Southeastern Turkish Cuisine: The Spices, Flavours and Dishes of Gaziantep and Şanlıurfa

If you ask food professionals and culinary travellers where Turkey's greatest regional cuisine comes from, the answer is almost invariably the southeast — and usually Gaziantep specifically. This is the part of Turkey where the cooking traditions of the Arab world, the Anatolian plateau and the ancient spice trade routes converge. The result is a cuisine of extraordinary depth, heat and complexity that is entirely distinct from what most visitors associate with Turkish food. Here is what you need to know.

Gaziantep: Turkey's Culinary Capital

Gaziantep — known locally simply as Antep — holds a UNESCO Creative City of Gastronomy designation, one of only a handful of Turkish cities to do so. This is not marketing. The city has maintained unbroken culinary traditions that go back centuries, centred on three things that define its food: the Antep pistachio, the use of red pepper paste, and a kebab culture that is significantly more varied and sophisticated than the tourist-facing kebab most people know.

The Antep Pistachio

The pistachio grown in and around Gaziantep is categorically different from pistachios available in European supermarkets. Smaller, more intensely coloured, with a richness and sweetness that is absent in commercial Iranian or Californian varieties. This pistachio is the foundation of Gaziantep's most famous contribution to world food: baklava.

Gaziantep baklava is made from paper-thin phyllo pastry, clarified butter and Antep pistachios. It is lighter, less sweet and considerably more nuanced than the versions most visitors have encountered. The baklava district of Gaziantep — a cluster of specialist shops around Düztepe — produces pastry that is worth travelling to eat. Katmer, a flaky breakfast pastry filled with kaymak and crushed pistachio, is less famous internationally but arguably more remarkable.

Kebab in Gaziantep

Antep kebab culture goes far beyond the vertical döner spit. The city has dozens of distinct kebab preparations, many of which are not found anywhere else. Beyran — a soup of rice, lamb and spices — is eaten for breakfast. Ali Nazik is a kebab served on smoked aubergine purée with yoghurt. Oruk is a fried casing of bulgur filled with spiced minced meat. Lahmacun here is thinner, spicier and more intensely flavoured than the versions served in Istanbul.

The best kebab in Gaziantep is found not in tourist-facing restaurants but in small, family-run places that have operated the same way for generations.

Red Pepper Paste and Spice

Biber salçası — red pepper paste — is the defining condiment of southeastern cooking. Made from dried red peppers, it is deep red-brown, intensely flavoured and present in almost every savoury dish. Isot biber — the dried pepper of Şanlıurfa — is a distinct variety: almost black, with a smoky, slightly sweet heat that develops slowly. It is one of the most distinctive spice flavours in the world and difficult to source outside the region.

Şanlıurfa: A Different Culinary Tradition

Şanlıurfa, two hours east of Gaziantep, has its own culinary character that is slightly more Arab-influenced. Çiğ köfte — raw spiced wheat paste, now vegetarian in most commercial forms — originated here. Şanlıurfa's version of lahmacun is spicier than Gaziantep's. The city's kebabs tend to involve more use of local herbs. Meals are often eaten communally from large trays, with bread used as the primary utensil.

The Şanlıurfa bazaar has one of the most atmospheric and well-stocked spice markets in Turkey. It is worth several hours of exploration.

Where to Eat in the Southeast

In Gaziantep, the area around the Zincirli Bedesten and the old city core has the highest concentration of quality traditional restaurants and specialist pastry shops. In Şanlıurfa, the old bazaar and the area around Balikligöl (the sacred pool) have good local eating options.

Avoid the tourist-facing restaurants immediately adjacent to the main heritage sites — as in Istanbul, moving one or two streets back consistently produces better food at lower prices.

Explore Southeastern Anatolia's extraordinary food culture on our Southeastern Anatolia Tour.