Meat & Kebab
Meat and kebab places: 55 addresses we have tried — from the ocakbaşı to the steakhouse, from İskender to Adana.
Casa Julián de Tolosa
In Madrid you can find the best of Spain's regional cooking, region by region. Cava Baja, one of the city's oldest streets, is lined end to end with t…
7 Mehmet
One of the oldest and most important names in Antalya’s food scene, 7 Mehmet is now in Istanbul too, right on the water at Tersane İstanbul. The story…
Fiko
First 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…
Koska Köftecisi
In places where simplicity can't produce quality, plenty of restaurants try to reach for goodness through sophistication — yet simplicity is beautiful…
Shima Steak
The 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…
Ispartalı 1937
Ispartalı 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…
Chef Erdal Adana Kebap
Chef 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 …
Antica Macelleria Cecchini
Dario Cecchini has turned fifty years as a butcher into an accomplished meat restaurant, welcoming guests in the charming town of Panzano an hour sout…
A Figueira Rubaiyat
A 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…
Cote Korean Steakhouse
Cote 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…
Steak and Wine Bar
Serbian cooking has a menu that mixes Italian and Turkish. That mix produces options very well suited to the Turkish palate. Burrata, cold cuts, börek…
Adana Ocakbaşı
Serving 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…
Alaf
Alaf 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 …
Tatbak
Tatbak 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…
Önder Ocakbaşı
Önder 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…
Şeyhmus Kebap Salonu
Şeyhmuz Kebap Salonu in Çemberlitaş has been welcoming guests with a lunchtime service for nearly fifty years, since 1975. A long-standing favourite o…
Ali Ocakbaşı
Ali 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…
Sıralı Kebap
Sıralı 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 …
Tehroon
Iranian 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…
Nazende
We 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 …
Esentepe Köftecisi
In Tuzla, famous for its köfte, Esentepe Köftecisi was our choice for its quality. With fresh, good ingredients, cheerful and fast service and real fl…
Kulu Büryan
In 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 …
Beast
Beast is a very chic Surf’n Turf alternative in London offering fine examples of steak and seafood from different regions around the world.…
Markus
Markus 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…
Yeniyer
Yeniyer, 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…
Tütsü by Düvee
Tütsü 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…
Zübeyir Ocakbaşı
We'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 …
Şehzade Erzurum Cağ Kebabı
Şehzade 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…
Mr. Meat
Mr. 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…
Çamlık Ocakbaşı
On 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 …
Kavaklı Restaurant
Kavaklı, 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…
Bursa Uludağ Kebapçısı
The 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…
Madam Niça
After 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…
Günaydın Kebap
You don't often find chain restaurants on acıktım.be. Holding a standard usually means compromising on quality, so they rarely satisfy us. The Etiler …
Emre Mermer Ocakbaşı
Emre 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 …
Tike
Founded 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 …
Yıldız Konyalı
Yıldız Konyalı is a family business on Ortaklar Caddesi in Mecidiyeköy, serving examples of Konya cooking since 1995. We were very pleased with the fl…
Elbet Steakhouse
Elbet 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…
Kebapçı Tamer
We 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…
Şişçi Bülent Usta
Roadside 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…
Birbiçer Ciğer
Ataşehir is an area offering a very wide range of options for eating. Birbiçer Ciğer scored positively with us for its accomplished grill, delicious e…
Bestia
One of Budapest's favourite places, Bestia offers a pleasant setting with local flavours, a wide range of meat and airy decoration. Standing out above…
QonaQ
In 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…
Qədim Qəbələ
Meat 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…
Mengen Çiftlik
Mengen is the capital of Turkish cooking, and Mengen Çiftlik has created a wonderful place here. Out in nature, socially distanced, with cheerful serv…
Mehmet Zengin'in Yeri
Would 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…
Kolburano's
The 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…
Şeref Büryan
Without getting into the argument about whether büryan kebab originates in Siirt or Bitlis, you can find several different büryan options at the mostl…
Üstünel Köftecisi
When 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 …
Hancı Et
In Diyarbakır we started with bumbar dolması, then lost ourselves in içli köfte, stuffed ribs and tava.…
Antiochia Concept
We 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.…
Namlı Kebap
Time for a good lahmacun.…
Gülcemal Manisa Kebapçısı
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…
Markus To Go
The back garden of Boyner on Bağdat Caddesi has been turned into an oasis under the name Vertical İstanbul. This pleasant space, holding Markus, Nappo…
Necip Uludağ Kebapçısı
Staying 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…
Where to start
For kebab in İstanbul, the Adana at Önder Ocakbaşı in Beşiktaş is among the best we have had. In Etiler, İzzet usta works the grill at Çamlık Ocakbaşı, while Tike was one of the first brands to take kebab culture to a wider public. Tatbak has been in the same spot in Nişantaşı for over sixty years.
On the steak side, Elbet Steakhouse combines good meat with invention — don't leave without the beef sushi, the bone marrow and the house-made sausage. For short rib, Markus has grown well beyond the small shop in the Maslak car-repair district where it started.
Outside the city, Bursa Uludağ Kebapçısı, opened in 1964 by Cemal and Cemil usta, still serves İskender from the same small shop; and on the road to Kuşadası, Şişçi Bülent Usta, inside the Söke industrial estate, is a proper road-trip stop.
Abroad, Baku appears twice: QonaQ, and Qədim Qəbələ for its rack of lamb with pomegranate sauce.
By city
Our picks: Alaf (Kuruçeşme), Elbet Steakhouse (Etiler), Çamlık Ocakbaşı (Etiler). 55 places in total — every one tried by us, every bill paid by us.
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