Eat Standing Up: The Street Table of Istanbul’s Historic Peninsula

1. 01
   Local

   Learn How Old the Simit Is

   Start among the simit stalls in Eminönü Square. Simit is recorded in a 1525 price register, and in a 1593 court record it appears as “simid-i halka” as a distinct trade. Evliya Çelebi wrote that the city had three hundred simit sellers and seventy bakeries, producing five times a day.

   Eminönü Square ferry front, Istanbul, Turkey
2. 02
   Local

   See How the Boats Were Nearly Removed Twice

   Continue to the fish sandwich boats by the foot of Galata Bridge on the Eminönü side. In its documented form, fish bread here dates back to the 1960s. The tradition was nearly removed twice: in 2004 the boats were pulled away by a governor’s decision, and in 2019 their contracts were not renewed and evacuation was requested. In February 2020, the court ruled that the tenancy relationship continued, and the boats stayed.

   Galata Bridge Eminönü side waterfront, Istanbul, Turkey
3. 03
   History

   Climb to the Dining Room Above the Bazaar

   Go up to Pandeli above the Spice Bazaar. The restaurant was founded by Pandeli Çobanoğlu from Niğde, who arrived in Istanbul at age twelve in 1901 and began by selling meatballs and beans. The dining room has blue tiles across the walls and a domed ceiling. The restaurant closed in 2016 and reopened in 2018 with part of its former kitchen team.

   Pandeli Restaurant, Mısır Çarşısı üstü, Istanbul, Turkey
4. 04
   Food

   Follow the Smell of Roasting Coffee

   Walk to Kurukahveci Mehmet Efendi on Tahmis Street behind the bazaar. Opened in 1871, it is known as the first business to sell roasted and ground coffee in packaged form. Its founder was Mehmet Efendi, and the business is now in its fourth generation. The smell you notice from the end of the street comes from roasting done inside the shop.

   Kurukahveci Mehmet Efendi, Tahmis Sokak, Istanbul, Turkey
5. 05
   Exploration

   Realize You’re Standing Below a Fortress

   Head into Tahtakale around Sağır Han. The district’s name comes from the Arabic taht-el-kal'a, meaning “under the fortress,” and the Byzantine tower that gave the area its name still stands beside Sağır Han, attached to Büyük Valide Han. This market zone has been a back-port trade district since Byzantine times, and today it still works through narrow streets packed with workshops and storage spaces.

   Sağır Han çevresi, Tahtakale, Istanbul, Turkey
6. 06●
   Food

   Look Into the Pots in Sinan’s Arasta

   Continue to Tiryaki Çarşısı opposite Süleymaniye. This row of shops was designed by Sinan, opened on 25 October 1557, and took its name from tiryak paste, a multi-ingredient mixture blended with honey. Coffee, tea, and tobacco were once sold here. Today the same row is filled with bean restaurants, and the oldest moved from a street cart into a fixed shop in 1939.

   Süleymaniye Tiryaki Çarşısı, Istanbul, Turkey
7. 07
   Local

   Find the Coffee in the Hot Sand

   Enter the Grand Bazaar coffeehouses along Yağlıkçılar Street. The bazaar, commissioned by Mehmed II in 1461, has kept its coffeehouse tradition alive for centuries. Here, Turkish coffee is prepared not on a stove but in hot sand: the cezve is buried in the sand so heat reaches it evenly from all sides. While the city had around fifty coffeehouses in the sixteenth century, the number had reached the thousands by the nineteenth century.

   Kapalıçarşı, Yağlıkçılar Caddesi, Istanbul, Turkey
8. 08
   Local

   Understand Why the Street Is So Straight

   Finish at the entrance to Hocapaşa Street, a lane of tradesmen’s restaurants. The neighborhood takes its name from Hoca Paşa, son of a statesman from the reign of Mehmed II and the first judge of Istanbul. The Hocapaşa fire of 17 September 1865 destroyed the area completely; the grid-based rebuilding that followed is considered one of the city’s first modern planning interventions.

   Hocapaşa Sokak girişi, Sirkeci, Istanbul, Turkey

Check opening hours before you go. Hours, access conditions and weather can change.