Vegetarians in the city, please, stop your illusive pursuits of vegetarian restaurants in Istanbul unless you think that foregoing meat means depriving yourself from attractive flavorful food. I can see stones being thrown upon me from far away but I am going to be upfront here: there is no pure vegetarian restaurant in Istanbul where you would be eating and not thinking about 101 ways to improve every single dish you order.
Instead vegetarians in Istanbul should venture into the regular places where people eat and discover a (huge) meatless side of the Turkish cooking. And - just as counter-intuitive as it sounds - you should not shy away from the eateries that seemingly do not cater to a non-carnivore. Like kebab houses. In fact you can get blissfully full with excellent treats without ever touching meat in a good kebab house in Istanbul. And if you are lucky brave enough you can feast on out-of-this-world vegetarian kebab .. at a stronghold of the Turkish kebab tradition, Kebapçı İskender.
The story of the Iskender family hailing from Bursa, an industrial powerhouse of Turkey, has sadly become a blueprint for many family-run enterprises of Turkey. Their success came as a curse complicated by the attempts to protect their product from imitations and leadership wrangles within the very family. It was in the grandfather of the current Iskenders who came up with the idea of serving döner - kebab grilled on the vertical skewer - in a particular way that soon became legendary known as iskender kebab. Think thin pita bread drizzled with tomato sauce, then a layer of thinnest meat shavings seasoned with sizzling butter and a dollop of creamy buffalo yoghurt on the side. What an incredible transformation of the omnipresent king of street-food known in Turkey since the early Ottoman times into a lavish meal.
No wonder that in Turkey, country where copycatting is pretty much a norm of doing business iskender kebab soon became the xerox of all the kebabs served in a similar way. Until the family claimed the rights back and patented “iskender kebab” and a wide range of related trademarks grabbed by the enterprising kebab-makers all over Turkey.
What adds the drama is that the grandsons of the Iskender the founder chose to split his kebab empire into three parts two of which are present in Istanbul. Yavuz Iskenderoğlu expanded through franchising, mostly in Bursa but also with two stores in Istanbul, in Beşiktas and Ataşehir. My husband tells me how heartbroken he was when someone told him that they bring their kebabs from Bursa already portioned and only heat it up before serving in their branches. Meanwhile, another brother Iskender Iskenderoğlu seems to be doing much better job at keeping the tradition and his two restaurants on the Asian side of Istanbul should be the museums where school trips should come to watch how usta is attending to the best-looking döner kebab roasting against the vertical charcoal grill.
Why am I telling all that instead of just giving you the right address for the best vegetarian kebabs in Istanbul? Because I think that now you can truly appreciate what they do at Kebapçı İskender. I see them as the missionaries of the authentic iskender kebab who may be exhausted by all the wrangles but still committed to serving its legendary kebabs and make them available even for those who don’t eat meat!
I love Kebapçı İskender’s restaurant in my “home’ Kadıköy that is showcasing what used to be the industry standard in this country - ultra-specialization and exemplary Turkish hospitality. With white tables clothes and dignified bow-tied waiters Kebapçı İskender is a place where families with grownup children come for a weekend meal. Fussy ladies and gentlemen are placing order and waiters show no sign of annoyance by the fuss.
There is no menu and the waiter is simply asking how you like your döner - one portion, one and a half maybe and for the small eaters a child portion can be prepared. Along with your kebab you may have a glass of ayran, thinned yoghurt, or şira, juice of slightly fermented red grapes. Followed by tea and their mastic-flavored thick pudding for dessert. And - you never know until you ask - they have what they call a vegetarian menu.
On an oval plate pattered with grand-ma little blue flowers design arrives their vegetarian - dare I say - kebab. You nearly choke with the buttery and charred smell coming from the plate. The kebab is rich and is a witty take on their famous classic. Squares of thin pide with crusty top are seasoned with tomato sauce and then covered with charred eggplant which is usually kept white by adding lemon juice, olive oil, yoghurt or cream but in this case let brown to produce that kebab appearance. On the side perched the meaty roasted peppers and thin green peppers - only slightly charred - to retain the crunch. A few slices of tomato and a generous dollop of buffalo yoghurt - thick like creme fresh - are sealing the deal.
As you are still astound by the swirl of colors and smells on your newly arrived plate a waiter rushes back to your table with a huge copper griddle holding just enough (do not try to object - just enough) sizzling butter to season your vegetarial iskender kebab. And what comes next - with your first bite - feels like a victory over the tricky competition, over the family factiosn and over all those doubting Istanbul can be a safe heaven for a vegetarian. As long as you are in a right kebab place.
Kebapçı İskender. Rıhtım Caddesi. Kadıköy, near the post office (PTT).
Merhaba Olga! Thanks so much for posting this delicious tip. I’m not a vegetarian 100% of the time in Istanbul, but there are times when I’m craving a yummy Turkish meal without the ever present meat, and that’s pretty much impossible to find. And eggplant has to be my most favorite veggie, so I’ll have to head to Kadikoy right away. Cok tesekurler!