Serious Eats: This Aksaray-district kebab house serves Southeastern Turkish specialties, including a pistachio-studded kebab you can eat in a dining room filled with rocks and trees.
Serious Eats: A small, nautically-themed shop in Balat neighborhood up the Golden Horn. The köfte were great but even better are side dishes of buttery rice pilaf/chickpeas w/drippings from the köfte.
Serious Eats: Sweet dairy flavor, richly creamy texture with the faint tang of water buffalo milk; comes served by the moist slab drizzled w/honey. Best at Van Kahvaltı Evi, w/also best menemen
Serious Eats: Head over to the Golden Horn by Galata Bridge, where you can order fish bread with pickled juice. It's just a fried mackerel sandwich served with a shot of brine to wash it down.
Serious Eats: Specializes in dürüm, aka wraps. Thin skewers of beef and lamb (Adana kebab), or better yet, chunks of lamb interspersed with chunks of crispy lamb fat, are slowly grilled over charcoal.
Serious Eats: As they finish, sheets of lavash are placed directly on top to warm through steam. They all get wrapped up with sumac onions and parsley, with a sprinkle of smoked chili, sumac, and salt
Tucked away up a cobbled side street just off Sultanahmet’s main drag, Divan Yolu, is Khorasani (0212 519 5959 ; khorasani restaurant.com ) whose speciality is that most Turkish of foods - the kebab.
Head to hedonistic Beyoglu and Gurme Boncuk (0212 245 3170) , a lively, traditional Armenian-Turkish meyhane (tavern) where you can enjoy an all-inclusive feast (including alcoholic drinks) for £30.
