What to Eat in Istanbul
Breakfast, street food, kebabs, seafood and sweets — the dishes worth planning your days around.
8 min readUpdated August 2026
Eating is the easiest thing to get right in Istanbul and the easiest to get lazy about. Step one street back from the main tourist drags and both the quality and the value change immediately.
Turkish breakfast
Kahvaltı is a spread rather than a plate: cheeses, olives, tomatoes, cucumber, honey with clotted cream, jams, eggs and endless tea. It is social, slow and best done late on a weekend morning.
Order menemen — soft eggs cooked with tomato and pepper — alongside, and skip lunch entirely.
Street food
Simit for breakfast on the move, balık ekmek by the Eminönü waterfront, kumpir in Ortaköy, midye dolma from a cart in the evening, and a lahmacun any time you are hungry and in a hurry.
- Simit — sesame bread ring, sold everywhere.
- Balık ekmek — grilled fish sandwich by the water.
- Midye dolma — stuffed mussels with lemon.
- Kokoreç — for the adventurous, late at night.
Sit-down meals
A lokanta serves home-style stews from a counter and is the best-value hot lunch in the city. A meyhane is for long evenings of meze, fish and rakı. An ocakbaşı grills kebabs in front of you.
Sweets and drinks
Baklava, künefe, dondurma and rice pudding all have their specialists. Turkish coffee is strong and served with water; tea arrives in tulip glasses all day long.
Experiences that fit this guide
Bosphorus Dinner Cruise
Dinner, live music and the illuminated Bosphorus skyline on a classic evening cruise.
from €59
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