The plates that define Antalya: what they are, where they came from, and where to eat the canonical version.
Signature dishes
-
Antalya piyazı (tahinli piyaz) ★ 4.8
Small dry beans under a thick tarator of tahini, garlic, lemon and vinegar, topped with tomato, onion, egg and parsley, and eaten in Antalya as a main course, not a salad.
Where to try it: Piyazcı Ahmet, Şişçi Ramazan, Kebap 32 Salih, Parlak Restaurant
Price: ₺180-400
The registration file says the Antalya way of making piyaz is almost a hundred years old, and that works written about Antalya credit the old Çandır bean with its character; because Çandır production is very limited, small, matte, veined Sıra-type beans are used today. TÜRKPATENT registered it as a place-of-origin mark on 29 December 2017 at the request of the Antalya Chamber of Commerce and Industry. In October 2026 the Muratpaşa Municipality stand at the Kaleiçi Old Town Festival's gastronomy forum served tahinli piyaz.
Watch out for: Sesame, Egg
-
Şiş köfte ★ 4.6
At one family shop in Antalya's wholesale market, mixed beef and lamb mince is threaded on special skewers and served with piyaz, kabak tatlısı and tırnaklı pide.
Where to try it: Piyazcı Ahmet, Şişçi Ramazan, Kebap 32 Salih, Parlak Restaurant
Price: ₺500-550 a portion
Turkish Wikipedia defines şiş köfte as a köfte or kebab made on a skewer, with Tire and Burdur versions of its own. A 2022 Anadolu Agency report on a family shop in Antalya's wholesale market describes a day of preparation, four to five hours of cutting the sinew from the meat by hand, and tırnaklı pide baked in Korkuteli. Şişçi Ramazan says its flavour is unchanged since 1970, Kebap 32 Salih has stood at its present address since 2003, and Piyazcı Ahmet adds şiş köfte to the piyaz it has served since 1996.
Watch out for: Gluten
-
Hibeş ★ 4.4
A thick meze of tahini loosened with lemon juice and warm water and seasoned with garlic, cumin and red pepper, which Turkish Wikipedia calls native to Antalya.
Where to try it: La Bohem Beach, Seraser Fine Dining Restaurant
Hibeş is on the Antalya Metropolitan Municipality's list of the city's own flavours and in Turkish Wikipedia's list of dishes particular to Antalya, where one version is pastırmalı hibeş, hibeş with pastırma. Turkish Wikipedia's hibeş entry cites a report of the Western Mediterranean Development Agency on the culinary culture of Antalya. La Bohem Beach lists Köyceğiz hibeş among its mezes, and Seraser pairs Antalya hibeş with oak-smoked beef tongue and ember-roasted beetroot.
Watch out for: Sesame
Book food experiences in Antalya
-
Antalya kabak tatlısı ★ 4.8
Peeled pumpkin slices cured in sugar, cooked and browned in the oven, then finished with double-roasted tahini and walnuts; registered as Antalya Kabak Tatlısı in 2021.
Where to try it: Piyazcı Ahmet, Şişçi Ramazan, 7 Mehmet, Kebap 32 Salih, Mevlana Lokantası, Parlak Restaurant, Arma Restaurant, Kalamar Balık
The registration file calls it a dessert tied to Antalya, and TÜRKPATENT registered it on 12 April 2021 at the request of the Antalya Chamber of Commerce and Industry. The pumpkin must be grown in Camili village in Döşemealtı and the tahini made from Manavgat sesame. The slices sit in sugar for 12 to 24 hours, simmer for two to three hours, then brown in an oven at 175 C for 15 to 20 minutes. Piyazcı Ahmet calls its baked version indispensable, and 7 Mehmet serves a kabak tatlısı with walnut and buffalo kaymak and a stuffed pumpkin made from the geographically indicated Döşemealtı pumpkin.
Watch out for: Sesame, Nuts
-
Kuzu tandır (lamb tandır) ★ 4.3
Lamb cooked the tandır way, a staple of the Yörük herders of the Antalya mountains, now on city menus served with rice and vegetables at Arma.
Where to try it: Parlak Restaurant, Arma Restaurant, Şişçi Ramazan, Mevlana Lokantası
The Yörük workshop book that Muratpaşa Municipality published in 2024 lists lamb tandır among the dishes of the herders, who ate kavurma and slow-cooked tandır dishes in winter quarters. It adds that keşkek and tandır kebab stand out at weddings, funerals and other communal events. Parlak in Zincirli Han serves Antalya usulü tandır kuzu, lamb cooked by the traditional tandır method, and Mevlana Lokantası lists tandır and kelle tandır among its kebabs.
-
Antalya serpme böreği ★ 4.5
A börek of dough thrown paper-thin by hand, folded around minced meat or cheese and baked quickly; the registered Antalya version was once called fıtır börek.
Where to try it: Börekçi TEFİK Dede - Celal Usta, Fıtır Börek Mutfak ve Cafe
The registration file says it is served at weddings, mevlit readings and funerals, and that its origin lies in the Ramadan custom of giving fitre, offered as alms. The dough of flour, salt and water is thrown through the air six or seven times, the pieces bake at 200 to 220 C for at most ten minutes, and TÜRKPATENT registered the börek on 26 April 2021. Börekçi Tefik Dede dates itself to 1930 and calls itself the inventor of Antalya-style serpme börek, and Fıtır Börek says it uses only beef in its meat fillings.
Watch out for: Gluten, Dairy
-
Antalya paça çorbası (kelle paça) ★ 4.2
A soup of beef head meat in bone broth, thickened with egg, saffron and flour and served with koşma, the sesame-free simit that Antalya eats with it.
Where to try it: Çorbacı Şemsi Kırcami, Mevlana Lokantası
Muratpaşa Municipality applied for the indication, and TÜRKPATENT registered Antalya Paça Çorbası as a place-of-origin mark on 24 August 2022. The file traces the soup to the 1950s and says the head meat, bone broth and seasoning are prepared separately and joined at serving, and that getting the seasoning's consistency right takes skill. Çorbacı Şemsi, in business since 1976 and open 24 hours, names kelle paça first among its soups.
Watch out for: Gluten, Egg
Signature Dishes in Antalya, FAQ
What food is Antalya known for?
Antalya's signature dishes include Antalya piyazı (tahinli piyaz), Şiş köfte, Hibeş, Antalya kabak tatlısı, Kuzu tandır (lamb tandır). See our signature dishes chapter for where to eat each.