Where to eat in Istanbul: the Michelin tables, then the lokantas, kebab houses, meyhanes and sweet shops that English and Turkish lists name

💡 The Short Version: Istanbul has eight Michelin-starred restaurants, one with two stars (TURK FATİH TUTAK) and seven with one (Neolokal, Mikla, Nicole, Araka, Arkestra, Araf İstanbul and Sankai by Nagaya), and 16 Bib Gourmands. The places named by the most of the 41 English and 25 Turkish publishers read are Çiya (14 and 4), Karaköy Güllüoğlu (10 and 7), Pandeli (9 and 1), Mikla (8 and 2) and Karaköy Lokantası (6 and 4). Çiya and Güllüoğlu are not in the Michelin guide. Mikla is dinner only, Monday to Saturday, and Beyti is closed on Mondays. Or book a food walk: the Guided Food Tour with 20+ Tastings on 2 Continentsad is from €120.50 for 5.5 hours.

📊 The evidence behind this guide. Nothing here is ranked on one visit. This pass reads the lists of 66 publishers, 41 in English and 25 in Turkish: newspapers, magazines, guides, food writers and named-author blogs, among them The Guardian, The Times, Eater, Condé Nast Traveler, Lonely Planet, BBC Travel and Culinary Backstreets in English, and Lezzet, Yemek.com, Oggusto, Nerede Nerede and Time Out İstanbul in Turkish. Counts are publishers, not pages, and the English and Turkish counts are shown apart. Istanbul-only listing sites without a named author, tour operators and booking sites are not counted. The Michelin Guide is printed beside the places it names. How the guides are made

⚠️ Check the day. Mikla serves dinner only, Monday to Saturday, and is shut on Sundays. Beyti is shut on Mondays. Lokanta 1741 takes no guests under 15. Pandeli takes reservation requests from 12:00 to 18:00 and was closed, with the Spice Bazaar it sits in, for the three days of the March 2026 bayram. Bayram dates are in Ramadan in Istanbul 2027.

Michelin and the other awards

The MICHELIN Guide Türkiye’s 2026 selection for Istanbul has eight starred restaurants, 16 Bib Gourmand restaurants, a Bib Gourmand being good food at a fair price, and 59 Selected restaurants (Michelin Guide). It was announced on 4 December 2025. Neolokal’s sommelier, Ersin Topkara, won the guide’s 2026 Sommelier Award, and TURK FATİH TUTAK and Neolokal hold Green Stars. The price band is Michelin’s: ₺ is the cheapest of four and ₺₺₺₺ the dearest.

Çiya Sofrası, Hafız Mustafa 1864, Karaköy Güllüoğlu, Hamdi, Kanaat Lokantası, Zübeyir Ocakbaşı, Balıkçı Sabahattin, Nato Lokantası and Hünkar appear in the lists below and not in the guide, so the next table is a different list from the Michelin one.

The places named by the most publishers

The count is the number of publishers that name the place, split into English-language and Turkish-language lists. Every place named by eight or more is below.

The Turkish lists name more than the English ones the places for kebab, ocakbaşı grills and baklava: Bayramoğlu Döner (7 Turkish lists against 2 English), Köşkeroğlu (7 against 1), Zübeyir Ocakbaşı and Hünkar (6 against 2), Develi (5 against 2) and Sur Balık (6 against 1). The English lists lean to fine dining and the Michelin names. İskender kebab, named by 7 English and 3 Turkish publishers, is a dish served by several restaurants, and Adana Ocakbaşı, named by 3 and 6, is the name of more than one place, so neither is ranked here.

The restaurants

Çiya Sofrası and Çiya Kebap

Güneşlibahçe Sokağı 32, 38/A and 43, Caferağa, Kadıköy · Cited by 18 publishers (14 English, 4 Turkish) · not in the Michelin guide · ciya.com.tr

Three restaurants within a few metres of each other in the fish market district of Kadıköy, run by Zeynep and Musa Dağdeviren. The operator describes dishes from a broad area, from Mesopotamia to the Ottomans and from the Balkans to the Caucasus. It is on the Asian side, so take the ferry from Karaköy or Eminönü: see Istanbul public transport.

Pandeli

Mısır Çarşısı İçi 1, D:2, Eminönü · Cited by 10 publishers (9 English, 1 Turkish) · Michelin Bib Gourmand · pandeli.com.tr

A restaurant that opened in 1901, inside the Spice Bazaar and among blue tiles. It takes reservation requests from 12:00 to 18:00, seats no one who wants only dessert, tea or coffee, and does not admit pets. It closed for the three days of the March 2026 bayram.

Mikla

Meşrutiyet Caddesi 15, The Marmara Pera, Beyoğlu · Cited by 10 publishers (8 English, 2 Turkish) · one Michelin star · miklarestaurant.com

The restaurant on the top floor, which says it reinterprets ingredients from all over Anatolia. It is open Monday to Saturday from 18:00 to 24:00, with the last food order at 21:30, closed on Sundays and for lunch. The rooftop bar upstairs is open from 18:00 to 02:00.

Karaköy Lokantası

Kemankeş Caddesi 57, Karaköy · Cited by 10 publishers (6 English, 4 Turkish) · Michelin Bib Gourmand · karakoylokantasi.com

A lokanta, a casual restaurant that serves cooked dishes from the counter.

