I spent five weeks living in Istanbul and found myself in paradise as someone who loves food. I also had the perfect people to talk food about: literally any Turkish person, they’re all very proud of their food. Luckily for me, I had so many at my disposal being a volunteer teacher at a language school. It worked out perfectly for me, because one of the easiest things to get them to talk about was food! So I had so many amazing recommendations for so many different foods, and sadly I didn’t get to try every restaurant and every food, but it just means I have to go back… right?
Mantı
I have a storied history with mantı. The first time I tried it, I thought it was made with pork, which made my stomach sour just thinking about it. On top of that, during the month I volunteered at Butterfly Valley, I ate it about eight times, so it became more of a chore than a treat. I thought I didn’t like mantı.
But it turns out I just didn’t like bad mantı.
Good mantı is a revelation. It’s the Turkish cousin of dumplings, and honestly, it’s hard to go wrong with a dumpling. What’s interesting about mantı is that they make the dumplings as small as possible, so tiny that you can fit minimum five on a spoon. A chef that makes the smallest mantı is revered for their skills. It is served with garlicky yogurt and a spicy tomatoey oil, good mantı is understandably a local favorite.
Döner
Döner is what I think most people must think of when they think of turkish food. It is the unofficial official fast food of Türkiye. It is meat that has been slowly roasting on a spit and then the chef shaves off the caramelized bits and adds it into a wrap with lettuce, tomatoes, onions and (ideally) some sort of sauce. It’s quick, filling and tasty. The perfect meal for lunch or after a night out.
Kebab
The Turkish people are very particular and very proud of their kebab (rightfully so). I think a lot of people get the wrong idea of what kebab is and assume it is the same thing as döner, but trust me, its not. Kebab is meat on a stick grilled over an open flame. It’s usually served with bread or wrap, usually alongside grilled vegetables like charred peppers and tomatoes.
From that, there are so many different styles of kebab. I don’t even know all of them, but whatever the style, I do know that kebab is best eaten hot off the grill.
Pide
Pide is often called Turkish Pizza, but really it’s its own thing. It’s a ovular flatbread with raised edges and in the middle are your toppings and cheese. It’s definitely not pizza, but I can see why people make the connection.
Lahmacun
Lahmacun (the “c” is pronounced like a “j”) is another Turkish pizza variation. Instead of being a flatbread though it’s much thinner and crispier. The thin dough is topped with minced meat, herbs and vegetables, then shoved into a stone oven for only a minute or two, where it comes out hot and crispy.
The proper way to eat it: squeeze on lemon juice, pile parsley and salad on top, roll it up, and eat it like a wrap. It is a super light and fresh meal, especially on a hot day, and very addictive. Don’t tell anyone, but I think lahmacun might be at the top of my favorites list.
Börek
Börek is flaky, golden pastry layered with fillings like cheese, spinach, or minced meat. It can be shaped like rolls, spirals, or layered pies, but whatever way it is very buttery and very rich. It’s a super common breakfast or snack, especially if you’re looking for something on the go.
Köfte
Köfte is a dish that crosses borders, found all over the Arab-speaking world under similar names, but Türkiye has its own proud version. Here, köfte means seasoned meatballs. The meat base is made pretty much the same way as everywhere else, with ground beef or lamb mixed with onion, parsley and spices, but then they shape it into small patties and grill them. Usually after that, they will load them into a loaf of break with onions, tomatoes and salad, to make it a more street friendly option.
Street-side köfte stalls are my favorite. Imagine: a grill set up on the sidewalk in the middle of summer. You get your köfte roll and sit on tiny stools on the street corner, or walk through the city eating with your hands. It’s not the fanciest meal, but its still hard to beat.
Meyhane
Meyhane isn’t a meal as much as it is a way to spend an evening. A meyhane is a place one would go to have Rakı (a Turkish liquor that tastes like fennel) and food. Rakı itself is a digestif drink, so you would have a glass, and a few mezzo dishes, rinse wash and repeat. Now, I dont particularly like Rakı, but I do love a mezze type dinner, so I would definitely see myself heading back to a meyhane and loading up on good food.
