Türkiye is a big country, with amazing produce ranging from the hazelnut groves and anchovy-rich waters of the rainy Black Sea coast to the sun-drenched olive groves and fig orchards of the Aegean.
The best restaurants in Istanbul are a delicious showcase for it all. Istanbul has plenty of great street food and casual diners (lokantas), where you can experience traditional food at very reasonable prices. There’s also a growing fine-dining scene in the city offering everything from the royal cuisine of the Ottoman Sultans to superb modern interpretations of classic dishes. Look out for regional specialties too: from the Black Sea Coast in the north – where corn, butter and dairy define the rich, hearty cuisine – to southern Gaziantep, Türkiye’s gourmet capital famous for pistachios, spice-route flavours and legendary baklava; and Van in the far east, known for distinctive herb cheeses, Lake Van fish and extraordinary breakfasts. Here are some of the best restaurants in Istanbul, fine dining and casual – including one that might surprise you – and the must-try dishes at each one.
Matbah
In the historic Ottoman Hotel Imperial, chef Kadir Yilmaz specialises in royal Ottoman cuisine. Watch the light change over the Istanbul skyline while feasting on delicious flatbread with addictive eggplant and walnut dip or cheese-filled sailor’s börek, originating next door in Topkapi Palace (wrap pieces in the large rocket leaves with it). Staff do a great job of guiding guests through the menu and Turkish wine list too.
Pandeli
For a relaxed, traditional lunch in Istanbul, climb the turquoise tiled stairwell just inside the Spice Bazaar. Everyone, from Queen Elizabeth II to Audrey Hepburn, has eaten at Pandeli in its 125+ years. Chandeliers, vivid tiles, gracious waiters and refined food set a scene of Ottoman opulence. For me it’s all about the mezze: eggplant salad, braised green beans, and superb tiny okra with lemon and olive oil. Window tables have Bosphorus glimpses.
Fasuli Galataport
This casual restaurant is named for the white beans (fasuli in Turkish) braised with a little beef and red butter sauce, served from a huge pot in the open kitchen and made famous by owner Mehmet Akif Köse. They’re especially delicious with a little cacik and pickles. Specialising in food of the Black Sea Coast, Fasuli also has superb mihlama – a rich cheesy cornmeal porridge traditional to Rize and Trabzon. Great service, no alcohol (drink tea).
Baharat (previously Efendy)
There’s so much to try at Somer Sivrioğlu’s mod-Turkish fine-diner. You’ll need several visits to fully explore amazing mezze like smoked beef and honey-drizzled young tulum cheese to stuff into crisp dough pockets, and clotted cream-filled dried chilli (one of the best things I ate in 2026); duck bastilla theatrically scorched tableside; superb grilled lamb marinated in milk and onion juice; and a killer deconstructed baklava.
Turkish Airlines Lounge
Some of the best Turkish food I’ve ever had is at Turkish Airlines’ Istanbul lounge – a superb showcase of Türkiye’s regional cuisine with chefs cooking in multiple open kitchens. The gözleme is among Istanbul’s best street food and the pide, köfte, and manti are also superb. There’s a simit cart with Trabzon butter, lemonade and ayran on tap, and a great salad/mezze bar. It’s enough to make transit passengers ‘jump ship’ and head into town!
Updated 18 Sep 2026
Modern Turkish cuisine reimagines the rich, diverse traditions of Turkey’s many regions – from Ottoman palace cooking to Aegean olive oil dishes and the hearty fare of the Black Sea Coast – using contemporary techniques and seasonal local produce. At Baharat Kebap (previously Efendy), chef Somer Sivrioğlu is one of its finest exponents. The formats are familiar – dolma, börek, bastilla – but the ingredients are distinctly modern Turkish: smoked freekeh, young artisanal tulum cheese, clotted cream-filled kale biber. Ancient open-fire cooking techniques meet fresh ideas, transforming classic dishes in unexpected and exciting ways.
Chef Somer Sivrioğlu’s modern Turkish restaurant Efendy was on Nisbetiye Caddesi, the main street on the border between the affluent Etiler and cosmopolitan Levent neighbourhoods, about a 30-minute taxi ride from the historic centre. In September 2026 he renamed the restaurant Baharat Kebap.
Ottoman cuisine is the royal cooking tradition of the Ottoman Sultan’s court, developed over centuries in the palace kitchens of Topkapi. It’s characterised by the sophisticated use of spices, slow-cooked meats, game, stuffed pastries and sweet-savoury combinations that drew on ingredients from across the empire.
Matbah, the restaurant of the Ottoman Hotel Imperial in Sultanahmet, is the place to go — steps from Hagia Sophia and next door to Topkapi Palace. Chef Kadir Yılmaz trained at Asitane, Istanbul’s pioneering Ottoman palace cuisine restaurant, and is now one of only two chefs (along with Necati Yılmaz) carrying that tradition forward. He researches palace library records to recreate dishes once served in the Sultan’s kitchen, each dated to its Ottoman origin on the menu.
Yes. Pandeli, one of Istanbul’s oldest restaurants, is at the top of the turquoise tiled stairwell just inside the Spice Bazaar’s main entrance. It’s been serving traditional Ottoman food for over 125 years.
Mehmet Akif Köse, who hails from Rize on the Black Sea Coast, has opened several Fasuli restaurants in Istanbul, all specialising in the cuisine of his home region. The menus include his signature white beans braised with beef in a rich red butter sauce, and superb mihlama, a cheesy cornmeal porridge traditional to Rize and Trabzon.
A lokanta is a casual Turkish eatery where home-style dishes — such as slow-cooked stews, vegetables braised in olive oil, and stuffed vegetables — are prepared early in the day and kept warm in large pots or on steam trays. Diners point at what they want, eat well and inexpensively, and leave quickly. Closer to a canteen than a restaurant, they’re one of the great institutions of Turkish city life.
The Turkish Airlines business lounge at Istanbul Airport is widely considered one of the finest in the world — and the food is a big reason why. Multiple open kitchens serve excellent versions of traditional Turkish dishes including gözleme, pide, köfte and manti, alongside a simit cart with Trabzon butter, ayran on tap and an extensive mezze bar. It’s a genuine showcase for Türkiye’s regional cuisine — and reason enough to plan a connection through Istanbul.
In 2022, the Turkish government formally requested that the international community use Türkiye — the name Turks have always used for their country — rather than the English-language ‘Turkey’. The United Nations accepted the change immediately. Türkiye better reflects Turkish pronunciation and identity, and avoids the associations the English word ‘turkey’ carries. You’ll see both spellings in use internationally, but Türkiye is now the country’s official name in all languages.
