While the country’s seat of power may be in Ankara and visitors flock to the cultural capital, Istanbul, for sightseeing, for Turkey’s food capital, you need to head to the southern border with Syria to the ancient city of Gaziantep. Come hungry and wear stretchy pants because Gaziantep food is phenomenal. Actually, the food in Gaziantep is more than phenomenal.
Sitting at the crossroads between the Arab Middle East and Turkish Anatolia, Gaziantep cuisine is the proverbial melting pot of spices, ingredients, aromas and tastes. The food capital of Türkiye has such a rich and varied food culture that it’s a UNESCO Creative City of Gastronomy.
I love to eat, so I booked a longer flight from Seoul to Johannesburg via Istanbul on Turkish Airlines just to get to the glorious food of Gaziantep.
During my four days in Gaziantep, I forgot about my rigid intermittent fasting regime. I had two breakfasts a day, went on a diabetes-inducing search for the best Gaziantep baklava, and gave into gluttony as I hunted down the best kebabs.
It was fantastic!
I’m not ashamed.
And I’ll do it again.
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A Little on Gaziantep Food Culture
Gaziantep, or Antep, cuisine, is unbelievably diverse. If you think Turkish food is just döner kebab and pide, man, will Gaziantep food teach you a thing or two?
Gaziantep has over 30 kinds of kebabs, 40 eggplant dishes (with and without meat), 30 yoghurt dishes, 20 kinds of lahmacun and 30 different types of dessert! In total, Antep food has about 500 dishes unique to the city.
Overwhelmed much?
No worries – we’ll give you the inside scoop on the best places to eat in Gaziantep and tell you what to order.
The diversity of Antep cuisine is also reflected in the various types of spices used to prepare the food. Cumin, sumac, fennel, mint, saffron, and cinnamon are the most common.
Nizip olive oil is another distinct addition to Gaziantep’s food. This olive oil has a higher percentage of oil than olives grown elsewhere, adding a unique taste and aroma to Antep cuisine.
Pistachio is everywhere you go in Gaziantep. You’ll spot pistachio groves next to the road coming from the airport, and the nuts are sold by the bucket in the city’s markets. Antep pistachio, or Antepfıstığı, is the symbol of Gaziantep and another layer of flavour in the city’s food – especially the famous Gaziantep baklava.
Gaziantep baklava is perhaps the city’s most famous food. The EU did Turkey a biggie when it assigned Gaziantep as the birthplace of baklava and registered the pistachio-filled pastry on the European Commission’s List of Protected Designation of Origin, and the name is now protected.
So enough with the theory – you must be hungry. After thorough research following a hands-on approach, here are the best Gaziantep foods and restaurants in the culinary capital of Turkey (Türkiye).
Breakfast in Gaziantep
Breakfast, or kahvalti, in Turkey usually lasts from 09:00 until as late as 12:00, and man, it’s something to look forward to. A good breakfast in Gaziantep is a good start to the day.
Traditional Turkish Breakfast
I’m staying at the wonderful Ali Bey Konagi, a traditional Turkish mansion over a hundred years old. Surrounded by a high wall with a central courtyard, a konag is almost like a Turkish version of a riad.
I decided to stay at Ali Bey Konagi since everyone drooled on their keyboards when mentioning the wonderful breakfast spread in their online reviews. They were not wrong.
As expected of a good kahvalti, Ali Bey’s breakfast consists of various bite-sized delicacies in all tastes and textures. There are 10 little plates with jam, honey, oil, sumac, carrot preserve, pickled vegetables and olives. Kaymak (a clotted cream from buffalo milk that tastes almost like butter) is my favourite.
A traditional Turkish breakfast must have cheese and bread. There are crunchy loaves and chewy flatbread in the bread basket, while you can choose from four soft and hard cheeses on the cheese plate.
There are fresh slices of tomato, cucumber and green peppers on another plate. But why stop there?
