes such as Sultan Mehmet favoring the oysters with garlic sauce. The vegetarian dishes are plentiful, and most are as good as the meat ones, if not better.
Cumin, cinnamon, ginger, and onion give the grape leaves a lovely perfume, and they are unusual in that, alongside currant and peanuts, they also carry cherries. They make a fine appetizer to the Lamb Neck with plum and a glass of red wine. If white is more your thing, the Mahmudiye, a village chicken with noodles, almonds, apricots, grapes, honey, and cinnamon, fits well.
You can take your yaprak sarma with non-alcoholic options like handmade lemonades, sherbets, and freshly squeezed juices, or with gin, whiskey, or cognac. Aside from the fruit salad, our favorite touch is that any dish you do not like is taken off the bill.
3. Fıccın
There are two types of stuffed grape leaves at this Beyoğlu favorite. The meat one mixes rice and minced meat, while the vegetarian one is a fan-favorite even with the staunchest carnivores. If you still cannot get enough, there is a hot meat version served with yogurt. It is one of the steadier choices among Beyoğlu’s restaurants.
We like most of the desserts here, but this warm, friendly room has one treat that stands out: the poppyseed revani, a light, fluffy semolina cake. The wines are good too, and you can mix your own drink with a third organic cranberry juice to two-thirds sweet blackberry sherbet.
4. Tuşba Uzman Mezeci
This Kadıköy spot is take-away only, which has its own appeal. There is a real pleasure in carrying a bag back to the hotel with a few friends, putting on some Turkish folk music, and spending the night over rakı and these finger foods. If rakı is not your thing, they pour plenty of other Turkish drinks.
They do more than grape leaves here. There are stuffed peppers, cabbage, and even calamari. If you want to set up the same kind of spread, the mussels stuffed with spicy, sweet, and savory rice are a must.
5. Hünkar
Hünkar has been cooking Istanbul home-style food since 1950, and it has held its spot in Nişantaşı, on Mim Kemal Öke Caddesi, since 2000. It works the classic lokanta way: somewhere between 30 and 35 Ottoman and Istanbul dishes are cooked fresh every day and set out at a counter, so you pick your meal by pointing at whatever looks best. It is the same model you find at the oldest restaurants in Istanbul.
The etli yaprak sarma, grape leaves wrapped around a minced-meat filling, is repeatedly named among the signature favorites here, and the restaurant keeps earning recommendations from international food guides year after year. If the meaty version is the one you want to settle in for, this is the sit-down spot to try it.
Taste sarma the way locals do
Sarma is one small piece of a much larger table. For more on the dishes and where to eat them, see our guide to the best food in Istanbul. If you would rather have someone walk you through it in person, our Istanbul food tours put meze, sarma, and the city’s classics on the same afternoon, with a small group and a local guide.
