Lahmacun
Photo: Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 3.0

A wafer-thin disc of dough topped with spiced minced lamb, onion, parsley and tomato, baked seconds in a wood oven and eaten rolled around lemon and salad.

A southeastern Turkish-Armenian dish from Antep and Mardin, lahmacun reached Istanbul with mid-20th-century migration from the south. The city now has stone-oven specialists like Borsam Taşfırın in Kadıköy, running an unchanged 1968 recipe, alongside neighborhood Antep-rooted operators across Beyoğlu and Üsküdar. The wood-fired bake takes under a minute; the disc is meant to be rolled around lemon, sumac onions and fresh parsley and eaten immediately while the dough is still pliable.

2 editor picks for Lahmacun in Istanbul, ranked by editorial score. All Istanbul signature dishes · Lahmacun across every city.

Çiya Kebap ★ 4.4

₺₺TurkishKadıköy

Çiya Kebap, the original 1987 sister to Çiya Sofrası on the opposite side of Güneşlibahçe in Kadıköy market, fires kebabs, lahmacun and pide from a single.

OrderPistachio kebap, Lahmacun, Pide

DirectionsView

Borsam Taşfırın ★ 4.2

₺TurkishKadıköy

Borsam Taşfırın in Kadıköy, a stone-oven lahmacun and pide salon running since 1968 with a counter line that turns over every five minutes at lunch.

OrderLahmacun, Kıymalı pide, Yumurta pide

DirectionsView

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