Fried egg, Gaziantep’s famous katmer filled with chocolate and kaymak, and a free flow of tea complete this unbelievable breakfast spread. It is a true mishmash of everything sublime: sweet, savoury, bitter, tart, soft, chewy, crunchy, hot and cold.
I’m done – dip me in honey and throw me to the lesbians!
Beyran Corbasi
Gaziantep’s famous breakfast soup is the best meat soup (or any soup for that matter) I’ve ever had. Do not skip this dish when eating in Gaziantep. It’s so good that I think even vegans will burst into angel song when the oh-so-lamby-soup touches their lips.
Beyran begins with boiling lamb and marrow bones over very low heat for up to twelve hours. The low, slow heat renders that lamb fat juuuust right.
The meat is then chopped, shredded, and returned to the fatty broth with rice, garlic, and pepper paste.
The waiter asked me whether I preferred spicy or not, and I believe the spicier, the better. The most delicious, perfectly spicy lamb soup I’ve ever laid my eyes upon appeared with lemon wedges and chewy flatbread.
Me, spicy lamb soup with a squeeze of fresh lemon juice and chewy bread to soak up that heavenly broth was a foursome you can only dream of. I still get flashbacks to that beautiful morning in Gaziantep.
My favourite place for beyran in Gaziantep:
Metanet Lokantası.
Location
It’s common knowledge in Gazainatep that Metanet Lokantası has the best beyran in town.
Katmer
Gaziantep’s sweet breakfast of champions is a thin, flaky pancake-like envelope stuffed with pistachios, kaymak and sugar. It’s a real calorie bomb, and it’s fantastic!
Katmer is a Gaziantep speciality and very popular with locals. Besides being the most famous breakfast dish in Gaziantep, katmer is traditionally eaten by newlyweds to symbolize the beginning of a sweet life together.
Like most good food, katmer takes its time and requires skilful hands. Soft dough has to sit in oil under a damp cloth for about an hour. It’s then a juggling act as it’s spun around in the air, flipped and stretched until it becomes paper thin and then folded into an envelope.
Sugar and crushed Antep pistachios are generously sprinkled over the dough and topped with many small dots of kaymak before it’s sealed. The envelope gets a gracious brush of melted butter before it goes into a hot oven for about ten minutes.
In those hot ten minutes is when the magic happens. The heat extracts the oil from the kaymak, the sugar melts, and these marry with the pistachios while the dough becomes flaky beyond belief.
The katmer is then cut into squares and served hot.
I asked for tea with my katmer, but the friendly owner refused. Instead, he told me to enjoy my katmer with traditional Turkish lemonade. The bright acidity of the lemonade and the intense sweetness of the katmer rode a great seesaw, and it was yet another to-die-for breakfast in Gaziantep.
*I got tea on the house after breakfast, as is customary at restaurants all over Turkey.
My favourite place for katmer in Gaziantep:
Metanet Katmer
Location
A friendly place near the castle with nice seating under the trees and umbrellas.
>>> Also Read: Best Things to See & Do in Gaziantep
Lunch & Dinner in Gaziantep
Turks usually have lunch between 12:00-13:00, but most places serve food throughout the afternoon.
Dinner is generally from 19:00-20:00. It’s rare to see Turks having dinner after 21:00.
Gaziantep is famous for its kebab restaurants. Apologies to the good vegetarian and vegan folks out there, but my hunt for the best lunch and dinner is a fantastic meat-heavy eating adventure.
Hit any restaurant in the following section for the best lunch or dinner in Gaziantep.
Kusleme
Pronounced as khuslahma, kusleme is the tenderloin of the mutton world. It is the lamb’s best and most tender part, almost like fillet.
Kusleme is tender, has no fat, isn’t marinated, and is grilled on charcoal like a good tenderloin.
My favourite place for kusleme in Gaziantep:
Kuslemeci Halil Usta
Location
Kuslemeci Halil Usta has a rep as the best kusleme restaurant in Gaziantep.
Located on a side street near the Zeugma Mosaic Museum, Halil Usta makes a perfect lunch stop after visiting the museum. It’s open from 11:00-3:30, so don’t plan to come here for dinner.
