130 places under Meat & Kebab — all tried, all liked, all paid for ourselves.
10In Eminönü's Spice Bazaar, a timeless address where history meets flavour: Pandeli. 💛 Founded in 1901 and still one of Istanbul's most deeply rooted d…
10First in Etiler and later in Yeniköy, Fiko has left its mark on the kebab scene for years — and now it's back with a brand-new, far smarter room. Fiko…
8Offal isn't something to eat just anywhere, but Fetih İşkembe in Balat has been serving customers reliably for over fifty years. The menu is entirely …
10Supernormal is a burger place that opened recently in Etiler and became popular fast. They make smash burgers, with three options: the classic; the ho…
6Lale Lokantası has been serving since 1970 in Hasköy, on the street opposite the Rahmi Koç Museum. For any business, staying open in Istanbul for more…
11Kos is a destination you can reach comfortably from Bodrum on a thirty-minute ferry. It isn't the most enjoyable of the Greek islands, but it still of…
10Restoran Modern, inside İstanbul Modern at Galataport, has built a high-level kitchen. A menu that reinterprets Turkish cooking with small touches, qu…
7In places where simplicity can't produce quality, plenty of restaurants try to reach for goodness through sophistication — yet simplicity is beautiful…
12The flavour of Japanese wagyu beef is known worldwide. The world's most marbled and most delicious meat comes from wagyu cattle. Shima Steak is a rest…
7There are plenty of döner restaurants in Turkey, but few good ones. İntiba is one we like. It has eight branches in Istanbul. The döner is a blend of …
12Yalova Restaurant has been welcoming customers in central Çanakkale since 1940. It's no accident that Yalova is spoken of as one of the best fish rest…
14Kol is a chef's restaurant opened in London's Mayfair in 2020 by the Mexican chef Santiago Lastra. Experienced through a tasting menu, Kol presents ex…
11Majka, which opened about three weeks ago in Moda, is a representative of Balkan cooking. A lovely room has been created on the upper floor of Rita Mo…
11Mezkla is a Mexican restaurant that opened recently in Akatlar. It's a place whose name we've been hearing a lot lately, for both atmosphere and flavo…
8Ispartalı 1937 is in Şişli and, as the name suggests, serves the flavours of Isparta. The şiş köfte served with soaked flatbread is very good, and the…
10Atlas Mühürdar 78 had been on our list for a long time. It's on Mühürdar Caddesi in Kadıköy, in a charming two-storey building squeezed between apartm…
8Ortaköy Kuru Fasulyecisi is a place we try to make our way to whenever we can. This little room on Ortaköy Dereboyu has been welcoming guests with an …
10Chef Göktürk Erdal has been keeping his customers happy since 2016 with a quality he hasn't let slip. Serving under the slogan 'you don't go to Adana …
8Thai food is perhaps the Far Eastern cuisine best suited to the Turkish palate. Built on generous use of coconut milk and peanuts, its staples are dis…
10Reşitpaşa has become one of Istanbul's favourite districts in recent years. Havan'dan, one of the area's pioneers, has been welcoming customers since …
10L'Asinello is a small chef's restaurant that has been running since 2011 in the Tuscan town of Castelnuovo Berardenga. It has crowned its high standar…
10Dario Cecchini has turned fifty years as a butcher into an accomplished meat restaurant, welcoming guests in the charming town of Panzano an hour sout…
9A Figueira Rubaiyat must be the most famous restaurant in São Paulo, Brazil's largest city. Set in a garden where the branches of a hundred-year-old f…
10Santorini is one of the most special of the Greek islands. Formed by a volcanic eruption, its western shore offers a magnificent view, with settlement…
10Staying the course with home cooking isn't easy. Zekeriya Sofrası in central Datça, serving since 1996, is in our view one of the best in Turkey. They…
7Culinarium is a very pleasant place with a wonderful terrace, two minutes' walk from the centre of Datça. The terrace holds six or seven tables — smal…
7Roman pasta is built on the base of cacio e pepe. Made with nothing but egg, black pepper and pecorino romano, it may be the world's simplest and most…
10Manhatta is a restaurant on the 60th floor of a skyscraper in Downtown New York, serving examples of American cooking. Being on the 60th floor, it has…
10Batard has been welcoming guests in Bomonti since 2019 without compromising on quality. The interior recalls a Paris restaurant, but the eclectic menu…
10Cote is the Michelin-starred Korean barbecue in New York. The point of Korean barbecue is that the meat you choose is cooked beside you. At other Kore…
8Katz's Deli, serving since it was founded in 1888, is a legendary New York institution. It's famous for its pastrami (cured meat usually made from bee…
10Serbian cooking has a menu that mixes Italian and Turkish. That mix produces options very well suited to the Turkish palate. Burrata, cold cuts, börek…
