Istanbul is a lush city for food lovers. I’ve lived here for 12 years, and I’ve never gotten bored with its cuisine—from local street food to creative reinterpretations of Turkish classics, from Istanbul-specific dishes to flavors from across Anatolia and neighboring countries like Syria, Iran, and Georgia. In a city with so many options, it can be hard to know where to start eating. Of course, most visitors have heard of kebab or doner, but I believe the most interesting local cuisine goes well beyond these world-famous staples.
The one dish I recommend travelers start with is deceptively simple but consisitently delicious: lahmacun.
A thin layer of circular dough is rolled out and topped with a mixture of minced lamb and spices, then baked in a brick oven until the edges turn perfectly crispy. It’s served hot, and the proper way to eat it is to squeeze some lemon juice, sprinkle it with spices like sumac and Aleppo pepper, and pile on a handful of parsley. Then, you roll it up like a burrito and dig in.
One or two is usually enough to satisfy your appetite. It’s best paired with a cold glass of ayran, a salty Turkish yogurt drink that perfectly balances the spiced meatiness of the lahmacun.
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A lahmacun restaurant sits somewhere just above fast food—meant for people on the go, but still offering something you can savor. It’s food of the people, equally enjoyable for tourists and locals alike.
My favorite place to eat lahmacun is at Borsam Tasfirin in Kadikoy, the neighborhood where I live. The place is always bustling with people of all ages, and lahmacun flies in and out of the massive stone oven that dominates the small space. While the restaurant has a tiny upstairs salon, the best way to enjoy Borsam’s lahmacun is perched on a stool inside or outside by a window, watching the vibrant foot traffic of the neighborhoods pass by. (Borsam offers a few other options, including a lahmacun topped with cheese, but I recommend sticking iwth the classic.)
There may be fancier or more complex dishes to try in the city, but you can never go wrong with the humble lahmacun.