My friendly waiter convinced me to go for the mixed plate, and I’m glad he did. Halil Usta’s mixed plate comes with 2 types of kusleme and a portion of simit kebab.
Baharatli kusleme has a bit of spice, but it’s not too spicy. Sade kusleme is the regular kusleme without added spice.
In addition to the kusleme, Halil Usta’s mixed plate comes with a simit kebab. A simit kebab is a mixture of ground lamb, tail fat, pistachios and fine bulgur spiced with cumin, red pepper and dried mint.
Your kusleme plate comes with a juicy, sour and spicy salad, more like a cold soup. The chewy flatbread was made for soaking up all that juicy goodness of the salad and meat.
The bill for the kusleme mix plate and an aryan was 140 lira, while the salad was on the house.
Ali Nazik Kebap
Another speciality from Gaziantep is the mouthwatering ali nazik kebab. Kidnap my mom and ask my favourite Gaziantep food as ransom, and I’ll have to say ali nazik.
This rich meat and yoghurt dish is so smoky and creamy and is something I’ve never had before, and it’s absolutely delicious.
Chargrilled eggplants are pureed with yoghurt and garlic to make a smoky-creamy-garlicky bed topped with tender pieces of sauteed lamb and melted butter.
My favourite place for ali nazik in Gaziantep:
İmam Çağdaş Kebap
Location
This enormous restaurant is always busy for a reason. Besides amazeballs alinazik and other classic Gaziantep foods, they also do very good baklava (see below).
Patlicanli Kebap
Patlicanli kebab, or eggplant kebab, is a popular dish all over Turkey, especially in the southeastern cities of Gaziantep and Sanliurfa.
Lamb is finely chopped (not minced), seasoned and rolled into meatballs. The meatballs are then skewered, alternating between meatballs and thick slices of eggplant before it’s grilled on an open fire.
Patlicanli kebab is usually served with bell peppers, raw onions and soft flatbread called yufka. The flavourful meat, the nutty, smokey eggplants, and fresh, crunchy vegetables are best friends!
My favourite place for Patliclani in Gaziantep:
Kosk Kebap
Location
I walked past Kosk kebap a few times, and it was always packed, so I decided to see what the fuss was about. With an assortment of kebabs and friendly service, Kosk Kebap is doing something right. Of course, the food is dynamite!
Adana Kebap
Adana kebap hails from the southern city of Adana, west of Gaziantep.
An Adana kebap is lamb meat and tail fat minced together using a special knife called a zırh. The minced meat is then generously seasoned with garlic, onions, paprika and red pepper flakes, giving the Adana kebap its distinct red colour and spicy flavour.
After grilling on the fire, the Adana is served on flatbread with various sides such as charred tomatoes and peppers, fresh parsley, yoghurt and red cabbage.
My favourite place for Adana kebap in Gaziantep:
Kebapcı Yalçın
Location
A waft of barbecue smoke lured me to Kebapcı Yalçın on my first day in Gaziantep.
After being seated, I asked for a menu but was told there was no menu. You have to go up to the display to pick what you want or know your order.
As it was my first day in Gaziantep and the choice of meat kebabs on display was a bit overwhelming, I asked them to make a recommendation – and Adana it was.
The Adana kebap, service and atmosphere were so good that I returned on my last day for another Adana. Both times it was busy with locals.
Kebapcı Yalçın is a casual place with EXCELLENT food and service. The owner walks around feeding children (and some lucky adults) baklava from his hand.
After having your tea and before leaving, the owner will spray a blasphemous amount of hand cologne on your hands.
Chicken Şiş Kebap
When you need a break from lamb, a chicken shish or a tavuk şiş is just the thing you’re looking for.
You’ll find chicken kebabs at most of the restaurants in Gaziantep. Like the other famous Gaziantep kebabs, the chicken shish is spiced and cooked to perfection, served with flatbread and sides.
