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Eating Out
Guide to Drinking and Dining in Istanbul

Istanbul is an immense city with a frankly staggering range of restaurants serving traditional Turkish cuisine.

Turkish eateries fall into several broad categories: The Lokanta is usually a homely restaurant specialising in meat and vegetable dishes cooked in rich tomato sauces, many derived from dishes cooked in the Ottoman palace. The Meyhane mixes restaurant with bar and is a traditional stop off for an evening's drinking often accompanied by starters (meze), with a huge plate of sizzling kebabs to follow. Similar to the Meyhane is the fish restaurant where plates of meze and glasses of raki are followed by grilled catch of the day.

There is no shortage of good places to choose from, and most are close to the main tourist centre of Sultanahmet. Here you'll find just about everything from standard international fare through traditional Turkish food to authentic Indian cuisine. The nearby fishing "village" of Kumkapi is a good place to head for local seafood.

A taxi ride over the Golden Horn, the one-time European quarter of Beyoglu boasts innumerable restaurants offering every possible take on Turkish cooking and a good range of international cuisine. Here you'll find more "modern" fare on offer in the myriad café-bars, several listed below under "bars".

PRICE GUIDE: (average cost of a main course):
= less than TRY8, = TRY8-16, = TRY16+

Lokanta - Ottoman / Traditional

Asitane
Kariye Hotel
Kariye Camii
Sokak Edirnekapi
Tel: +90 (0)212-534-8414

Next door to the unmissable Kariye Mosque and an attraction in its own right, Asithane serves up a heady mix of traditional Ottoman specialities and nouveau twists to old recipes, on a regularly changing menu. Live Ottoman classical music some evenings.

Cennet
Divan Yolu
Cemberlitas
Tel: +90 (0)212-513-1416

This Ottoman style fast food joint serves kebabs, salads, gözleme (essentially an Ottoman crepe) with various fillings and manti (Turkish ravioli). The food is cooked over stoves by women in national costume and served on low tables where patrons are seated on cushions in the traditional manner.

Haci Abdullah
Sakizaga Caddesi 17
Istiklal Caddesi Beyoglu
Tel: +90 (0)212-293-8561

Family run for over 100 years, Haci Abdullah Lokanta has survived by serving the best home cooking in Istanbul, in a bizarre fin-de-siecle setting decorated with huge gilt mirrors and oil paintings of fruit. If you think Turkish cuisine stops at kebabs, prepare to be amazed. The menu changes daily but features a selection of stews, roasts, salads and delicious desserts made from the bottled fruit stored on shelves around the dining area. Strictly no alcohol.

Meyhanes - Traditional

Along Nevizade Sok -
Istiklal Cad
Beyoglu -
On summer evenings Nevizade Sok (a side street off from Beyoglu's ancient fish market) and two adjoining alleys come alive as the dining centre of the city as the twenty odd meyhanes along here move their tables outside. All serve pretty much the same fare of meze, salads, kebabs and fish with beer, wine or raki. The longer established Krependeki and Boncuk tend to fill up quickest in summer while Alem with its huge upstairs dining room is popular in winter. Booking ahead is pointless, just turn up and take a table wherever one becomes free, and prepare to be entertained by Gypsy musicians and hawkers selling everything from fresh almonds to battery operated toys.

Fish - Traditional

Balikci Sabahattin
Seyit Hasankuyu Sok No 1
Sultanahmet
Tel: +90 (0)212-458-1824

Open for nearly 70 years and still serving up freshly caught fish and meze to be washed down with draughts of traditional raki. Although only a stone's throw from Sultanahmet, it's a good place to avoid the crowds, even when seated outside.

Kör Agop
Ördekli Bakkal Cad 7-9
Kumkapi
Tel: n/a

Run for three generations by an Armenian family, "Blind Agop" is one of the oldest restaurants in the fishermen's quarter of Kumkapi. Fresh fish from the harbour down the road, a good selection of mezes and lashings of atmosphere.

