19 Best Restaurants in The Black Sea Coast and Lake Van, Turkey

With excellent food and stylish ambience, this restaurant has won itself a place at the top of Mardin's dining scene. There is a mix of Western dishes such as steak and pasta, with Turkish standards and local specialities like kaburga (stuffed lamb) and kuz tandir (slow oven-cooked lamb). The meze dishes are also unusual regional specialities and very tasty. Local wine is available. Meals are served on a pleasant outdoor terrace in the evening and the vaulted stone rooms of an old house during the day.

One of Mardin's best restaurants (known throughout Turkey) occupies a restored stone house with several terraces that provide spectacular views of the plain that unfolds below the town. Dishes served are authentic local ones, such as lamb braised in a tangy green plum sauce and kitel raha, layers of mince and chickpea dough. There is also a full spread of tantalizing cold and hot mezes, including tasty chickpea fritters and, owing to the Arab influence on Mardin, hummus and falafel. A locally made red wine is served traditionally, in metal bowls, although you can ask for a glass.

Open since 1887, Imam Çağdaş is certainly doing something right, as the crowds that pack this restaurant in the bazaar district day and night will tell you. Besides top notch lahmucan (crispy stone baked dough topped with spiced minced meat), there's a small menu of standard kebabs such as ali nazik (minced-meat kebab served on a puree of roasted eggplant, garlic, and yogurt) and the sebzeli kebab, a skewer of grilled vegetables and lamb minced with garlic and parsley. The star however is the terrific syrupy baklava, so widely regarded as the best in the country that orders have regularly been received from Turkish presidents and from as far afield as Fidel Castro.

This charming, family-run restaurant is all dark wood and nostalgia, and is said to have been serving the same dishes since 1856. The specialty is buttery rice with either slow-cooked lamb or kuru fasülye (white beans in a tomato sauce). Accompany your meal with a frothy ayran (salty yogurt drink) or another house speciality: a sweet, refreshing drink made from sun-dried apricots.

The word ocakbaşı means "by the hearth" and the emphasis here is on grilled meats: the usual kebabs, plus the Black Sea meatball specialty, akçaabat köfte. The kitchen also prepares some local stews, but usually only at lunchtime. Vegetarian options, including delicious fresh mezes, are also available.

In good weather, the place to sit is the stone-lined terrace with wooden picnic tables that look over the mountains and the waterfall. The kitchen turns out trout and local dishes such as stuffed cabbage and turşu kavurması (roasted pickled vegetables), as well as meat options, and serves an open buffet breakfast every day.

A warehouse built in 1909 for a tobacco merchant is now a spot for diners to enjoy their meals in either a large outdoor courtyard or the cool stone-vaulted chambers at the back. There are excellent mezes, quality incarnations of standard kebabs, and a good sampling of local dishes like smoky eggplant kebabs and fantastic yavulama (meatball-and-yogurt soup). This is not only one of the nicest places in town, but is also one of the few that serves alcohol.

In an old stone building on the north side of Atatürk Alanı, Cemil Usta serves a mix of seafood and local dishes like akçaabat köfte (the local meatball specialty) and kuymak (fondue made of cheese and cornmeal). Grab a seat street-side or on the long balcony upstairs, which makes this a great spot for watching the square on a summer evening. The service is typically speedy, sometimes bordering on abrupt, but the free hazelnut baklava dessert provides an excuse to linger.

There's no menu here at Fevzi Hoca, Trabzon's most serious seafood restaurant; you'll simply be shown the fish available and you choose how you want your order to be cooked. The restaurant is decorated with photos of famous Turks dining on the premises, a hint of just how popular it is. Non-fish eaters can order the delicious akçaabat köfte (meatballs).

This pebbly lakeside beach set with plastic tables is a good spot for lunch or dinner after a visit to Akdamar. The food, which includes local dishes such as kebabs and trout baked in a terra-cotta dish, is delicious, and afterwards you can swim off the rocks and use one of the showers.

Two blocks behind the Zeugma Museum, hidden away in a quiet neighborhood, is this Gaziantep institution. While you shouldn't expect a serene dining experience (it can get pretty noisy and crowded), it's surprisingly simple and as the photos on the wall demonstrate, anyone who's anyone in Turkey has eaten here. There's no menu, but the antep (pistachio) kebabs are what it's most famous for, though you should also sample their unbelievably tender kuşleme (marinated cubes of lamb). Note that it's only open for lunch.

Hidden up some unassuming stairs on the west side of Cumhuriyet Cadessi, this popular kebab spot has a more refined atmosphere than the competition around town and has excellent food as well. There's a broad range of typical kebabs, plus a few more unusual choices here, such as the kaşarlı sarmabeyti, ground meat and cheese in a tomato sauce–covered wrap. 

Despite the rustic name (there's a small campground on the premises), this large space with an outdoor terrace on a hillside just below the İshak Paşa Sarayı, is Doğubeyazıt's only option for a big night out. You'll find the usual selection of mezes and kebabs, as well as live Turkish music on weekends along with wine, beer, and rakı. There are also a few very basic rooms that can be rented.

The kebabs here are simple and tasty, and embroidered curtains, rust-color tablecloths, and waiters in shiny vests add a bit of atmosphere to the cave-like space. Try the ali nazik kebab (grilled meat served on a cheesy eggplant puree) or the ejder kebab, pieces of grilled meat, cheese, parsley, sesame, and egg yolk in a calzone-like wrapping.

These wooden gazebos set on the edge of a small river are a fine spot to have lunch or dinner after visiting Sumela, a 15-minute drive away. There is a wide selection of mezes, along with regional specialties such as tereyağlı alabalık, trout baked in butter, and kaygana, an omelet made with Black Sea anchovies. On the weekends, the place is filled with families from Trabzon on country outings.