My favourite place for chicken şiş in Gaziantep:
Kasap Yasar Usta
Location
I was on my way to another famous Gaziantep kebab restaurant to try even more lamb when the friendly guys at Kasap Yasar Usta, just outside my hotel, convinced me to have dinner there instead.
The warm service, tasty food and the outside seating right under the castle made for a great dinner. After dinner, it was ten steps to the courtyard of my hotel.
Lahmacun
Almost like pizza but with a much thinner crust and without cheese, lahmacun makes a quick bite on the go or a good starter.
Lahmacun is usually topped with minced lamb or beef and finely minced herbs and vegetables. Because the crust is so thin, it becomes perfectly crisp when baked in the oven.
You’ll find lahmacun as a starter at most Gaziantep restaurants or little hole-in-the-wall bakeries scattered around town.
Don’t fool yourself that one will be enough, especially when you buy them on the street. Lahmacun is damn yummy and cheap, and you’ll want more. At a restaurant, one is enough for a starter.
The best lahmacun I had in Gaziantep was at Kebapcı Yalçın because of its crispy, burnt-to-perfection crust. The runner-up goes to a random bakery near the castle.
Çiğ Köfte
At last, we have something for the good old vegans and vegetarians. Çiğ köfte is a vegetarian kebab from southeastern Turkey. Some say it originated in Gaziantep while others say it’s from nearby Sanliurfa.
Çiğ means raw, and köfte means meatball, so Çiğ köfte is basically a vegetarian tartare. In the past, it was a legit raw meat dish until the ministry of health banned the raw meat version.
Bulgur is kneaded with a bit of water or lemon juice and chopped onions until it becomes soft. Tomato and pepper paste is added, as well as fresh herbs such as mint and parsley and seasoned with spice.
The köfte is then shaped by hand and served cold.
Today Çiğ köfte is usually served as an appetizer or as part of the side dishes accompanying your main meal. Eat it with a lentil soup or salad with flatbread, and you have yourself a tasty vegetarian meal.
My favourite place for Çiğ köfte in Gaziantep:
Kasap Yasar Usta
Gaziantep Baklava
The baklava capital of the world has hundreds, if not thousands, of bakeries doing nothing else but the sweet stuff. You’ll see trays and trays with baklava everywhere you go.
The secret to the best Gaziantep baklava is Antep pistachios (Antepfıstığı).
Antepfıstığı is harvested in early August, ensuring the nuts have a bright green colour and sweet flavour. The chopped pistachios are layered between phyllo pastry sheets, brushed with melted butter, baked into a crispy pastry, and drowned in an unholy amount of hot sugar and lemon juice syrup.
My hands are sticky just from typing that!
Enough already! So where do I get the best baklava in Gaziantep?
Koçak Baklava
For the best Gaziantep baklavası, waste no time and head straight to Koçak Baklava (location). This baklava bakery is a Gaziantep institution and is renowned all over Turkey for baking the best Antep Baklava.
I agree that the baklava at Koçak is the best. It’s sweet but not so sweet that your cheeks start hurting when you put it in your mouth. I also love the subtle buttery taste. Just a few days in Gaziantep, and I sound like a baklava connoisseur, lol.
With so many kinds of baklava to choose from, I ordered a plate with three portions. I had the classic square fıstıklı baklava, the special sobiyet with extra pistachios, and the bülbül Yuvası. The bill for three pieces of baklava and three cups of çay was 53 lira.
I liked it so much that I asked my taxi driver to make a detour to Koçak on the way to the airport to pick up a kilogram of baklava before catching my flight home. They packed and wrapped it nicely, and the baklava arrived home looking and tasting fresh from the oven. My family loved it.
Tahmis Kahvesi Baklava
Another strong contender for the best Gaziantep baklava is Tahmis Kahvesi Baklava (location). The beautiful and atmospheric baklava and coffee house has served sugar and caffeine fixes since 1635, and people are still hooked almost 400 years later.