Vegetarian

Zencefil
Kurabiye Sok 3
Istiklal Cad
Beyoglu
Tel: n/a

Longest running of Istanbul's vegetarian restaurants, whose farmhouse-kitchen ambience disguises a very professionally run operation. Standards include quiche, spaghetti and meat free takes on Turkish dishes as well as daily changing specials. The salads and homemade bread with herb butter are rightfully famous. Reservations essential at weekends.

Persian

Pars Restaurant
Mesrutiyet Cad 187
Istiklal Cad
Beyoglu
Tel: n/a

The only Persian restaurant in town housed in a renovated 19th-century shop. Serves a good range of lightly spiced dishes beginning with breakfast at 07h00, lunch from 12h00-15h00 and dinner from 19h00-01h00.

Indian

Dubb
Incili Çavus Sok 10
Sultanahmet
Tel: +90 (0)212-513-7308

Currently the best Indian in town, and popular enough to warrant reserving ahead in high season, particularly if you want a pavement table. Relaxed atmosphere, good range of curries, rice dishes and bread and reasonably priced to boot. Expect to pay around TRY16-24 including drinks.

Bars

Perhaps surprisingly Istanbul has a vibrant and slightly crazy Western style nightlife scene split over several separate areas.

Despite the predominantly Muslim religion, alcohol is widely available or you can head for a more traditional establishment where locals drink strong Turkish coffee and chain-smoke cigarettes.

Although usually the first you come across in the city, bars around Sultanahmet can be rather sad affairs with no regular clientele. Most locals and an increasing number of tourists now head for Beyoglu (the former European Quarter) where the backstreets around Istiklal Street are home to a thousand cafés and bars.

One point to note though, while usually perfectly safe, Beyoglu does still have a sleazy side. Visitors are strongly advised to avoid anywhere boasting "dancing girls" or a "floorshow", and to pass up invitations to visit "a good bar" from anyone who stops you on the street. Reputable establishments don't need to employ touts.

Other interesting venues can be found on the stretch of the Bosphorus between Ortaköy and Arnavutköy, where many of Istanbul's more expensive clubs are located. Also note that most bars provide food, with surprisingly extensive menus of Turkish meze or more substantial meals. Bars and cafés habitually open until the early hour of the morning, at least 02h00 and often until 04h00.

Cadde-I-Kebir
Iman Adnan Sok 7
Beyoglu
Tel: +90 (0)212-251-7113
Pleasant café-bar owned by one of Turkey's better known film directors. Well stocked bar and reasonable range of pasta, salads and chicken dishes.

Dulcinea
Meselik Sok 20
Beyoglu
Tel: +90 (0)212-245-1071
Swish café bar with a rich, trendy clientele. Good place to chill out over a cappuccino or a cocktail or to sample the surprisingly reasonable Turkish menu. A separate dining area in the basement currently offers nouveau cuisine by reservation only. Occasionally doubles as a live jazz and dance venue, or as an art gallery.

Myott
Iskele Sok 14
Ortaköy
Tel: +90 (0)212-258-9317
Not a bar but an old-time café, popular with Istanbul's foreign residents and one of the few places offering European style cereals and fruit for breakfast.

Pano
Hamalbasi Cad 26
Istiklal Cad
Beyoglu
Tel: +90 (0)212-292-6664
One-time Greek owned wine-bar recreated as a popular yuppie watering hole. Partake of the extensive Turkish menu seated in the vaulted cellar or quaff beer and wine by the glass leaning on the bar. Book well ahead if you want a table on Friday or Saturday night.

Pia
Bekar Sok 6
Istiklal Cad
Beyoglu
Tel: +90 (0)212-252-7100
Pleasant café bar offering a good range of drinks as well as international cuisine from an all-day menu.

Soho
Bekar Sok 12-14
Istiklal Cad
Beyoglu
Tel: +90 (0)212-245-0152
Newish café-bar offering good value coffee and a range of meze in a deliciously colourful retro-70's interior.

Sultan Pub
Divan Yolu 2
Sultanahmet
Tel: +90 (0)212-528-1719
Nicely appointed bar, looking out over Aya Sofya and Sultanahmet square. Serves coffee, chilled beer and a range of grills.

 

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