Shredded lamb neck and rice in a garlic and pepper broth built on marrow bones, ladled over the top so it is served scalding. This is the Gaziantep breakfast that starts before dawn.
Where to eat it: 3 restaurants across 1 city.
Beyran is the reason the bazaar counters of Gaziantep open at five in the morning. The broth takes ten to thirteen hours, meat and marrowbones simmered overnight so the lamb pulls apart, and each bowl is finished to order with rice, garlic and hot pepper paste. Metanet Lokantası, trading since 1975 and still run by Mustafa Hasırcı, is the address most closely tied to it, and the kitchen sells until the pot is empty rather than until a closing time. Locals eat it as a first meal and treat mid-morning as late. The dish has since travelled across Türkiye, but the early start has not travelled with it.
Tip from the editors. The broth must be at a rolling boil when it hits the bowl. Beyran served merely hot is beyran served wrong.
Metanet Lokantası charges soup money for the dish Gaziantep is proudest of, and a beyran with bread is a full breakfast for one very modest price.
Try: Beyran çorbası
Tip: Order half a portion if you plan on katmer afterwards. The broth is richer than it looks.
Sakıp Usta keeps beyran and paça going past midnight on Kemal Köker Caddesi, which makes it the Gaziantep answer to a very late-night appetite.
Try: Beyran and paça
Tip: It is still serving at 02:00, and at 03:00 on Fridays and Saturdays.
Yesemek Gaziantep Mutfağı plates regional home cooking near the castle, and half portions make it the easiest place in Gaziantep to taste widely.
Order: Ekşili köfte, the sour meatball soup.
Tip: Vegetarian dishes are listed separately. The kuru patlıcan dolması is meat-free on request.
More cities are in research. Want beyran çorbası covered somewhere specific? Tell us where you want to eat.