Masters of the Antep baklava, Tahmis Kahvesi Baklava claim they only use the best pistachios between their 40 hand-rolled phyllo dough layers. But that’s not enough. Apparently, their baklava is baked in wood-fired stone ovens.
I had the mixed plate with a portion each of fıstıklı baklava, sobiyet, midye, and a green pistachio baklava roll.
The bill for the baklava set and a Turkish coffee came to 140 lira.
İmam Çağdaş Kebap ve Baklava Salon
Not only one of the best restaurants in Gaziantep (see above), but İmam Çağdaş is also renowned for serving some of the best baklava.
Serving fantastic Gaziantep food since 1887 and still going strong, you must absolutely have baklava dessert here after your meal. By now, you should also know that using your fingers is the best way to get to know your baklava.
A plate of 6 squares of Yas baklava was a deliciously sticky 38 lira.
Other Gaziantep Food & Drinks to Try
Meyan Kökü Şerbeti
This liquorice sherbet drink is a popular summer drink (especially during Ramadan) in the Kurdish regions of eastern Anatolia, Gaziantep and Sanliurfa. It’s commonly known as Turkish Cola, but it tastes nothing like Cola.
It has a robust liquorice taste and is quite bitter. But at 10 lira a cup and the chance to have a unique drink, definitely give it a try.
The traditional drink is most often sold by vendors in markets and bazaars dressed in traditional attire carrying a golden samovar on their backs.
Dibek Kahvesi
Dibek Kahvesi, or Dibek Coffee, is a special type of coffee dating from the Ottoman period. Dibek refers to the unique way of grinding coffee using a mallet or stones to crush the beans in a large mortar. With the invention of coffee grinders, this way of preparing coffee has almost disappeared entirely in Turkey.
Sedar Bey (location) is the only place in Gaziantep to enjoy a cup of Dibek coffee. This cup is so special because you get two different coffees in one cup.
Split down the middle, one side is lighter in colour and thinner compared to the darker, thicker side. The thick coffee may be an acquired taste and not your conventional Turkish coffee, but give it a try while taking a break in the beautiful courtyard of the historic building.
Antep Dolması
Don’t mistake the colourful dried vegetables hanging all over the markets and bazaars for decoration. Ok, that was what I thought…
These dried vegetables – peppers, eggplants, zucchini, chillies and what-have-you are used to stuff with rice to make dolma.
The dried vegetables are boiled for a short time to soften them up before they get stuffed with rice and herbs.
Fresh Fruit
In summer, fresh fruit, especially figs and cherries, can be found from vendors and corner shops all over town. Grab a few to take back to your hotel for a healthy midnight snack. They’re cheap and you will crave something fresh after having lamb and bread for every meal.
What & Where Will You Eat in Gaziantep?
Don’t know about you, but I’m hungry. I’m sure you’ll love eating in Gaziantep as much as I did.
Enjoy the culinary wonders of Gaziantep; it truly is a place where you live to eat.
Let us know in the comments below what your favourite Gaziantep food was.
We used your exact guide to eat in Gaziantep (11 August 2023) and it was all amazing. Thanks for doing the hard work for us!
Happy days! It wasn’t hard work at all-I enjoyed every second of it. Glad you liked the food.
“dip me in honey, throw me to the lesbians”…….. sexist, stupid or frightened?
Was this necessary? perhaps too revealing of ignorance.
Hi Stuart,
Thank you for your comment and standing up for the LGBTQ (and all the other letters)community. We are strong supporters of the LGBTQ community (and all the other letters) too.
We are definitely not frightened by the lesbians or sexist. We might be a little stupid. I’m slapping myself on the wrist as I’m typing.
Was it necessary? Besides breathing most things seem unnecessary. So apologies for writing unnecessary things. Slapping myself on the wrist once again.
I asked my good lesbian friend and her/his/their/its wife their opinion and and they laughed it off. I told them it’s serious but they just kept laughing. They thank you though for standing up on behalf of the lesbians.
Once again, sorry for my ignorance and causing you or anyone else discomfort.