Changa and Muzdechanga

Still going strong after 10 years, the menus at ultra-modern Changa and Muzdechanga are created under the watchful eye of Kiwi chef Peter Gordon. Peter Gordon was the founding father of London’s fusion movement as head chef of iconic restaurant The Sugar Club so you can expect creative modern interpretations of Turkish food with lots of surprises. Start off with a Turkish caipirinha made with Bodrum tangerines and bergamot.

Siraselviler Caddesi 47, Taksim and Sakip Sabanci Caddesi 22, Emirgan
Changa

Mikla

Owned by Mehmet Gurs, a Finnish-Turk with an obsession for good ingredients, Mikla is located on the rooftop of the Marmara Pera hotel with sweeping views of the Golden Horn and the Bosporus. Mehmet has recently hired one of my dear friends to spend months scouring the Turkey countryside to source produce for the restaurant so you can expect to find only the best quality ingredients being used in the kitchen.

Mesrutiyet Caddesi Tepebasi
Mikla

Limonlu Bahçe

Winding up the hill to Galatasaray square you’ll notice a small, nondescript sign for Limonlu Bahçe - the lemon garden. Feeling like an intruder as you grope your way through the dark corridors what looks like someone’s townhouse, you eventually reappear in a beautiful garden cafe full of lemon trees. A great place to sip a fresh lemonade and escape the heat.

Yeniçarşı Caddesi 98, Galatasaray

HARDCORE TURKISH

Çiya

A small collection of three restaurants owned by Musa Dağdeviren, Çiya is a must for anyone visiting Istanbul. Musa is renowned in Turkey as a 'culinary anthropologist' due to his extensive work in travelling across small villages in Turkey and eating with families and recording their recipes. The walls of his restaurants lined with jars of homemade pickled walnuts, chunks of pumpkin and quince in syrup and there are pots of some of  Çiya’s repertoire of over 300 recipes of rural Turkish home cooking bubbling away on the stove. You’ll taste ingredients and food here that you won’t find anywhere else including many of the 'forgotten dishes' that Musa is actively resurrecting through his work and travels.

Güneslibahce Sk 43, Kadiköy

Çiya

Siirt Seref Büryan Kebap Salonu

Forget Texas and the deep South, when it comes to pit barbecue it’s the Kurdish who have been masters for generations. Located in a predominantly Kurdish neighbourhood of Istanbul, this restaurant specialises in only 3 things - pit roast sheep, claypot baked rice in a dough crust, and lots of fluffy hand-stretched flatbreads to mop it all up with. Wash it down with a copper mug full of their house-made ayran (salted drinking yoghurt) and pat your stomach full of mutton before heading out into the square for tea in one of the many tea salons.

Itfaiye Caddesi 4, Fatih

CANTEENS AND KEBAB SHOPS 

(Lokantasi, Köfteci and Kebap Salnu)

The old-world, cobbled neighbourhoods of Fener, Fatih, Balat and Kasimpaş a are all great areas to explore on foot and uncover the blue-collar canteens, köftecis and lokantasis that keep everyday Istanbullis alive and fed.

Memorise a little Turkish, take a deep breath and head straight for the kitchen where the chefs will happily show you what is available that day and let you point out your selection.

Köfteci Arnavut - Mürselpaş a Caddesi 139, Balat

Doyuran Lokantasi -  Ordekli Bakkal Sok. 10, Kumkapi

Kastamonu Sultan Köftecisi -  Leblebciler Sokak 14, Balat

Modern Istanbul / Hardcore Turkish

Soup shops, milk bars and sweet shops 

Coffee house's and Tea gardens

Food Markets

Istanbul street food

More Istanbul street food..