Neolokal

SALT Galata, Bankalar Caddesi 11/1, Karaköy · Cited by 9 publishers (6 English, 3 Turkish) · one Michelin star and a Green Star · neolokal.com

Chef Maksut Aşkar’s restaurant in SALT Galata, which examines traditional recipes and blends in endangered foods of its heritage. Book through its website.

Mahir Lokantası

Tavukçu Fethi Sokak 28/B, Şişli · Cited by 9 publishers (4 English, 5 Turkish) · Michelin Bib Gourmand

A lokanta in Şişli that Michelin puts in its cheapest band. The Turkish lists name it more than the English ones.

Kanaat Lokantası

Selmani Pak Caddesi 9, Sultantepe, Üsküdar · Cited by 8 publishers (3 English, 5 Turkish) · 07:00 to 22:30 · kanaatlokantasi.com.tr

Run by the Kargılı family since 1933, on the Asian side. It cooks hot dishes fresh each day, with olive-oil dishes, milk puddings and ice cream.

Nato Lokantası

Karanlık Fırın Sokak 4, Karaköy · Cited by 8 publishers (3 English, 5 Turkish) · natolokantasi.com.tr

A Karaköy lokanta that says it has served traditional Turkish cooking since 1952.

Hünkar

Nişantaşı · Cited by 8 publishers (2 English, 6 Turkish) · hunkar1950.com

Founded in Fatih in 1950 and in Nişantaşı since 2000, run by Feridun and Galip Ügümü.

Lokanta 1741

Cağaloğlu Hamamı, Cağaloğlu · Michelin Selected · lokanta1741.com

A restaurant in the Cağaloğlu hammam building, with a terrace under the bath domes. It takes no guests under 15. The baths are in hammams in Istanbul.

Kebab, köfte and döner

Ocakbaşı means a grill kitchen, with the fire at the counter; cağ kebap is lamb cooked on a horizontal spit; köfte are grilled meatballs.

Beyti

Orman Sokak 6-8, Florya · 11:30 to 23:00, closed Mondays · beyti.com

The restaurant whose name became the beyti kebab. It began in 1945 in Küçükçekmece and now seats 450 people at Florya, on the Marmara coast west of the old city, so allow a taxi from Sultanahmet.

Ahmet Ustam Ocakbaşı

Dereboyu 2 Caddesi 8/1, Maslak · Michelin Bib Gourmand

The chef Fatih Tutak’s own pick for Turkish barbecue in a BBC Travel interview (BBC Travel). Maslak is in the north of the city, away from the old city.

Şehzade Cağ Kebap

Hocapaşa Camii Sokak 6, Sirkeci · daily 10:00 to 22:30

Two skewers of cağ kebap make a portion, and a wrap holds two skewers.

Breakfast

Kahvaltı is the Turkish breakfast: a spread of olives, cheeses, jams, pastries and eggs for sharing, taken slowly at weekends (Lonely Planet).

Namlı Gurme is a deli and café where you fill your own breakfast plate and are charged by what you take. For a breakfast with a view, the Morning Bosphorus Yacht Cruise and Turkish Breakfastad is from €65 for 2 hours, and the Simit and Breakfast Cooking Classad is from €51.75: both are in Istanbul food tours.

Baklava and Turkish delight

Karaköy Güllüoğlu’s website says baklava was first recorded cooked in the Topkapı kitchen in 1473, and it sells a gluten-free baklava made with separate equipment (karakoygulluoglu.com). Ali Muhiddin Hacı Bekir says the family has made sweets since 1777 (hacibekir.com). Residents do not agree on the big names: Güllüoğlu is named most often and some call it average, and Köşkeroğlu, a few streets from it, is named as better. This is a count of lists, not a taste test.

Baklava trays in an Istanbul shop. Photo: Dan, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0.

Fish restaurants and meyhanes

A meyhane is a tavern where meze, fish and rakı are shared over a long evening. Nevizade Sokağı in Beyoğlu is the street the lists send people to (The Independent).

Nevizade Sokağı in Beyoğlu in the evening. Photo: Jorge Franganillo, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 3.0.

Balıkçı Sabahattin says its house was built in 1927. Tarihi Cumhuriyet Meyhanesi says it has traded since 1923, and has live music every day on one of its three floors. Buy rakı and wine in reputable places: the Foreign Office says people have died after drinking illegally produced spirits and counterfeit bottles in Istanbul (GOV.UK). The other warning for an evening out is in Istanbul scams.

Street food

The price reported for a simit, the sesame bread ring sold from carts, rose from ₺25 to ₺30 on 26 September 2026 (Milli Gazete). Ask the price of a fish sandwich or a plate of mussels before you order.

Coffee and tea

Turkish coffee culture is on UNESCO’s Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, inscribed in 2013: the coffee is ground, brewed slowly on a stove until it foams and served in a small cup with a glass of water (UNESCO). Mandabatmaz in Beyoğlu is named by 4 English publishers, and the Çınaraltı tea gardens at Emirgan and Çengelköy by 3 English and 6 Turkish. Coffee and Turkish delight workshops are in Istanbul food tours.

Plan the rest

For a guided walk that eats through the city, Istanbul food tours compares them with their prices and adds the cooking classes. To fit meals to the sights, see Istanbul in one or two days and 3 days in Istanbul. Where to stay in Istanbul compares the areas, hotels near the Blue Mosque lists the Sultanahmet hotels near Selim Usta and Balıkçı Sabahattin, and the best time to visit Istanbul gives the weather. Opening hours change in Ramadan: see Ramadan in Istanbul 2027. The full list of bookings is in what to book before you go to Istanbul.