At a meyhane, you would usually start with cold mezze dishes, and then as the night wears on move on to warm dishes. There are so many classic meyhane dishes, but my favorite would have to be smoked eggplant purée.
Turkish Breakfast
I only ate Turkish Breakfast once somehow, during my five weeks living in Istanbul, but I promise it was really good.
We gathered a group of students and teachers from the language school and headed to a recommended spot for breakfast. At breakfast, you get an overwhelming amount of food put in front of you, and unlimited tea refills. Apparently, it is normal to sit and eat for hours, topping up your tea and just chatting. There was eggs, walnut butter, honey and clotted cream, olives, jams, tomatoes and cucumbers, cheese, fresh bread, and probably a whole lot more that I’m forgetting. I think you could put just about anything on the table as long as there are at least ten items and it would be considered a Turkish breakfast.
Kumpir
This is the one item on this list that I never got the chance to try, but I still feel like I should mention it. Kumpir is the Turkish version of a baked potato, but don’t tell the Turkish people that, they wont believe you.
You can get it just about anywhere, but the most famous is Ortaköy. There, the Kumpir stalls line the walkway, filling the air with smells, but mainly with the sounds of people yelling at you to come to their stand. Behind the glass is an array of many many different toppings. When you get your (massive) baked potato already mashed with butter and cheese until creamy. Then you pile on corn, olives, sausage, pickles, salad, peas and anything else, pretty much as high as you can.
Closed Burger
Have you ever eaten a burger and had the fillings launch themselves out the back, coating your hands in grease and sauce? Yeah, me too. If it’s a good burger, this is a near inevitable outcome.
Enter the closed burger, a genius invention that solves a problem which has been plaguing us for years. Imagine all the fillings sealed inside a bread roll, no mess, no fallout. As a self-proclaimed American, I felt duty-bound to try it.
When it arrives at your table, it looks like a fairly unsuspecting bread roll. Unlikely to encase anything inside. But after just one bite, all of the steam escapes and you find that suddenly you’re eating a burger. The best part of the experience was probably the sauces. The could pack so much sauce into the burger because it was self contained.
Wet Burger
On my last day in Istanbul, I finally tried a wet burger, another burger variety that I felt compelled to weigh in on. It is like a classic burger, no frills, just the bun and the patty, but all soaked in garlicky tomato sauce until it’s tender and, yes… wet. It’s not life changing by any means, but I get the appeal; its quick, cheap and feels like it would taste even better after a night on the town.
Ayran
Not really a meal, but I had to mention it. Ayran is the perfect companion to almost any Turkish dish… nay, any dish. It’s a drink made of just yogurt, water and salt. And don’t knock it before you try it. The first time I tried it, I hated it. The second time, I barely tolerated it. But by the third time, I couldn’t get enough, and now, even after leaving Türkiye, I drink it with any meal I can. And the best part is, even though I can’t buy it everywhere in the world, it is maybe one of the easiest things to make ever.
Turkish food has so much to offer, and from talking to my students about their favorite meals, it seems I barely broke the ice on all the different foods they have here. The Turkish people are extremely proud of their foods, and would argue very strongly that they have the best cuisine in the world. So much so that they even have culinary tourism within the country where they visit a place to try the food where it originates.
I hope this inspires you to try out a Turkish restaurant near you, or even to come to Türkiye and experience it all yourself. Trust me, it’s worth it!
xx Abby
PS. Special thanks to Cale Knopf for sponsoring this post by sending Jordan and I on a culinary tour of Istanbul! This opened my eyes to so much of the cuisine of Türkiye, it truly is one of the best ways to see a city and has inspired me to hopefully do more in the future :)!!!
So much deliciousness! Discovered Lahmacun on my first visit to Turkey and now order it most chances I get, it's so moreish...
Yum!
What a great menu,
Everything sounds delicious and brings back tasty memories of my travels years ago.