ISTANBUL

The city that straddles Europe and Asia has found its stride and is at last gaining recognition for its creative take on traditional Turkish cuisine

If you’re looking for something to soak up the excesses of your night come 4am, you’ll have no trouble finding it in Istanbul. You’re never too far from a compact cafe selling döner cut straight from the spit, or a street vendor selling buttery, chickpea-studded rice topped with morsels of chicken breast from a small cart illuminated by a single lightbulb. This is truly a 24-hour city.

Turkey’s — and Europe’s — largest metropolis has an unusual geographical position, split in two by the Bosphorus Strait, which connects the Black and Marmara Seas, their shores hemming in the urban sprawl on either side. And while this is a place that has become defined by its crowds, its 16 million people bring with them an energy that translates to a rich and diverse dining scene.

The city is home to a strong culinary tradition that reflects its residents, who hail from all over Turkey and beyond, arriving with their own recipes and cuisines. In this respect, it’s practically an entire nation of its own. Adventurous eaters can venture from one corner of the city to another just to taste a specific delicacy often unavailable anywhere else, save from its region of origin. Take the cusine of Turkey’s southeastern Antep region, for example, which you can taste in Köyiçi, a neighbourhood nicknamed Little Antep.

As well as street-food carts selling cheap and tasty bites, you’ll find grillhouses serving skewers of kebab, and meyhane (traditional taverns) offering an array of meze served alongside glasses of raki, Turkey’s aniseedflavoured spirit of choice. There are also neighbourhood tradesmen’s cafeterias dishing up affordable, comforting food for those on the go, plus some of the most highly regarded finedining restaurants in the world.

It’s not all traditional cuisine, either. Once considered slightly behind other global cities in terms of trends — both culinary and otherwise — Istanbul is catching up faster than ever, with a new wave of hip restaurants offering food and drink that’s as photogenic as it is delicious. There are third-wave coffeeshops and edgy bars serving locally made craft beer and Americanstyle barbecue, which were nowhere to be found a decade ago. There’s even a place selling experimental takes on poutine. You’ll never be short of opportunities to eat — so come hungry.

Right: Galata Tower, Beyoğlu