Our Turkish food guide: 10 dishes to try in Türkiye, from kebab and doner to baklava and kunefe, plus halal tips, Ramadan dining and choosing restaurants.
Turkish cuisine blends Ottoman palace cooking, Anatolian village dishes and the olive-oil tradition of the Mediterranean, and it is one of the closest cuisines to the Gulf palate: balanced spices, meat-centred, with rice and bread at every table. Meat sold in Türkiye is overwhelmingly halal-slaughtered, so halal certificates are rarely displayed; just check the menu for alcohol and, rarely, pork in western-style restaurants. Here are ten flavours you must try.
1–3: Breakfast, kebab and pide
Turkish breakfast is a meal in itself: assorted cheeses, olives, honey with clotted cream, menemen, eggs with sucuk and pots of tea; Van breakfast and the village breakfast of Sapanca are the most famous. Kebab means the trio of Adana (spicy minced meat), Urfa (mild) and Bursa Iskender (yoghurt and butter sauce); in Istanbul the south-eastern restaurants of Fatih and Aksaray are the best addresses. Pide is the boat-shaped bread of the Black Sea, baked in a wood oven with minced meat, diced lamb or cheese.
4–6: Doner, manti and lahmacun
Doner is the king of Turkish street food; a sandwich costs approximately 100–150 TL and a plate 250–350 TL, though prices change quickly. Manti, the tiny dumplings of Kayseri, are served with yoghurt and garlic butter and are the children's favourite. Lahmacun is Gaziantep's thin flatbread topped with spiced minced meat, rolled with lemon and parsley; two or three make a meal.
7–8: Fish sandwich and kumpir
Grilled mackerel or bluefish in bread, cooked on boats at Eminonu, is the cheapest Istanbul classic, eaten with a Bosphorus view. Ortakoy's kumpir is a roasted potato stuffed with butter, cheese and dozens of toppings; eaten in the square with the mosque and bridge in view, one portion serves two.
9–10: Baklava and kunefe
Gaziantep pistachio baklava is Türkiye's most famous dessert; in Istanbul, Karakoy Gulluoglu and Hafiz Mustafa are the best-known addresses, and a kilo costs about 900–1,200 TL. Kunefe is Hatay's hot dessert of shredded pastry and cheese, topped with ice cream or clotted cream. Turkish coffee and Turkish delight (rose, pistachio, pomegranate) are served alongside both.
Halal, alcohol and Ramadan
Meat and chicken sold in Türkiye are overwhelmingly halal-slaughtered; the word 'pork' is rare on menus and usually appears only in tourist-oriented western restaurants. Restaurants that serve alcohol state it on the menu; in districts such as Fatih, Uskudar and Eyup it is easy to find alcohol-free restaurants. In Ramadan restaurants stay open during the day, iftar menus are prepared from 17:00 and communal iftar tables are set up on Sultanahmet Square. For vegetarians, olive-oil meze (imam bayildi, stuffed vine leaves, fava) are available at every restaurant.
Choosing restaurants and tipping
The tourist restaurants facing the square in Sultanahmet can be expensive and mediocre; two streets back you find the same food at half the price. Ask to see the price list before ordering, and at fish restaurants ask the price per kilo. Tipping is not compulsory; 5–10 percent is a polite thank-you. On our package tours, such as the Istanbul Tour (7 Nights / 8 Days), our guides recommend halal, family-friendly and fairly priced restaurants; Syrian and Lebanese restaurants with Arabic menus are common in Fatih.
