This International Food Capital Is One of the Most Exciting Cities to Dine in Right Now

I live part of the year in Istanbul, and my homecomings there always involve a ravenous re-encounter with lahmacun, that blistered, paper-thin, fire-kissed flatbread topped with spicy ground meat. Normally, one devours lahmacun at hazy kebab joints. But last year, I found myself at Seraf Vadi, a high-design restaurant in a district of glossy skyscrapers and malls far from the city center, marveling at the whole-wheat lahmacun crust, which was simultaneously earthy and light under a succulent topping of minced grass-fed Thracian lamb.

My excitement continued with the içli köfte, lamb-filled bulgur balls, usually deep-fried but here delicately poached and served with a rich housemade yogurt. There were plump mantı dumplings, too, crisped over a wood fire, and flavorful dolmas of sun-dried eggplants and peppers. Aside from some regional specialties, Seraf Vadi’s menu is what Turks eat at home or at Formica-topped canteen tables. But when transposed to a beautiful setting, refined by rigorous attention to detail and ingredient sourcing, and accompanied by wines from a deep, mostly Turkish list, the dishes provoked endless exclamation marks and epiphanies. The familiar suddenly tasted utterly fresh.

Seraf Vadi represents a decadeslong dream for Kurdish restaurateur Doğan Yıldırım, who traveled to eat “at the top fine-dining places of Europe,” he recalls, and started to wonder: “Why doesn’t our cuisine, with its rich blend of heritages — Armenian, Arab, Greek, Kurdish — deserve the same setting and treatment?” Finding an inspired collaborator in chef Sinem Özler, a passionate crusader for traditional Anatolian foodways, he opened Seraf Vadi in 2023, earning rave reviews and a devoted following. Whenever I’m in town, I eat here, sometimes once a week — each meal a delicious reminder of how much Istanbul’s restaurant scene has matured. 

I bought my Istanbul apartment almost two decades ago, seduced by the ferry rides on the Bosphorus and the magical skyline of domes and minarets. I delighted in the city’s traditional food rituals — meze at meyhane taverns, grilled bonito at old-school waterside fish restaurants — and usually skipped the generic pastas and sushi served at rooftop hot spots favored by jet-setters. Then in 2005, the trailblazing Turkish Finnish chef Mehmet Gürs opened a different kind of rooftop hot spot, Mikla (still open today, though he’s now no longer involved), eventually developing a terroir-rooted contemporary cooking style he dubbed “New Anatolian.”

Soon, other like-minded chefs were romancing local tahini, tarhana (fermented grains), pistachios, and mulberries in creative, stylized dishes. “These days, microregional recipes, regional cheeses, and wines made with indigenous grapes are emerging on menus all over,” says Gürs’ partner in work and life, Cemre Torun, cookbook writer and Vogue Türkiye food editor. “There’s a great pride and respect for almost-forgotten products and recipes,” she continues, “but also an urgency to interpret them in new ways — which is really exciting.” In this very spirit, Torun and Gürs are also producing the country’s most interesting raki under their Prototip:Rakı label, revolutionizing this traditional anise-scented spirit with Anatolian heritage grapes and innovative distilling techniques. 

Confirming Istanbul’s bona fides as an international food capital, the Michelin guide debuted in Turkey in 2022. The country’s only two-star distinction went to Turk Fatih Tutak, a restaurant from the unstoppably inventive chef Fatih Tutak. An Istanbul native, he spent 16 years working in Asia, including a stint at Tokyo’s avant-garde RyuGin and a stage at Noma in Copenhagen. Tutak recalls how at his Bangkok restaurant, The House on Sathorn, he once put his mom’s mantı on an elaborate haute tasting menu.

“Our humble dish was everyone’s favorite,” he declares, “reminding me that I was a Turkish chef and that it was time to return home, to use my worldwide experience to reinterpret our Anatolian flavors.”

In 2019, he opened his handsome 30-seat restaurant, Turk Fatih Tutak, in the Bomonti district. Here, his theatrical 13-course tasting menus always start with clever trompe-l’oeil stuffed mussels — his homage to the iconic Istanbul street food — their edible “shells” wrought from caramelized onions and squid ink. To follow might come Aegean tuna served atop smoked eggplant and accented with vine-leaf dashi (a nod to dolma). Before a barrage of petits fours, his talismanic mantı appear — filled with aged Turkish Wagyu and broth that squirts into the mouth like xiao long bao, presented on smoked yogurt infused with umami-rich beef garum.

While some chefs reinterpret the food of Anatolian grandmothers, others bring cosmopolitan panache to the table. Currently, the city’s most glamorous crowd packs into Arkestra, which French-trained chef Cenk Debensason and his wife, Debora Ipekel, a former music programmer for London’s Boiler Room, opened in 2022 in the hills above the Bosphorus. A mini-complex occupying a rambling 1960s villa, Arkestra offers something for everyone. The retro-chic, wood-paneled main restaurant is a backdrop for Debensason’s suave Franco-Asian dishes, such as his tuna sashimi with sushi rice ice cream or wild foraged mushrooms with miso-onion soubise.

In a separate nook, a sexy red-curtained bistro called Ritmo offers killer cocktails and shared bites like gochujang-spiked tartare of beef. After hours, the scene shifts to the upstairs Listening Room, a record-lined audiophile’s bar where Ipekel curates weekly DJ events. “Recently, rapper Mos Def dropped by and took over the mic,” she told me excitedly. Debensason’s polished cooking had just won a Michelin star, “but don’t expect classic Michelin vibes,” Ipekel said with a laugh. 

