What to Eat in Istanbul: Our Recommendations from Turkish Breakfast to Burger Spots

A honest guide to what to eat in Istanbul, from breakfast spreads and street corn to the fried chicken combo we keep going back for.

Every time we go back to Istanbul, the trip ends up being planned around food more than anything else. We have eaten our way through breakfast tables in Fatih, chased down the same burger chain across three different neighborhoods, and learned the hard way which street snacks are worth the wait and which ones are not. This is not a list of the most famous restaurants in the city or the places every blog tells you to visit. It is what we actually order, over and over, and what we have quietly stopped ordering.

Turkish Breakfast, Kahvaltı

Breakfast in Istanbul can mean two very different things depending on where you go, and we have done both extremes more times than we can count.

For quick mornings, Espresso Lab has become a reliable stop. Their sandwiches are simple and well made, good coffee, and easy if you are trying to get somewhere early. But the real Turkish breakfast experience is the sit down version, and we have had some of our favorites at restaurants in Besiktas. We honestly could not tell you the names of most of them since we tend to just wander in, but the format is always the same, a huge spread of small plates covering the whole table, cheeses, olives, eggs, jams, and bread, meant to be eaten slowly over an hour or two.

If we had to pick, our favorite thing on any Turkish breakfast table is kaymak with honeycomb. Kaymak is a thick clotted cream, and when you spread it on warm bread and drizzle honey straight from the comb over it, it is one of those combinations that just works every time. Menemen is our other constant order, a soft scramble of eggs, tomatoes, and peppers cooked together in a pan. It has never once let us down.

Some of our best breakfast memories have actually come from the smallest places, the family run roadside cafes scattered through Fatih. These are not restaurants anyone recommends online, just small local spots where an older couple or a family runs the kitchen. We do not speak much Turkish and they usually do not speak much English, but we have had some genuinely great conversations there anyway, mostly through gestures, pointing at the menu, and a lot of smiling. It is a good reminder that some of the best food experiences in Istanbul are not going to show up on a map.

Turkish Tea and Coffee

Tea is everywhere in Istanbul and it is not really optional, it comes with almost everything, offered after meals, at shops, during breaks. Our favorites are the apple and pomegranate versions, both a little sweeter and easier to drink throughout the day than plain black tea.

Turkish coffee is its own experience entirely. It is thick, unfiltered, and strong, served in a small cup with the grounds settled at the bottom. It can be a lot for people who are used to a regular filter coffee, so pace yourself if it is your first time trying it.

For actual coffee shop coffee, Espresso Lab is consistently good and easy to find across the city. Our other favorite is 7K Coffee Workshop in Uskudar, on the Asian side, which makes the best Spanish latte we have had anywhere in Istanbul. Worth the trip across the Bosphorus on its own.

Meze, the Shared Plates

Meze are the small shared appetizer plates that usually open a longer Turkish meal, things like hummus, roasted red pepper spread, yogurt dips, and olives, all meant to be picked at slowly with bread while the main courses are still coming. They are common at sit down restaurants across the city, and if you are new to Turkish dining, know that meze is not the meal, it is the beginning of one.

Restaurants and Mains We Keep Going Back To

This is the part of the guide where we actually name names, because these are the places we have tried across multiple visits and multiple neighborhoods, not one off recommendations from a single good meal.

Kofteci Yusuf

If you ask This one is a genuine ten out of ten every single time, and we do not say that lightly. We have eaten at their Levent, Ortakoy, and Haramidere locations and the quality has never dropped. Get the cheeseburger. It sounds like an odd thing to order from a place known for kofte, but it is consistently excellent and has become our default order there.

That’s not to say that we haven’t tried the kofte though. Every time we visit Kofteci Yusuf and order the kofte, they’re the most succulent, tender pieces of grilled meat ever. Interestingly enough, they are far more juicy than a lot of the kofte and kebabs at more well-known places, so do yourself a favor and visit. 

Betro Burger

Betro Burger has locations in Besiktas and on the Asian side in Kadikoy that we’ve been to. What makes their burgers different is how they are made, the patty, cheese, and condiments are wrapped inside the bun dough itself and baked together, so you get this unique filled burger rather than a standard stacked one. The food has always been excellent, though we have noticed the prices have gone up quite a bit over the years, enough that it is starting to feel less like a casual option.

Arabic Restaurants in Fatih

Fatih has a strong concentration of Arabic restaurants, and honestly some of the best food we have had in Istanbul has come from these places rather than the traditional Turkish spots. The food is clean, cheap, and a lot more spiced and flavorful than typical Turkish cuisine, which tends to be milder. If your palate leans toward more heavily seasoned food, this is where to find it.

