Istanbul Asian Side Food Tour • Small Group • 10+ Tastings
Description
Spend an evening eating your way through Kadıköy, Istanbul’s lively Asian-side food district. Follow your local guide through the market lanes and Moda backstreets, stopping for more than 10 tastings including midye dolma, lahmacun, kokoreç, garlicky beyran and traditional goat’s-milk dondurma. Come hungry: the tastings add up to a full dinner, not just a few samples. With a maximum of 10 guests, there’s plenty of time to discover the stories behind the food and the neighbourhood. The tour finishes back at Kadıköy Ferry Terminal, with your one-way ferry ticket to the European side included.
Tour Options
Itinerary
Meet your guide at İstanbul Kitapçısı Café inside the Kadıköy ferry terminal. From here, head into one of Istanbul's liveliest food neighbourhoods for an evening of 10+ tastings.
Walk through Kadıköy's market streets, where locals shop for fish, cheese, olives and everyday ingredients. Start tasting along the way, including midye dolma, mussels stuffed with spiced rice and finished with lemon. Then continue through the neighbourhood for other street-food stops.
Continue through Kadıköy for two Turkish street-food classics: lahmacun, served hot from the oven with parsley and lemon, and kokoreç, seasoned and chopped hot from the grill.
Leave the busiest market streets behind and continue into the Moda backstreets for beyran, the intensely garlicky Gaziantep soup made with shredded lamb, rice and hot broth.
Finish with traditional goat's-milk dondurma, then return to Kadıköy ferry terminal. Your one-way ferry ticket back to the European side is included, and your guide will help you catch the ferry toward Eminönü or Karaköy.
Highlights
What's included
Traveller Ratings
Important Information
- Infants and small children can ride in a pram or stroller
- Public transportation options are available nearby
- Suitable for all physical fitness levels
- Maximum group size is 10
- Tour runs rain or shine
- Vegan and lactose-free diets cannot be accommodated on this tour.
- Vegetarian options are available at most stops, although 1–2 stops do not have a vegetarian alternative.
- Not recommended for gluten-intolerant travelers, as many tastings include bread or wraps.
- Guests with serious allergies or medical dietary requirements must advise us at the time of booking.
Reviews(32)
Our guide was so friendly and had so many facts! We tried some amazing food and absolutely loved to neighbourhood we toured that we went back the next day ourselves. would definitely recommend!
Thanks, Callum! We're so glad you had a great day with us and loved Kadıköy enough to head back on your own the next day. That's exactly what we love to hear! We hope to welcome you back to Istanbul someday. :)
Wonderful food tour. I never would have tried most of the foods we had. The guy was knowledgeable and patient, explaining the history of the food we were eating and the restaurants we visited. I would definitely recommend it.
We had a well-organized, informative and tasty tour on the Asian side of Istanbul. Bahri was great — kept things moving, explained our foods, was interesting and fun.
Bahri gave us a wonderful food tour while telling all about the neighborhoods and the history of the city. The amount of food we received on the tour was amazing. We left very full and happy. We’re so glad we took this tour, it was worth every penny. It was obvious that Bahri loves what he does and loves Istanbul.
Great food sampling on the Asian side of the Bosphorus! Bahri escorted us to specialty street food restaurants where the food was interesting and abundant. My only disappointment was that I was ready to eat at 1800 when we met up on the European side and we didn’t stop anywhere there…
This food tour was amazing - lots of local spots and delicious food. We had Bahri as our guide and he was fantastic, so much local knowledge and told us everything we needed to know! Would highly recommend.
Our tour guide Bahri was excellent. We got to try a lot of delicious food we would never have tried without the tour. We had a great group of people. And it was a really fun way to experience catching the ferry and exploring Kadıköy on the Asian side. Can highly recommend this tour.
Bahri was amazing. It was a ton of food and super interesting. He provided a lot of great information and was enthusiastic. The different foods, desserts, drinks, etc... that we tried was amazing. He provided a lot of great background information to all of it as well. No item was consumed without information as to the background to that item.
Fantastic tour with an excellent guide Bahri. We were lucky to just be the only 2 on the evening tour, had a delicious whistle stop tour of Istanbuls best cuisine. My husband and I really enjoyed it, Bahri was warm, relaxed and full of knowledge not just about food but history, culture and top tips for tourists. I would highly recommend, our guide as I felt he went that extra mile! Thanks Bahri :)
Tugçe was excellent! Super nice and very knowledgeable. She took us to some great places. I would totally do a tour with her again!
