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Albura Café & Restaurant
This newcomer is a welcome addition to the otherwise mediocre array of restaurants along Akbıyık Caddesi. Its pretty streetside tables are usually occupied by tourists sampling Turkish dishes such as hünkar beğendi (lamb or beef goulash served on a mound of rich aubergine puree) or opting for international favourites such as tortellini with mushrooms and basil.
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Ayasofya Kebap House
This neighbourhood kebapçı serves lots of tourists, but it also provides plenty of locals with belly fuel. You can grab a table on the street or order to take-away - either way you'll get a perfectly adequate kebap dinner for under YTL10 or a quick lunch of mercımek çorbası (lentil soup) or sulu köfte (meat balls filled with rice and cooked in a tomato-based sauce) for considerably less. You can also order a beer or glass of wine here.
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Bab-İ Hayat
It took seven months for a team headed by one of the conservation architects from Topkapı Palace to restore and decorate this vaulted space over the eastern entrance to the Spice Bazaar. Beautiful hand-painted ceilings and tiled window frames provide an atmospheric setting in which to sample decent kebaps and adequate pides and hazır yemek dishes.
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Boncuk Restaurant
Armenian specialities differentiate Boncuk from its Nevizade neighbours. Try the excellent topik (meze made with chickpeas, pistachios, onion, flour, currants, cumin and salt) and the very tasty börek. To ensure that you get a table on the street, where all the action is, get there early or call ahead and book.
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Buhara Restaurant & Ocakbaşi
It ain't glam (quite the contrary), but Buhara has built a loyal local following over many years for its well-cooked kebaps. It's busy at lunch but usually quiet at night, so you shouldn't have trouble bagging a table. You can order an Efes to accompany your meal.
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Caferağa Medresesi
In Sultanahmet, it's rare to nosh in stylish surrounds without paying through the nose for the privilege. That's why this teensy lokanta in the gorgeous courtyard of this Sinan-designed medrese near Topkapı Palace is such a find. The food isn't anything to write home about, but it's fresh and cheap as chips, so who's complaining?
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Çamlica Restaurant Off
Should you take the time to visit Üsküdar, this charming kiosk on the hill is a great spot to savour a coffee or a snack. Marble floors are covered by rugs, and seating is on small stools clustered around brass tray tables. In winter there's a log fire, and in summer the windows looking out over the park provide an attractively airy feel.
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Cezayir
After reading that Cezayir showcased 'experimental Turkish cuisine' we visited with a great deal of trepidation; fortunately, our delicious meal would more rightly be categorised as Modern Mediterranean with Turkish accents.
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Develi
Near the Wall at Samatya, on the Sea of Marmara, the five floors (including a roof terrace) of Develi are always full of happy punters enjoying the flavours of southeastern Anatolia. It's been serving up kebabs to hungry locals since 1912, so Develi really knows what it's doing when it comes to the national dish. Try the çiğ köfte (raw ground lamb, bulgur , onions and spices) and the fıstıklı (pistachio) kebab and you'll feel happy too.
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Galata House
This would have to be one of the most eccentric restaurants in town. Run by the utterly charming husband-and-wife team of Nadire and Mete Göktuğ, it is housed in the Old British Jail, just down from Galata Tower. The jail functioned from 1904 to 1919, and has been sympathetically but comfortably restored by Mete, who is one of İstanbul's most prominent heritage architects.
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Güney Restaurant
You'll be lucky if you can fight your way through the crowds of hungry locals to claim a lunchtime table at this bustling eatery directly opposite Galata Tower. Friendly waiters will set you up with a basket of fresh bread and point you towards the array of meze and hot dishes on offer. It's also a great place to grab a hearty bowl of çorba (soup) for breakfast.
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Hacı Abdullah
Just contemplating the sensational imam bayildi (the imam fainted) at Hacı Abdullah's makes our tastebuds go into overdrive. This İstanbul institution - it was established in 1888 - is probably the best lokanta in the city and is one of the essential gastronomic stops you should make when in town.