10Nahita, inside the Argos hotel in Uçhisar, Cappadocia, serves some of the finest examples of Turkish cooking. The menu, developed with the guidance of…
10Meyhane by Marcel has opened in Yeniköy on the site of the old Marcel patisserie. It's the second place the owners of Azur have opened in the area. Th…
10Daniel et Denise is a bouchon that has become one of Lyon's landmarks, operating across three sites. Chef Joseph Viola has appeared in the Michelin gu…
10With hundreds of bouchons in Lyon, choosing is difficult, so it pays to go on recommendations. Le Poêlon d'Or, which we tried on someone's advice, is …
10Lyon is France's gastronomic capital — far calmer and more enjoyable than Paris, and a wonderful city for seeing different sides of French cooking. We…
10Seraf, which began its journey in Mahmutbey, continues at Vadi İstanbul in a strikingly decorated room. Led by chef Sinem Özler, Seraf serves the fami…
10Serving since 1978, Kurtuluş Adana Ocakbaşı has for years been in our eyes one of the best ocakbaşı restaurants in Istanbul. The room is small and rou…
10Alaf may be our very favourite restaurant in Istanbul. We think Michelin did it a great injustice by not awarding a star. Alaf presents Yörük culture …
7Tatbak means our childhood and our youth. Very few restaurants in Turkey have run uninterrupted for more than sixty years; Tatbak is one of them. Serv…
10Gallada, carrying the signature of our Michelin-starred chef Fatih Tutak, is Istanbul's new favourite. Inside the newly opened Peninsula hotel in Kara…
10Türk, which Fatih Tutak opened in Bomonti after years of experience in the Far East, is one of the most talked-about restaurants in the country, holdi…
9Önder Ocakbaşı, whose praises we've been hearing a great deal lately, more than deserves them. We ate one of the best Adana kebabs we've had in Istanb…
8Le Marché is a likeable French restaurant that opened about two months ago in the St Germain district of Paris. It came about when a husband and wife …
10Mahir Lokantası in Osmanbey never falls off the list of Istanbul's best lahmacun. It absolutely deserves the praise on lahmacun, but remembering Mahir…
5Yükseltan Bağevi is a very enjoyable spot on the Gulf of Saros, with quality wines, an eighteen-room hotel and a restaurant. It sits at a point lookin…

Our favourites for rakı and meze are in this reel. Any new places you'd recommend to us?…
9Şeyhmuz Kebap Salonu in Çemberlitaş has been welcoming guests with a lunchtime service for nearly fifty years, since 1975. A long-standing favourite o…
9Naples is a pizza paradise. Locals say, ‘don't wait in line, you can't have bad pizza in Naples’. We still took the risk of waiting in line for 1 hour…
10Ali Ocakbaşı, which we know from Karaköy, has created a very pleasant place in Kuruçeşme, right on the water inside Oligark. First of all, it has a wo…
8Betro Burger deserves its place on our top-ten burger list for Istanbul. The closed burgers, wrapped in flatbread, generally come with a double patty,…
10The Culinary Arts Academy (MSA) has been a lifeline for Turkish cooking through the chefs it has trained over the years. Its restaurant sits inside th…
10Ferida, which began life at Fişekhane with a menu leaning Bosnian, opened its Bağdat Caddesi branch two weeks ago. The new place on Noter Sokak is air…
10When I asked the locals of Barcelona where to eat the best Paella, they suggested Escriba. Escriba is in a great spot on the beach of Barcelona, in …
10El Nacional in Barcelona is a spacious venue with high ceilings, reserved for private areas, serving grilled meat, Spanish seafood and tapas. You have…
10Sıralı Kebap's journey, which began in Antalya and continued in Ankara, has recently reached Etiler in Istanbul. We finally got the chance to try the …
10Iranian food is both close to ours and different from it. Among its many rice dishes, saffron rice is the best known. Tehroon in Maslak, with its Iran…
10We finally got the chance to visit Nazende, whose praises we'd been hearing for a long time. With the slogan 'the neighbourhood restaurant that loves …
8In Tuzla, famous for its köfte, Esentepe Köftecisi was our choice for its quality. With fresh, good ingredients, cheerful and fast service and real fl…
8Those who know Zoka know it from Kaş. They've carried similar flavours to the new place they've opened in Nişantaşı, Istanbul. We chose the tasting me…
10In Istanbul, the first area that comes to mind for büryan kebab is Kadınlar Pazarı in Fatih. But there are good examples in other districts too. Kulu …
10Beast is a very chic Surf’n Turf alternative in London offering fine examples of steak and seafood from different regions around the world.…
10Perilli has been serving its clients in Rome since 1911. It’s a very good example of the Roman cuisine with excellent fritto misto, rigatoni alla gric…
