Halal food in Turkey: what to eat, city by city

Turkey has the simplest halal food situation of any country we run trips in: it is not a question of finding halal, it is a question of deciding what to eat. Here is how to do both properly.

Istanbul

Start with kahvaltı — the Turkish breakfast — which is not a meal so much as a table: white cheese, olives, tomatoes, cucumber, honey and kaymak, eggs with sucuk, simit, and endless tea. Almost all of it is halal by default.

For the classics, look in Fatih and around the Grand Bazaar for kebab houses that have been in the same family for generations. Then go further: hamsi (anchovies) in winter, kokoreç for the brave, and İskender in Bursa if you get there.

Cappadocia and central Anatolia

This is where Turkish home cooking does its best work. Testi kebab — meat and vegetables slow-cooked in a sealed clay pot and broken open at the table — is the regional speciality, and the local wine industry is irrelevant because nobody expects you to drink.

In Turkey, halal is not a special request. It is simply what is for dinner.

Konya, on our route, is conservative and dry: it is also where you eat the best etli ekmek and the driest, most serious baklava in the country.

The coast

Antalya means seafood, and lots of it: grilled sea bass and bream, octopus, calamari, and meze plates that could be a meal on their own. Fish restaurants on the Kaleiçi marina serve the catch of the day without any need to ask about halal.

Watermelon with white cheese after dinner is a national habit and worth adopting.

Practical notes

Ask for 'helal' rather than relying on the English word. Anything sold as helal sertifikalı is certified; in practice the overwhelming majority of Turkish restaurants are halal without needing to say so, since pork is rare outside specialist shops.

Alcohol is available in tourist areas — but every one of our hotels is alcohol-free and no alcohol is served at any group meal. If you want a dry table, you will get one without having to ask twice.