The Best Places to Eat at Istanbul Airport
Condé Nast Traveler readers named Istanbul Airport the best international airport for 2024, in no small part because of its reputation for world-class dining. Whether you’re transiting through or you’ve just left the shores of the Bosphorus and need one last kebab, this sprawling hub with its glitzy, mall-like atmosphere features well over 100 pit stops, most offering Turkish specialties. While the domestic gates are separated from the massive international section, everything here is in one large building, so you don’t have to worry about hopping on an air train or navigating between terminals—you just have to walk a lot, passing temptations galore as you go. Think of the hike as a way to work off that gözleme you couldn't resist.
Below, our Istanbul Airport food guide for the best places to eat at the new $12 billion hub (opened in 2018, it's often abbreviated as IST or IGA). Whether you’re here on a five-hour layover or only have 15 minutes to grab a quick meal or souvenir to-go, there's an array of delicious options—the only challenge lies in making a choice.
Longer indulgences
If you flying business class on Turkish Airlines, have Sky Alliance status, or are traveling with someone who does, the absolute best place to dine here is Turkish Airlines’ Business Class Lounge, overlooking the main floor, where live-fire cooking stations and impressive buffets of mezze and dessert will spoil you for the meal in your cabin.
Not so lucky? No problem, because Cuisine Anatolia has got you covered. In the central hall near the A and B gates, this is actually several restaurants in one, each with its own menu but all dedicated to traditional Anatolian cuisine. There’s a section for pide, Turkey’s answer to pizza; one for beef and chicken döner kebab, shaved off the spit; a grill for skewered kebabs, including generous hunks of lamb; and a restaurant for slow-stewed dishes like rice-stuffed peppers; “sour meatballs” simmered in tomato sauce tarted up with sumac; and manti, Turkish raviolini in yogurt sauce. If you don’t have time for the gracious service, grab a tray for the cafeteria line where you can pick from a plethora of salads and hot dishes. In the morning, linger over serpme kahvalti, a proper Turkish breakfast of cheeses, sausages, breads, egg dishes like menemen, a soft, veggie scramble, and all the spreads both sweet and savory.
If you’re partial to celebrity chefs, Turkey’s one and only Salt Bae has a restaurant in the main hall near the D gates, where people pack in for burgers, like the signature smoked beef on a Goth-like squid-ink bun, plus steaks, ribs, and chops. Popular for drinks, too, it boasts one of the airport’s few full bars and, for the kids, elaborate milkshakes. “Golden powder” in your ice-cream beverage, Junior?
For a more serene experience, in the quiet corridor between the D and E gates, Kaimakk serves both international and Turkish dishes in a sparkling white-on-white dining area. Think linguine bolognese as well as linguine köfte, bulgur wheat standing in for the meat. But the main play at this sweets specialist comes at the end. Sample Turkish delight covered in rose petals or flavored with pomegranate and black mulberry; carrot, walnut, or pistachio baklava; chewy, stretchy Turkish ice cream; and candy-coated almonds.
From chicharron sandwiches in Lima to a noodle buffet in Tokyo and a ladies’ filet in Johannesburg.
Quicker sit-down meals
For a nutritious snack in the main hall just to the left of the escalators to the A and B gates, Gram offers salads and mezze made with seasonal ingredients. The food courts that sit above the main hall are better geared for regular fast food options, but the one near the E and F gates offers homegrown brands. You’ll wait a few minutes at Pidem for your flatbread—cheesy pide or minced-beef lachmacun—but that’s a good thing because they make them to order. Folks line up at Paşa Döner for dark meat–only chicken kebabs shaved onto buns served alongside drive-thru-thin french fries.
You’ll find a Çay Saati in the main hall outside of Cuisine Anatolia and a larger one at gate D3. There are other coffee shops in the airport, but at this one, the baristas take care to personalize your drink: They will ask you how much sugar you’d like in your fresh-brewed Turkish coffee and remind you to “wait one minute, and after that, drink” so that the grounds have time to sink to the bottom. They do Italian-style coffees, frappes, and teas of both the bubble and Turkish kinds, as well. And if you’re looking for a nibble as you sip, order their dolmas, rice-stuffed grape leaves, or the stuffed flatbread gözleme.
For late-night dimsums, all-day kaya toasts, and pillowy roll cakes to-go.
Grab and go
At Istanbul Airport, food stands with grab-and-go options are around nearly every corner. Try Enud, where the köfte is as big as a baseball; Mvnch, selling the sesame-coated Turkish bagels called simit; and Cups and Clouds, where a nice, little nugget of baklava goes well with a coffee. But most ubiquitous is Simit Sarayı, found at a bingo card’s worth of gates: A7, B10, D17, F13. Despite its name, what this place has is the widest variety of börek, flaky pastry topped with seeds and coiled around fillings like feta, spinach, and potato. The most common type of börek, called Su böreği, almost looks like a sauceless square of lasagna, cheese, and herbs tucked amid thick, noodle-like layers of phyllo.
Food gifts
You’ll pass Unifree Duty Free shops in every wing and in the main hall. They’re good in particular for Turkish wines and the grape-based spirit raki. But for food souvenirs, the two locations of Old Bazaar can’t be beat. On either end of the mall, these duty-free spots are packed with a dizzying diversity of Turkish delight, baklava, chocolates, dried fruits, nuts, nougats, and spice mixes to take home. Pick up organic teas, nut butters, olive oils, jarred and vacuum-packed olives, and even cheeses and sausages, if you can figure out how to get them home safely. There are also counters for nuts and sweets like marzipan by the pound, so you can make your own mixed box. And, if there’s a crowd at home awaiting edible souvenirs, this place also offers 5-Euro tins of Turkish delight and other affordable treats.
Originally Appeared on Condé Nast Traveler
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