10Bocconcino is a quality Italian restaurant in the heart of Mayfair. We particularly loved the safran risotto with Ossobucco, beef with truffle mashed …
5Markus first showed its mastery of short rib at its shop inside the Maslak auto industrial estate. As its reputation spread, we started to see more of…
10Olden 1772 is one of Istanbul's new and much-discussed places. Dazzling in its striking decoration, Olden has opened inside the 250-year-old Muhsinoğl…
10Arkestra is probably the most talked-about place in Istanbul at the moment. Opened in Etiler about two months ago, Arkestra has built a magnificent ki…
6Bordel is a street-food spot in Asmalımescit from the team behind Mabou Pera and Glouton, where you can eat quickly and well. You order at the front, …
10Zaaf had been serving quietly at its Ortaköy site for more than a year when it drew attention — first with the place it opened inside Bodrum's Plevnel…
10Serra Beklen, former head chef of the Michelin-starred Neolokal, serves a magnificent menu to the guests she welcomes at her home in the village of Çu…
9Efendy, opened in Levent under the leadership of Soner Sivrioğlu, has a bold menu. The menu is ambitious, creative and delicious. We tried a range of …
10Luna Rossa is an Italian restaurant opened three months ago by a team that spent seventeen years in Papermoon's kitchen. At Luna Rossa, right beside t…
10Lokanta Kru and Kruvasan are the new-generation brands from Hünkar, one of Istanbul's classic names. The day starts with croissants in the morning and…
10Yeniyer, spread across a large garden just outside Alaçatı, is a peaceful, calm place quite unlike Alaçatı's usual chaos. The meze are delicious and g…
10Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland, is a very lively and enjoyable city. It's ambitious about seafood too. Among the many options, our choice was Ondi…
10Alaf2Tek is the meyhane version of our favourite place, Alaf — somewhere to stand and have a couple of drinks. In the same building as Alaf, at tables…
8On hot Istanbul nights, the open-air Bomontiada and Populist are a very good idea. The menu leans towards street food — burgers, sausages. There's a v…
7A burger inside pizza dough may not sound wonderful, but the result is magnificent. Since 2018, Mr. Hamza has been serving burgers wrapped in a closed…
6Tütsü by Düvee is an important address for meat lovers. Cooking meat from animals raised on its own farm for hours over oak, Tütsü pleased us with eve…
9Aman Da Bravo, which began its journey in Reşitpaşa, continues inside Etiler Backyard. The food is as good as ever, the room is airier than before, an…
10We're regulars at Zübeyir Ocakbaşı's Beyoğlu shop. We finally got the chance to try the Ataşehir branch we'd heard so much about. The meat quality is …
6Şehzade Cağ Kebap in Sirkeci has carried the flavour of Erzurum to Istanbul. Cooked over a wood fire, cağ kebab of this quality is hard to find even i…
5Jumbo Burger is a classic that has been serving in the same spot in Çiftehavuzlar since 1977. With its various burgers, wonderful sausages and distinc…
6George WPA is a cosy French brasserie in the Museum Quarter of Amsterdam. In good weather it's worth waiting for a table in the pleasant outdoor seati…
10Mr. Meat is a place that came out of Istanbul and became very popular in Amsterdam. Hüseyin Usta works wonders at the grill. Of what we tried, the lok…
10The back garden of Boyner on Bağdat Caddesi has been turned into an oasis under the name Vertical İstanbul. This pleasant space, holding Markus, Nappo…
8On a cold, snowy day, the neighbourhood ocakbaşı is the right address. At Çamlık Ocakbaşı in Etiler we put ourselves in İzzet Usta's hands. With meze …
4Kavaklı, right beside Ankara Esenboğa airport, stands out for its quality meat. With a large garden and fast service, it's a good option for a quality…
10Franck Bistro is one of Istanbul's best-kept secrets. A French chef hosts just one group each evening. Whether you're two or ten, he cooks a menu made…
7The İskender kebab shop opened by Cemal and Cemil Usta in 1964 still serves from the same small room. In a shop where the queue never disappears at an…
3Famous as the kokoreç place you go to by reservation, Ozzie's has never let us down. Continuing a family tradition going back to 1968, it welcomes gue…
10Galataport has brought a breath of fresh air to Istanbul with its magnificent location, if a rather Dubai-like mall concept. Among the many places to …
9Rustyfork is one of Istanbul's representatives of Tex-Mex cooking. From this cuisine, born in the American South with Mexican influences, chicken wing…
9After Bozcaada, Madam Niça now also serves in Istanbul, on the terrace floor of the Artisan hotel in Gümüşsuyu. With a superb 270-degree view of the B…
6Banko Burger on Ethem Efendi Caddesi scored well with us for its accomplished burgers. Banko has found a good balance of bun, patty and sauce. On a br…