Lokanta

If you ask a local what to eat in Istanbul, chances are they’ll direct you to the nearest lokanta. Lokanta is more of a style of restaurant than a single chain, casual, cafeteria style Turkish spots serving home cooked dishes, and we have tried them in Kadikoy, Uskudar, Beylikduzu, Gulhane, Taksim, and a handful of other neighborhoods.

Our order is almost always the same, a baked potato stuffed with minced meat and topped with cheese, though their chicken gravies are also consistently good and worth trying if you want variety. Lokantas also tend to have a solid range of vegetarian options and meze along with dessert and drinks, which makes them an easy choice if you are eating with a mixed group.

Doyuyo

Doyuyo is a fried chicken chain and it has become one of our go to spots when we want something quick and filling. We almost always order their Friends Combo, which is meant for two people but is often more food than we can actually finish between us.

Yesen Burger and Burger Yiyelim

Both of these burger chains have been reliable across multiple locations. Nothing fancy, but consistently good, and easy to find scattered through the city when you want a quick, satisfying meal.

Desserts and Sweets

Istanbul takes dessert seriously, and we have tried a lot of it, with mixed results depending on where we went.

Hafiz Mustafa is the name that comes up constantly in every recommendation list when you’re trying to figure out what to eat in Istanbul, and we did try it, but honestly it was just okay. Nothing bad, just not the standout everyone made it sound like.

Our real favorite for baklava is Karakoy Gulluoglu, which is more of a local favorite and often gets skipped by tourists chasing the bigger name. If you only try one baklava spot in Istanbul, we would point you here instead.

Viyana Kahvesi is another regular stop of ours, mainly for their San Sebastian cheesecake, which has always been good. Our one gripe is that over the years the portions have gotten noticeably smaller while the prices have gone up, so it is starting to feel like less of a deal than it used to be.

Beyaz Firin, particularly the Levent branch, has consistently good pastries and desserts, and we keep going back. The one exception was a single visit where we ended up with a cake that was fully stale, which was disappointing given how reliable the branch has otherwise been. Worth noting in case it happens to you too, it does not seem to be the norm.

Street Food in Istanbul

Street food is where Istanbul really shows off, and you will run into most of it just by walking around the city, no planning required.

Roasted chestnuts are one of our favorites, especially in colder weather, when the warm paper cone of chestnuts from a street cart is genuinely one of the best small pleasures of visiting in winter. Sut misir, boiled sweet corn sold from carts, is another personal favorite of ours, though we would flag that we once got a stale batch in another Turkish city that left us with a stomachache, so it is worth checking freshness before you commit.

Midye dolma, mussels stuffed with seasoned rice, is genuinely amazing, but we will be honest that it is an acquired taste. If you have never had mussels before, this might not be the place to start, but if you already like them, it is worth seeking out.

Simit, the sesame crusted circular bread that is basically Istanbul in snack form, is a favorite of ours and always reliable. Our one tip is to get it warm if you can, since a cold simit gets stiff and genuinely difficult to eat, especially in winter. Acma and pogaca, both soft, slightly savory breads, are also consistently good and easy to grab on the go.

Food We Would Skip in Istanbul

Not everything we tried was worth the calories, and this is the honest part of the guide, the stuff we would not order again.

• Streetside pilav. This is boiled rice topped with shredded chicken, served cold, and locals seem to genuinely love it, often adding ketchup on top. We tried it once and would not go back for it. What’s surprising is that you’ll see tons of carts selling this meal even if you’re just in Istanbul for three days, but it will always be a hard no from us.
• Kebabs, generally. Most of the kebabs we had across the city were dry and fairly bland. Part of this is likely our own palate, we have South Asian taste buds and are used to a lot more spice, so Turkish food in general reads as milder to us. But dryness specifically was a recurring issue, so if you order kebab, go somewhere with a strong reputation rather than the first stand you see.
• Doner, unless you know the place is good. We had a lot of dry doner, especially around Taksim and Istiklal Street, which are heavily touristed areas. If you order it, ask for it saucy, that alone made a noticeable difference in the ones that were actually good.
• Simit Sarayi. This is a simit chain with locations everywhere, and the prices are genuinely high for something you can get from any street cart for a fraction of the cost. Skip it and buy your simit from a cart instead.

Istanbul food is not one thing. It is the quiet family run cafe in Fatih where nobody speaks your language and you still end up laughing over breakfast, and it is the burger chain you end up eating at in three different neighborhoods because it is just that good. Go in expecting variety, expect a few misses, and always say yes to anything with pistachio or honeycomb involved.