Aubergine charred over flame, peeled and beaten into garlic yoghurt, then topped with cubed or minced lamb cooked in butter. Smoke, sourness and fat in one plate, and Gaziantep claims it.

Ali Nazik is the dish most often used to introduce Gaziantep cooking abroad, and the city treats it as its own. The name is usually traced to an Ottoman court visit and a compliment paid to the cook, though the versions of that story do not agree on the detail. What is consistent is the method: the aubergine is burned directly on charcoal until the skin collapses, then peeled while hot and worked into thick yoghurt with raw garlic so it stays warm and loose. The lamb goes on last with butter and pepper. Every kebab house in the city serves it, and the differences are in how much garlic and how much smoke.

3 editor picks for Ali Nazik kebabı in Gaziantep, ranked by editorial score. All Gaziantep signature dishes · Ali Nazik kebabı across every city.