10You don't often find chain restaurants on acıktım.be. Holding a standard usually means compromising on quality, so they rarely satisfy us. The Etiler …
6Snob, on Bağdat Caddesi, serves street food. The right address for a fast, tasty and slightly naughty menu.…
7Emre Mermer, one of the first names that come to mind for steak in Turkey, has opened an ocakbaşı in Armutlu, where he started out, and it's become a …
10Indian food is little known in Turkey, and good representatives of it are rare. Heavily spiced and generally vegetarian-leaning, its chicken, lamb and…
4Staying open for fifty years in a city like Istanbul is no easy job. Necip Uludağ Kebapçısı has been welcoming guests on Bağdat Caddesi since 1972. Wi…
5Founded in 1998 and one of the first brands to spread kebab culture to a wide audience, Tike is renewing itself after a quiet period. We've tried the …
6Yıldız Konyalı is a family business on Ortaklar Caddesi in Mecidiyeköy, serving examples of Konya cooking since 1995. We were very pleased with the fl…
6Elbet is a steakhouse that combines good meat with creativity. Elbet has never let us down, and we'd say don't leave without trying the beef sushi, th…
4We finally got the chance to try Kebapçı Tamer, whose name we'd been hearing for a long time. The smell of butter that greets you as you walk in tells…
10Bol Pazar, set up at weekends inside Kemer Country, offers a range of flavours in a street-food format. The brands change from time to time, but on ou…
9Roadside food is essential to long journeys. Şişçi Bülent Usta, inside the Söke industrial estate, won't let you down if you can catch it. Bülent Usta…
10We love chefs who bring a new understanding to Turkish cooking. Lokanta 1741 is inside the Cağaloğlu hamam — as you enter through the baths you may pa…
6Sumakh is one of the right addresses for discovering Azerbaijani cooking in Baku. We started with düşbərə soup, went on to xəngəl (similar to mantı) a…
6Ataşehir is an area offering a very wide range of options for eating. Birbiçer Ciğer scored positively with us for its accomplished grill, delicious e…
7One of Budapest's favourite places, Bestia offers a pleasant setting with local flavours, a wide range of meat and airy decoration. Standing out above…
10Şişko Perihan has been one of Arnavutköy's favourite places for two years. Winning over meyhane regulars with its lovely meze, the tables out on the s…
3In this period when restaurants are closed in Turkey, QonaQ in Baku felt like medicine. We had a lovely evening with good fresh meze, delicious kebabs…
3There's usually a queue outside Figlmüller, the most famous schnitzel house in Vienna, the schnitzel's homeland. They serve Wiener schnitzel in both v…
4Meat never disappoints in Baku. Lamb of a freshness and flavour you can't find in big cities in Turkey is cooked in pomegranate sauce and served magni…
5Elbet is a place that never disappoints. Among the starters, the kokoreç, the beef spaghetti and the bone marrow are essential for us. And if you have…
8Mengen is the capital of Turkish cooking, and Mengen Çiftlik has created a wonderful place here. Out in nature, socially distanced, with cheerful serv…
2Would you change your route for köfte? We would. Coming back from Bodrum to Istanbul, turning off towards Yatağan lets you escape the traffic lights i…
6The last place we'd recommend from our Çeşme/Urla trip is Kolburano's. In its large garden in Reisdere you can taste wonderful food in a relaxed atmos…
4Without getting into the argument about whether büryan kebab originates in Siirt or Bitlis, you can find several different büryan options at the mostl…
5Good sushi isn't everywhere. I discovered İoki late; the flavour is superb. The open-air terrace on summer evenings lets you breathe. The sushi is ver…
4When the köfte is good, the rest is detail. There are no plates at Üstünel — a clean plastic sheet is laid on the table, and the köfte comes in bread …
6In Diyarbakır we started with bumbar dolması, then lost ourselves in içli köfte, stuffed ribs and tava.…
9We tried the large, airy new home of Antiochia, which has been serving from its small shop since 2008, and gave it full marks. Details on our website.…

Time for a good lahmacun.…
5To get over the Monday blues, dropping somewhere after work for something naughty and a couple of beers can help. If you're in Eskişehir, we'd recomme…

Friday might be the right day for döner. If you find yourself in Edremit, be sure to drop into Cumhuriyet Lokantası.…
7Offal is life, and we have a particular love for places that bring new readings to it. Our new discovery, Alaf, has been open seven or eight days and …
5Fireroom, the street-food place Hazer Amani opened in Ataşehir, is a must-try.…

You can find Manisa kebab at various points on the Istanbul–İzmir road. But if you have a little time, driving into Manisa itself and dropping into Gü…
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