Unmarinated lamb tenderloin, cut into small cubes and grilled fast over charcoal with nothing but salt. It is the most expensive kebab in Gaziantep because there is very little of it per animal.
Where to eat it: 4 restaurants across 1 city.
Küşleme is Gaziantep's status kebab. It uses only the tenderloin, so a whole lamb yields a couple of portions and the daily allocation runs out well before closing time. No marinade is used, because the point is the meat: the cubes are threaded tight, salted and grilled over hot charcoal for a few minutes only. Kebapçı Halil Usta and Küşlemeci Mehmet Usta both built single-dish businesses on it, and both shut once the day's supply is gone. It is served with grilled peppers, flatbread and yayık ayran, the churned buttermilk drink that cuts the fat.
Tip from the editors. If tenderloin is out of reach, use trimmed loin, but drop the cooking time. Anything tougher wants a marinade and stops being küşleme.
Kebapçı Halil Usta charges fine-dining money for one thing in Gaziantep, küşleme, and shuts the grill once the day's lamb tenderloin has gone.
Order: Küşleme, ordered by weight rather than by portion.
Tip: Arrive by 12:30. The tenderloin allocation is the whole business and it does not last.
Küşlemeci Mehmet Usta is a single-dish kitchen in Gaziantep, grilling lamb tenderloin over charcoal and serving it with churned yayık ayran.
Order: Küşleme, plus the yayık ayran that comes with it.
Tip: Small portions, high price per gram. That is what the cut costs, not a tourist mark-up.
Bayazhan keeps its caravanserai meyhane in Gaziantep running to midnight with live fasıl, rakı and a küşleme allocation that sells out early.
Try: Küşleme and meze
Tip: Reserve the küşleme when you book. After ten o'clock the grill is usually out of it.
Çulcuoğlu Et Lokantası is the esnaf lokanta of the Gaziantep bazaar, serving kebab, pide and bottomless soup to coppersmiths and shoppers alike.
Order: Kuşbaşı kebab with firik pilav and the free soup refill.
Tip: Complimentary fruit and soup arrive unasked. Do not over-order the starters.
More cities are in research. Want küşleme covered somewhere specific? Tell us where you want to eat.