Local Dishes

1. döner kebap

   Döner kebap (meat roasted on a turning vertical spit)

   Usage

   It is "kebap made by rotating meat on a spit". The most common dish name you will see in Turkey

2. İskender kebap

   İskender kebap (döner over bread with tomato sauce and yoghurt)

   Usage

   From Bursa, named after its 19th-century inventor İskender Efendi. Note the dotted capital İ — the dotless I is a different letter

3. Adana kebabı

   Adana kebabı (spicy hand-minced meat grilled on a skewer)

   Usage

   Capitalised because it is named after the city of Adana. Plenty of hot pepper is added

4. şiş kebabı

   Şiş kebabı (cubed meat grilled on a skewer)

   Usage

   "şiş" means skewer; the dish is "kebap cooked on a skewer"

5. köfte

   Köfte (meatballs / grilled minced-meat patties)

   Usage

   It can be made from minced meat but also chicken, fish or potato — the word is not restricted to beef

6. lahmacun

   Lahmacun (thin flatbread baked with minced meat on top)

   Usage

   From Arabic laḥm (meat) + ʿacīn (dough). It is a type of pide baked with minced meat, onion, parsley and spices

7. pide

   Pide (flat leavened bread, often topped like a boat-shaped pizza)

   Usage

   Leavened dough baked flat, optionally topped with egg, minced meat, cheese or pastırma

8. mantı

   Mantı (tiny dumplings served with yoghurt and sauce)

   Usage

   Note the dotless ı at the end. The word refers to both the parcels themselves and the finished dish with tomato sauce and yoghurt

9. menemen

   Menemen (eggs scrambled with tomato, green pepper and onion)

   Usage

   A breakfast staple. Menemen is also a district of İzmir province — the dish is written lower case

10. karnıyarık

    Karnıyarık (fried aubergine split and stuffed with minced meat)

    Usage

    Literally "split belly". Both syllables use the dotless ı. It contains meat, unlike imambayıldı

11. imambayıldı

    İmambayıldı (aubergine stuffed with onion, garlic and tomato in olive oil, meat-free)

    Usage

    It is written as one word. It belongs to the meat-free "zeytinyağlı" (olive-oil) dishes — useful if you avoid meat

12. yaprak sarması

    Yaprak sarması (vine leaves rolled around rice or minced meat)

    Usage

    Sarma is made with cabbage, chard or vine leaves rolled around rice, bulgur or minced meat, also called yaprak sarması

13. gözleme

    Gözleme (thin dough folded over a filling and cooked on a griddle)

    Usage

    Yufka dough filled with cheese, meat or potato and cooked on a "sac" griddle. A separate word with the same spelling means "observation"

14. simit

    Simit (ring-shaped bread coated in sesame)

    Usage

    A ring-shaped çörek usually sprinkled with sesame. The cheapest street breakfast in Turkey

15. çiğ köfte

    Çiğ köfte (spiced fine bulgur kneaded into small patties, served uncooked)

    Usage

    From Şanlıurfa and Adıyaman, eaten uncooked in a lettuce leaf. The Urfa version is kneaded with raw meat while the Adıyaman version is meatless — ask before ordering

16. mercimek çorbası

    Mercimek çorbası (lentil soup)

    Usage

    The default soup in any Turkish eatery. It is made with red, green or yellow lentils with onion, flour, butter and stock

17. kuru fasulye

    Kuru fasulye (white beans stewed in tomato sauce)

    Usage

    A saucy dish made from bean seeds, with or without meat. Usually eaten with pilav

18. kumpir

    Kumpir (large baked potato mashed and loaded with toppings)

    Usage

    A large potato baked in a special oven and filled with cheese, sweetcorn, peas and other toppings. A street-food fixture in Ortaköy, İstanbul

19. kokoreç

    Kokoreç (lamb intestines wrapped on a spit and grilled over embers)

    Usage

    Lamb intestine wrapped on a skewer and roasted over embers. Worth recognising if you avoid offal

20. midye dolma

    Midye dolma (mussels stuffed with spiced rice)

    Usage

    It is mussels filled with "iç pilav", popular in the Aegean and Marmara regions, especially İzmir. Sold from street carts and eaten with a squeeze of lemon

21. balık ekmek

    Balık ekmek (grilled fish sandwich)

    Usage

    It is a widespread street food, sold straight from boats at Eminönü square in İstanbul. Note the dotless ı in "balık"

22. çoban salatası

    Çoban salatası ("shepherd's salad" of tomato, cucumber, pepper and onion)

    Usage

    Tomato, cucumber and peppers finely diced with onion. The default salad on any Turkish menu

23. meze

    Meze (small dishes eaten alongside drinks)

    Usage

    Meze is food eaten while drinking. In a meyhane a tray of cold mezes is brought to the table and you point at what you want

24. baklava

    Baklava (layered filo pastry with nuts, soaked in syrup)

    Usage

    Very thin yufka layers filled with clotted cream, pistachio, walnut or almond and soaked in sugar syrup. The pistachio version from Gaziantep is the best known

25. künefe

    Künefe (hot shredded-pastry dessert filled with cheese)

    Usage

    A kind of tel kadayıf with cheese, eaten hot. It is baked to order, so expect a wait

26. lokum

    Lokum (Turkish delight)

    Usage

    Sweetened starch boiled down and cut into small cubes. From Arabic rāḥat al-ḥulḳūm. The standard edible souvenir

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