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.
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.
4 editor picks for Küşleme in Gaziantep, ranked by editorial score. All Gaziantep signature dishes · Küşleme across every city.
Kebapçı Halil Usta ★ 4.6
sehitkamil · Karşıyaka Mah. Tekel Cad., Ocukoğlu Sk. No:6, 27500 Şehitkamil/Gaziantep
Kebapçı Halil Usta grills küşleme over charcoal in Şehitkamil, and the Gaziantep lunch crowd empties the tenderloin allocation most days by 15:00.
Çulcuoğlu Et Lokantası ★ 4.5
sahinbey · Suyabatmaz, Kalender Sk. No:6, 27410 Şahinbey/Gaziantep
Çulcuoğlu Et Lokantası sits at the exit of the coppersmiths' bazaar in Gaziantep, opposite the Suriye Pasajı, and the family has run it since the 1920s.
Küşlemeci Mehmet Usta ★ 4.4
alleben · Alleben, Kemal Köker Cd. No:25 A, 27500 Şahinbey/Gaziantep
Küşlemeci Mehmet Usta grills nothing but lamb tenderloin on Kemal Köker Caddesi in Gaziantep, and the founder's son now works the charcoal himself.
Bayazhan ★ 4.4
sahinbey · Akyol, Atatürk Blv. No:119 D:1, 27010 Şahinbey/Gaziantep
Bayazhan pours rakı and grills küşleme inside a Silk Road caravanserai on Atatürk Bulvarı, one of the few licensed rooms in central Gaziantep.