Best Soup in Istanbul: 9 Soup Restaurants, from Tripe to Lentil
Where to eat the best soup in Istanbul: tripe at Lale İşkembecisi since 1960, trotter soup at Hünkar, and 20 to 25 daily pots at Ayık in the Kadıköy market.
A Turkish meal traditionally starts with soup, and in Istanbul soup also stands alone as a full meal. Locals eat it for breakfast at dawn, for a quick lunch on a market run, and after midnight on the way home. The nine restaurants below cover that entire clock. Some ladle classics like lentil and tomato; others specialize in tripe, trotter, and the rest of the offal repertoire. The best pots sell out early, so timing matters as much as the address.
Soup is one chapter of eating in this city. For the whole table, start with our guide to the best food in Istanbul, and if a bowl here follows you home, our list of Turkish soups and their recipes covers the classics one by one.
List of best soups in Istanbul
| Restaurant | Area | What to order | Price level |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hünkar | Nişantaşı | Lamb trotter soup | Mid-range |
| Shorba | Ataşehir (Asian side) | Oxtail soup, seasonal pots | Cheap eat |
| Karaköy Çorba Evi | Karaköy | Lentil or Analı Kızlı, at lunchtime | Cheap eat |
| Lale İşkembecisi | Beyoğlu, Tarlabaşı Bulvarı | Tripe soup with garlic and vinegar | Cheap eat |
| Kanaat Lokantası | Üsküdar (Asian side) | Trotter soup, before noon | Cheap eat |
| Paçacı Mahmut Usta | Fatih, Kıztaşı | Trotter soup, ezogelin | Cheap eat |
| Sarıhan İşkembe | Karaköy | Boncuk tuzlama, beyran | Cheap eat |
| Şayan | Gayrettepe (Beşiktaş) | Soup with kokoreç on the side | Cheap eat |
| Ayık | Kadıköy (Asian side) | Whatever fills the day’s 20+ pots | Cheap eat |
Every entry below includes a Google Maps link for the exact location.
1. Hünkar (Nişantaşı)
Three generations of the Ügümü family have run Hünkar, in operation since 1950. It started as a small lokanta in Fatih and moved to Nişantaşı in 2000. The menu draws on Ottoman palace dishes that go back centuries, and the kitchen makes three different soups fresh every day.
The one to order is the trotter soup, with the lamb trotter left in big pieces in the broth.
Location of Hünkar:
2. Shorba (Ataşehir)
Shorba is a small, cozy restaurant built around soup. The menu carries Turkish soups you will rarely find anywhere else, such as oxtail, next to international bowls like a Thai soup made with coconut milk. The lineup rotates with the seasons.
Portions are enormous. One bowl here is a full meal.
Location of Shorba:
3. Karaköy Çorba Evi
Karaköy Çorba Evi is a refuge for anyone who needs something warm in the belly. The long soup menu runs from tomato, yogurt, and mushroom to traditional Anatolian pots like Analı Kızlı, all made from fresh ingredients.
The most popular soups, lentil and chicken, are gone before evening. Come at lunchtime if you want the full choice.
Location of Karaköy Çorba Evi:
4. Lale İşkembecisi (Beyoğlu)
Lale İşkembecisi has been an address for soup lovers since it opened in 1960, and the dining room wears those decades well. It stands on Tarlabaşı Bulvarı in Beyoğlu, a short walk from Taksim Square, and it stays open 24 hours a day.
The specialty is tripe soup, made from fresh, thoroughly cleaned tripe and served with garlic sauce for a kick and vinegar to sharpen the flavor. If the bowl wins you over, our Turkish tripe soup recipe walks through making it at home.
Location of Lale İşkembecisi:
5. Kanaat Lokantası (Üsküdar)
In business since 1933, old enough to belong in any conversation about the oldest restaurants in Istanbul, Kanaat Lokantası opens its doors around 06:00 every morning, because soup is the first meal of the day for many of its regulars. The dining room sits in Üsküdar, a short walk from the ferry pier.
The paça çorbası (trotter soup) is so popular among locals that it sells out before noon every single day. If you cross the water for it, our guide to the best restaurants in Üsküdar covers the rest of the neighborhood.
Location of Kanaat Lokantası:
6. Paçacı Mahmut Usta (Fatih)
The name translates as “trotter soup master Mahmut,” which tells you exactly what to order. Mahmut Usta cooked at Hünkar before opening his own place in the Kıztaşı part of Fatih, and his son runs the counter today.
The kitchen works with Balıkesir lambs, considered some of the best in Turkey. The broth is finished with thick buffalo yogurt, butter, and flour, and the preparation takes many hours to get the balance right in every bite.
The ezogelin and mercimek çorbası (lentil soup) are very good here too.
Location of Paçacı Mahmut Usta:
7. Sarıhan İşkembe (Karaköy)
Sarıhan İşkembe serves warm soup 24 hours a day, which makes it the address to know after midnight.
Boncuk tuzlama is the house specialty, and the menu also carries traditional Turkish soups like beyran, tomato, and village chicken. If tripe and trotter are new territory, our guide to Turkish offal dishes explains each one before you have to order.
Location of Sarıhan İşkembe Karaköy:
8. Şayan (Gayrettepe)
Şayan is where celebrities land softly after a night out, and it gets crowded toward morning on weekends. The dining room and its garden sit in Gayrettepe, on the Beşiktaş side of the business district.
For a fuller meal, the menu adds grilled meat and kokoreç to the offal soups, and the lentil and tomato pots cover anyone at the table who skips tripe and trotter.
Location of Şayan:
9. Ayık (Kadıköy)
Ayık is the one restaurant the Kadıköy market cannot live without, and it stays open around the clock. The menu lists 20 to 25 different soups each day, with plenty of options for people who pass on offal soups like tripe.
The restaurant sits in the center of Kadıköy, inside the same market blocks our Taste of Two Continents tour covers, so it is easy to find on a market walk.
If you are spending the day on that side of the water, our guide to the best Kadıköy restaurants covers where to eat before and after the soup.
Location of Ayık:
Final words
Nine soup houses is more than one trip needs, so choose by craving and by clock: tripe at Lale İşkembecisi, an early trotter bowl at Kanaat before it runs out, or a slow tour of Ayık’s twenty-plus pots in Kadıköy. Whichever you pick, do it the local way and order soup as the meal itself.
If you would rather eat through the city with a local leading the way, join our Taste of Two Continents tour, which eats across both sides of the city, Kadıköy market included. We have run tours since 2013, in small groups capped at 10 guests.