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Hafiz Mustafa Şekerlemeleri
If you walk up the steep staircase at the rear of this excellent börek, pastry and Turkish-delight shop, you'll find a tiny café secreted under the roof. Here locals eat all-day snacks of melt-in-your-mouth cheese börek, peppery ispanaklı börek (spinach börek) and delicious biscuits and sweet pastries, all washed down with tea and coffee. Breakfast will set you back a mere YTL2 or YTL3 .
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Hamdi Et Lokantasi
It's a hard call to make in a city with as many fabulous eateries as İstanbul, but if forced to list our top five Turkish restaurants, Hamdi would certainly be one of them. Its setting (on a rooftop with panoramic views across to Galata, down the Golden Horn and back to the Old İstanbul skyline) is wonderful, and its food is among the best in town.
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Havuzlu Restaurant
There are few more pleasant experiences than parking your shopping bags and enjoying a meal at the best eatery at the Grand Bazaar. A lovely space with a vaulted ceiling, pale lemon walls and an ornate central light fitting, Havuzlu serves up excellent fare to hungry hordes of tourists and shopkeepers.
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Havuzlu Restaurant
There are few more pleasant experiences than parking your shopping bags and enjoying a meal at the best eatery at the Grand Bazaar. A lovely space with a vaulted ceiling, pale lemon walls and an ornate central light fitting, Havuzlu serves up excellent fare to hungry hordes of tourists and shopkeepers.
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Helvetica Lokanta
This hip lokanta is popular with locals (particularly of the vegetarian variety), who pop in here for fresh, tasty and cheap-as-chips soups, salads and bean dishes. Start with a yogurt or tomato soup and follow up with your choice from the daily salads spread.
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House Of Medusa
Medusa's charming shaded courtyard beckons guests off Yerebatan Caddesi. It's a lovely spot to relax after a morning spent sightseeing, which is why we've included it here. The food's nothing special - acceptable executions of Turkish dishes such as kebaps and stews - but if you order a mixed meze plate and an ice-cold beer you'll be happy.
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İmren Lokantasi
We've eaten here many times and have always been the only non-Turk doing so (something that's bound to change now that we're listing it here). A neighbourhood lokanta with only five (shared) tables, it's a fab place to grab a delicious quick lunch. You can order a portion of döner kebap or choose from the range of hot dishes on offer - the guveć (stew) cooked in a terracotta pot is our favourite.
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Kanaat Lokantesi
This barn-like place near the ferry terminal has been serving up competent hazır yemek (bistro food) since 1933. It's recently been spruced up, and now has an understated but pleasing décor featuring framed photographs of old street scenes. Service is brusque but efficient and the food passes our 'do we want seconds?' test, but only just. There's a huge dessert list.
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Karadeniz Aile Pide Ve Kebap Salonu
This friendly place serves super-fresh soup, kebabs and pide . If you sit inside you'll be able to watch the cooks make your food; sit on the street tables and you'll have to put up with passers-by hungrily eying off your delicious-looking meal. Either way, you should order a karaşik (mixed) pide and prepare to enjoy a great cheap eat.
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Karaköy Güllüglu
This is a place where waistlines are destroyed and dentists get rich, but no-one cares because they're all sitting at the funky 1960s Arabesque-style outdoor seating and gobbling the best baklava in the city, washed down by tea or coffee. Utter bliss.
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Karaköyüm Café & Restaurant
The elegant lady owners will greet you personally when you enter this popular rooftop restaurant. Everyone in town knows the secret of the success here - put simply, the women in the kitchen are wonderful home-style cooks. Try Anatolian favourites such as the utterly delicious dürüm köfte ( köfte wrapped in pastry and served with yogurt and tomato sauce) and we're confident that you'll become an instant devotee.
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Konak
The waiters run rather than walk at this frantically busy place on İstiklal Caddesi. You'll understand why they're so busy as soon as you taste the sensational İskender kebap , the excellent yoğurtlu kebab and the melt-in-your-mouth pide. The setting is a cut above, too, with ornate gilded ceiling, chandeliers and banquettes covered in rich brocade.
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Körfez Restaurant
Famous for its sea bass baked in salt, Körfez is the perfect place for a special meal in İstanbul. To make it even more special, organise for the restaurant's own motor launch to pick you up from Rumeli Hisarı across the strait and drop you back after your meal. Book ahead.
