24 hours in Istanbul

The city of Istanbul is a mixture of everything: Europe and Asia, modern and traditional. That makes for an interesting culinary experience. Go there and try everything. Everything, we’re telling you.

Breakfast

Kahvalti, or Turkish breakfast, is a major cultural tradition in Turkey. Istanbul is therefore rich in kahvalti spots. Normally, this consists of plates filled with cold cuts, white cheeses, fresh tomatoes, olives and eggs. Along with bread, butter and sometimes whipped cream with honey. Sometimes you get an omelet, sometimes spicy sausage, and often börek (puff pastry with cheese and spinach). On Sair Veysi Street, in Besiktas, you’ll find lots of these lavish breakfast spots. Be sure to go to the oldest (and best, according to insiders): çakmak. Popular with locals, so make sure you arrive early to secure a spot.

Dry chicken? Never again with this tip!

Lunch

Breakfast is usually plentiful and substantial, so it’s best to keep lunch light. As you walk through Istanbul, you’ll come across plenty of street food. Try simits, sesame-covered bread rings (and Nutella if you like). The carts selling them are impossible to miss. They’re on every remotely touristy square.

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Not in the mood for bread? Go for a corn on the cob with butter, chestnuts (kestane) or stuffed mussels (midye dolma). You get a mussel stuffed with savory rice, and it’s truly worth trying.

The most popular street snack is a smoked-fish sandwich (balik ekmek). Naturally, you’ll find the best ones by the water, where fishermen stand ready day in and day out as if they’ve never done anything else. Which may well be true. In any case, you can be sure that the fish here comes fresh from the water. In Karaköy, along the water, you’ll find Emin Usta. A small man with an impressive brush mustache. His grilled-fish sandwich comes with grilled onion, tomato, lettuce, pomegranate molasses and a sauce Emin calls the ‘you can’t know’ sauce.

Dinner

Are you going for kebab, pide, köfte or mezze? In English: are you opting for grilled lamb or chicken, a Turkish version of pizza shaped like a boat, meatballs or cold tapas Turkish-style?

For kebab, go to Durumzade. They’re open all night and serve dürüm, meat rolled in Turkish flatbread. The lavas bread is partly cooked on top of the meat. Anthony Bourdain was a fan of this dürüm, so we are too.

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For the best mezze, go to Tarihi Cumhuriyet Meyhanesi. They serve, among other things, a chili-tomato dip, grilled eggplant with yogurt, grilled eggplant with tomato sauce, pinto beans and artichoke hearts. All served with Turkish flatbread and olives. You can also go to the famous Karaköy Lokantası.

If you really want to eat like the locals do, go to an esnaf lokantasi. A café for tradespeople. They have lunch and dinner there because their homes are too far away to travel to. In these kinds of cafés, you’ll find pre-prepared meals that are hearty and nourishing, but above all very flavorful. Like at Locanta Helvetia. The menus often vary from day to day, but you can assume there will always be pilav, always something with chickpeas and always köfte. Grilled and stuffed vegetables are also available in every variation. You’ll get a brief once-over because it’s clear you’re not a local tradesperson, but once you start eating, everyone forgets all about it. Note: many locantas don’t serve alcohol and only accept cash.

Dessert should definitely be Turkish coffee in the Grand Bazaar. Because Turks truly see this coffee as a delicacy, rather than something you drink all day (it seems far too intense to us too), they usually drink it after a heavy meal. The coffee is very strong, and you should definitely wait until the grounds have settled to the bottom of your cup, because they’re served along with it. If they ask how sweet you want it, that means: 2 sugar cubes, 1 sugar cube or 0 sugar (undrinkably bitter). Drink plenty of water and eat it together with your piece of lokum (Turkish delight). Then it’s really delicious.