Best Restaurants in Istanbul 2026

Asmalımescit's meyhane benchmark — rakı, cold meze, a room loud past midnight; go with friends who plan to linger.

On a narrow Asmalımescit lane in Beyoğlu, this meyhane has poured rakı for over two decades and shows no sign of slowing. The cold meze tray and grilled fish arrive without ceremony; the room fills with academics and journalists and runs loud until its 1am close. Reserve ahead for a weekend table — it is small and beloved.

Nurten Tuncer's all-morning Aegean breakfast spread, bazlama fresh off the griddle — come hungry, come early, come with family.

Nurten Tuncer opened the first Çeşme Bazlama in 2013 around the Aegean breakfast she grew up with; there are now nine branches, three of them in Nişantaşı. The draw is the spread — clotted kaymak, village cheeses, honeycomb, eggs — and the bazlama flatbread cooked to order on the griddle. The Nişantaşı room runs 9am to 5pm, breakfast only, and is busy by mid-morning.

Civan Er's modern-Turkish bistro reworks Anatolia without museum reverence — book the small Asmalımescit room for a curious dinner date.

Civan Er's Yeni Lokanta sits on the same Asmalımescit strip as the old meyhanes but reads Anatolia through a bistro lens — regional grains, wild herbs, cooking over coals, and a Turkish wine list with real depth. It is one of the most internationally cited Modern Turkish kitchens. Book the compact room a couple of weeks ahead for dinner.

Ara Güler's old garage café, photographs on every wall and a Galatasaray crowd — drop in for an unhurried solo lunch.

Set in a converted garage opposite the Galatasaray Lycée and named for the photographer Ara Güler, whose pictures line the walls, Kafe Ara serves unfussy Turkish comfort food — köfte, salads, weekend breakfast — to a neighbourhood crowd. It is a place to read and linger over a long lunch rather than a destination dinner. Walk in.

Turquoise-tiled, Michelin-listed, hünkar beğendi at noon and a full meyhane by night — reserve it for a first dinner in the city.

The turquoise-tiled room on the Karaköy waterfront is a Michelin Guide listing and one of the city's most reliable tables: hünkar beğendi and home-style Turkish plates at lunch, a full meze-and-rakı meyhane after dark. Service is warm and quick. It books up — reserve a few weeks out for dinner.

The unfranchised baklava counter on the Karaköy quay, pistachio rolled paper-thin — stop in for a standing breakfast before the ferry.

On the Rıhtım quay by the ferries, Güllüoğlu has been the reference point for Turkish baklava for generations and pointedly does not franchise. The ustas roll the phyllo paper-thin and bury it in Antep pistachio; order it by weight, eat it standing, chase it with tea. The morning su böreği is the local secret.

A hundred-year fish house tucked in Grifin Han, meze then the day's catch — book it for an old-Istanbul lunch by the water.

Tucked into the Grifin Han at the foot of Karaköy, this fish house has served since 1923 — one of the oldest in the city. The format is classic: cold and hot meze first, then whatever came off the boat that morning, grilled simply and dressed with lemon. A long Istanbul lunch by the water.

Kenan and Pınar Çetinkaya's twelve-seat counter earned a 2026 Michelin star — reserve weeks ahead for a quiet anniversary.

Kenan and Pınar Çetinkaya cook for just twelve guests a night at their Kadıköy chef's table, which earned a Michelin star in the 2026 Guide Türkiye. The menu is a single tasting that follows the market and the couple's mood; reservations open online and go within minutes. The intimacy makes it one of the best rooms in the city for an anniversary.

Musa Dağdeviren's research kitchen in Kadıköy market, regional dishes you'll find nowhere else — go for lunch with an appetite for the unfamiliar.

Musa Dağdeviren — chef, culinary anthropologist, Chef's Table subject — has run Çiya in the Kadıköy market since 1998, cooking regional Anatolian dishes you will not find elsewhere from recipes he collects across the country. The menu changes daily; you point at what looks good on the steam table. It sits on the World's 50 Best Discovery list and is worth the ferry across.

Homemade meze at the Kandilli ferry landing since 1972, the Bosphorus a few metres off — book the waterside table for two.

By the Kandilli ferry landing on the Asian shore, Suna Hanım's family has served homemade meze and the day's fish since 1972, the Bosphorus a few metres from the table. Order the fava, the clay-pot shrimp and the pumpkin dessert; sit outside in summer. Gault&Millau Türkiye keeps it on the list. Book the waterside seats.

The most complete Bosphorus panorama in the city, Marios Tsouris in the kitchen since 2024 — reserve the terrace for a proposal.

High on the Ulus hill in Beşiktaş, Sunset has commanded the most complete Bosphorus panorama in the city since 1994; Marios Tsouris has run the kitchen since 2024, turning out Mediterranean and Turkish plates alongside a serious sushi list. It is a Michelin Guide listing. The terrace, at sunset, is the proposal room par excellence — reserve well ahead.

Ottoman palace recipes under gilded ceilings at Çırağan, the strait below — book it for an anniversary worth dressing for.

Inside the Çırağan Palace Kempinski, Tuğra serves Ottoman palace cuisine — recipes from the imperial kitchens — under gilded ceilings with the Bosphorus filling the windows. It is formal, expensive and unhurried, the kind of room that rewards dressing up. Book it for an anniversary or a night that wants occasion.

A glass-walled Beşiktaş room high over Akaretler with a serious sushi bar — go for impressing a client over dinner.

High above Akaretler in Beşiktaş, Vogue pairs floor-to-ceiling skyline glass with an international menu and a well-staffed sushi bar. It has been a fixture for business lunches and skyline dinners for years. Ask for a window table; go to impress a client.

Since 1901 above the Spice Bazaar, blue-tiled and Bib Gourmand in 2026 — book lunch for a guest who wants old Istanbul.

Above the Spice Bazaar in Eminönü, behind a blue-tiled doorway, Pandeli has served classic Istanbul cooking since 1901 — Audrey Hepburn and visiting heads of state among the guests over the years. It holds a Bib Gourmand in the 2026 Michelin Guide Türkiye. Lunch only; book the dining room for a guest who wants the old city.

Hatay cooking near Aksaray, salt-baked chicken cracked open tableside — order it two hours ahead and bring a hungry group.

Near the Aksaray metro in Fatih, this Hatay kitchen sends out the cooking of Turkey's Syrian border — generous meze, künefe, and its signature tuzda tavuk: a whole chicken sealed in a salt crust, slow-cooked in a wood oven and cracked open at the table. Order the salt-baked dish two to three hours ahead and bring a group.

Ottoman home-cooking since 1950, hünkar beğendi the way it should taste — go for a quiet family dinner in Nişantaşı.

Founded in Fatih in 1950 and at its Nişantaşı address since 2000, Hünkar is the benchmark for Istanbul home-style Ottoman cooking — the slow-cooked stews, the dolma, and a hünkar beğendi (the sultan's-delight aubergine purée under lamb) that gave the place its name. It took Restaurant Magazine's national best-restaurant award in 2007. Go for a quiet family dinner.

Şişli's power-lunch institution, polished service and the Turkish canon done properly — book it to close a deal without theatrics.

In Şişli by the Lütfi Kırdar centre, Borsa is the establishment Turkish dining room — polished, classic, the table where bankers and politicians have lunched for decades. The kitchen does the canon properly: kebabs, olive-oil vegetables, milk puddings. Book it to close a deal without theatrics.