With its glittering vistas and preening crowds, Istanbul knows how to put on a party. Yet it’s the intimate, locavore-minded, chef-centric spots that keep drawing me back. It’s hard to resist the warm embrace of Apartıman Yeniköy, where chef Burçak Kazdal cooks eclectic, personal food — cabbage dolmas with short ribs, celery root roasted with pekmez (grape molasses) and miso — while her brother Murat greets guests and invents fabulous cocktails. Or I might be getting a crash course in indigenous grapes at a sidewalk table at Foxy. This lovable spot, presided over by the Armenian local wine expert Levon Bağış, showcases bottlings made with native varietals and delicious small plates that highlight local seasonal ingredients — “food that reflects our geography and our family rituals,” Bağış explains. 

You’ll also find me riding the cross-Bosphorus ferries, accompanied by seagulls, to Istanbul’s Asian shore. There, at Basta Neo-Bistro, I can savor a soulful offal stew dotted with croutons or a diaphanous springtime special of artichokes in a velvety vichyssoise of Sultani peas. This minimalist spot with its open zinc-counter kitchen was launched in 2021 by chef friends Kaan Sakarya and Derin Arıbaş, who both worked in Paris at places like Astrance and Arpège. “We’re lucky to have a community of young, worldly chef-owners who are daring to open small, personal places, despite inflation and alcohol taxes,” says Arıbaş. “And to have customers who come to support us.” 

Where to eat in Istanbul

Seraf Vadi

The airy dining room at Seraf Vadi, way north of the city center, is worth a pilgrimage for chef Sinem Özler’s inspired renditions of regional Anatolian dishes and for the 240-label, mostly Turkish wine list.

Turk Fatih Tutak

Book way ahead for a table at this warm, blond-wood space in the trendy Bomonti neighborhood for chef Fatih Tutak’s theatrical postmodern forays into ancient Turkish traditions. At Turk Fatih Tutak, the microseasonal 13-course tasting menu ends with a showy petit-four performance. 

Arkestra

Inside Arkestra, a sprawling villa in the Etiler district, there is a creative, Michelin-starred fine-dining restaurant; a sultry bistro called Ritmo; and a cool upstairs bar lined with vinyl records inspired by Japanese jazz cafés.

Apartıman Yeniköy

The beloved gastro-bistro with a charming garden in the Yeniköy district, Apartıman Yeniköy makes you feel at home with its hospitable vibes, killer cocktails, and soulful personal takes on Turkish flavors by chef Burçak Kazdal.

Basta Neo-Bistro and Basta Street Food Bar

Chefs Kaan Sakarya and Derin Arıbaş both worked at Parisian fine-dining temples, then reimagined the dürüm (sandwich wrap) at their minuscule Basta! Street Food Bar. At Basta Neo-Bistro, they offer a streamlined menu of fabulous modern Mediterranean dishes prepared with local ingredients.

Hodan

Come to this arty Turkish brasserie in a historic building in Beyoğlu for chef Çiğdem Seferoğlu’s irresistible market-driven cuisine — from her famous chopped salad dressed with a sour cherry sorbet to her majestic octopus with green olives, cooked in a wood-burning oven. Hodan’s Sunday brunches are legendary.

Herise Istanbul

At 24-seat Herise, the decor leans Scandinavian-Zen, but the tasting menus summon the vibrant flavors of the Turkish Aegean region. Among the highlights: keşkek, an ancient porridge of pounded wheat berries, and chicken cooked with verjus.

Where to drink in Istanbul

Fahrī Konsolos 

A pocket-size den of creative mixology on the city’s Asian shore, Fahrī Konsolos features hyperlocavore potions that spotlight ingredients such as Turkish pomegranates, saffron, spices, and roses. The Duthane cocktail, for example, blends raki, mastic, and white mulberry.

Foxy

Local wine expert Levon Bağış and celebrity chef Maksut Aşkar are behind Foxy, an always-packed wine bar in the fashionable Nişantaşı neighborhood. The lengthy wine list celebrates native Anatolian grapes, and the small plates reflect Istanbul’s mosaic of cultures.

Where to stay in Istanbul

The Peninsula Istanbul

Opened in 2023, the Istanbul outpost of the Peninsula brand occupies four waterfront buildings in the Karaköy district; three of them are gorgeously renovated fin de siècle landmarks. The soaring Bauhaus-style lobby and discreetly opulent guest rooms (many with water views) have been designed by celebrated local architect Zeynep Fadıllıoğlu. The Silk Road–inspired menu at its rooftop restaurant, Gallada, is by chef Fatih Tutak of the two Michelin-starred Turk Fatih Tutak. Rooms from $852

Çırağan Palace Kempinski Istanbul

A landmark urban resort on the Bosphorus shore, Çırağan Palace includes an actual 19th-century imperial palace. In 2023, the hotel got a sumptuous neo-Ottoman makeover, which bestowed its 317 guest rooms with rich colors, mother-of-pearl-inlaid furniture, tulip-patterned fabrics, and hammam-style marble bathrooms. There’s a stunning infinity pool overlooking the Bosphorus and five restaurants, including the Ottoman-themed Tuğra in the old palace section. Rooms from $463

Adahan DeCamondo Pera, Autograph Collection 

In the buzzy district of Beyoğlu, Adahan DeCamondo Pera is a delightful and affordable option. The restored 1874 mansion once belonged to the city’s wealthy Sephardic Jewish Camondo family, and its downstairs salons, decorated with historic sepia photos, create an illusion of staying at a family residence. The hotel’s 50 high-ceilinged guest rooms manage to feel both cozy and bright, and the rooftop bar overlooking the Golden Horn estuary is a cool place to unwind. Rooms from $163