Balkan Lokantasi for home made lunch or dinner, good eating with affordable prices.They have 2 shops Besiktas (very close to Taksim) and 1 shop in Taksim.

Lades Restaurant in Taksim for best Menemen (similar to Shakshuka)

Ciya in Kadikoy they serve traditional Anatolian food. a must visit!

hi sandra,
there are little boat on-shore (in eminonu) which serve grilled fish sandwiches. they are close to grand bazaar and old town. if you like street food you should definitely try it. it's cheap and delicious. kinda traditional for istanbul. hope you'll enjoy

http://zoma.to/r/5903128

my favs.

http://zoma.to/r/5903054
http://zoma.to/r/5903128

"makarna sarayı"
it is at çemberlitaş train (tram) station

You must go hocapaşa Street

Eminönü the restaurants under Galata Bridge is very affordable i think...

hocapasa street there are many type of restaurants there..

Hi Sandra, I definitely recommend you Faruk Breakfast Cafe. It's too cheap and its breakfast is delicious. But it is not near Old Town
https://www.zomato.com/tr/istanbul/faruk-kahvalt%C4%B1-cafe-be%C5%9Fikta%C5%9F-merkez-istanbul

What is your budget for each meal per person?

I assume it's 5 euro. Your options:

- Döner Bank (soooo local döner place. There are only taborets to eat)
- Şehzade Cağ Kebab (Different type döner but it is "must"
- Virginia Angus (Turkish Steakhouse & Hamburger)
- Dürümcü Raif Usta (Turkish Wrap and so tasty and also sooo local)

Regards

Hey there! There are lots of options but really depends on your diet and budget definition. I am not that familiar with old town since it is too touristic, but there are some restaurants that i prefer visiting occasionally. Usually U can get a decent meal for around 10-15 Euros, but with alcohol prices start to rise up. Could you more specific?

Hello Sandra,

Unless you go touristic cafes, eating in Sultanhamet (old town) & Eminönü (spice market area) is quite low-priced. "Tarihi Özkan Köftecisi" is a meatball restaurant liked by locals. However it is a shabby place, but still meatball tastes very good.

A little bit costlier option is "Hamdi
Restaurant". It will worth to go because the wiev is amazing and 'kebap's are delicious.

Still i recomend you not to spend all your 4 days just in Old Town and Spice Market area.

Have fun!

Hi sandra,
We have many restaurant near the old town. "Karaköy place" is my favourite food area's. You can eat there burgers,pizzas and more. Also you can there drink somethinks. There have very nice club ana coctail bars. If you want to eat some traditional food, you can go "thursday market". You can eat there fish and raki or kebap. All of the names are : "AKIN BALIK, DEM MEYHANE, ALI OCAK BASI, BALTAZAR BURGER, FINN COCTAIL BAR,UNTER BAR". You must have for a each one order (food and drink) average 20€!

Hi sandra,
We have many restaurant near the old town. "Karaköy place" is my favourite food area's. You can eat there burgers,pizzas and more. Also you can there drink somethinks. There have very nice club ana coctail bars. If you want to eat some traditional food, you can go "thursday market". You can eat there fish and raki or kebap. All of the names are : "AKIN BALIK, DEM MEYHANE, ALI OCAK BASI, BALTAZAR BURGER, FINN COCTAIL BAR,UNTER BAR". You must have for a each one order (food and drink) average 20€!

Hi sandra,
We have many restaurant near the old town. "Karaköy place" is my favourite food area's. You can eat there burgers,pizzas and more. Also you can there drink somethinks. There have very nice club ana coctail bars. If you want to eat some traditional food, you can go "thursday market". You can eat there fish and raki or kebap. All of the names are : "AKIN BALIK, DEM MEYHANE, ALI OCAK BASI, BALTAZAR BURGER, FINN COCTAIL BAR,UNTER BAR". You must have for a each one order (food and drink) average 20€!

If you ever consider to go to a traditional Turkish style Raki&Meze restaurant, Karaköy Lokantası is the place you have to go.. prices are not so high but it's a high rated restaurant, reservation is a must!.. Also at in the same area at the roof of the The Haze hotel there's a similar rakı/meze restaurant 'Mükellef' run by a celebrity chef Arda Türkmen.. Very traditional turkish too... If you need futher advise you can contact me anytime. Hope you enjoy the city.. :)

If you cross the Galata bridge to Karaköy area there you can find extremely touristic and crowded Namlı Gurme (especially for breakfast and brunch), not a budget place... And near to it there's a legendary Güllüoğlu Baklava shop, which is even more touristic but baklava's are very very fresh and
good there.. At the back of the same building (which is a parking garage actually) you will find Köşkeroğlu Restaurant, still not a budget place but normal prices, You can have nice turkish style kebaps, lahmacun or pide (turkish pizza).. And you can order katmer! for desert.. katmer is a highly recommended desert which is accepted as superior to any baklava... Köşkeroğlu's baklava's are also one of the best in Istanbul. From here you can ask the local people how to get to the Karaköy cafes... It's actaully a street hidden between the buildings. It's probably the highest rated area among the intelligent turkish youth. The places are not budget, however there's a wide variety of food. On the way to the cafes street you will find many small cafes, a soup store, budget supermarket Şok, a small kiosk making a fish wrap (recommended!), a french passage (definitely not a budget restaurants are located here). At the Karaköy cafe's street I would advise baltazar burger as one of the best hamburger in town. You can have a coffee in any of the cafes and enjoy the atmosphere.

The best option at the sultanahmet square imo is Sultanahmet Köftecisi, Turkish style grilled meatballs, 100 year recipe. The second option would be to get a tram and get to the Sirkeci metro station from where you can go to Hojapasha. Here you can find many different local restaurants on a budget. You can have döner kebap just accross the Hojapasha mosque. There's a horizontal version of döner kebap at Şehzade Cağ Kebap, but with lamb, cağ (spells as jug) kebap is a very traditional style from Erzurum. The balkan restaurant is extremely cheap and have plenty of varieties of dishes. Just accross the Sirkeci train station at the corner by the traffic lights you can visit Hafız Mustafa, Turkish desert, bakalava and turkish coffee store. Quite tourisitic but ok quality. But if I were you I would try different place, you can go to spice bazaar area which is at 5 min walking distance. Follow the street at the right side of the main entrance. At the corner you will see Kurukahveci Mehmet Efendi coffe shop where you can buy a freshly grinded turkish coffee. It is located on a crowded oriental style street full of many shops. If you turn to the first left from that treet there you'll find chicken wings restaurant, a budget place to have some delicious wings. If you don't turn and walk straight the street you can find a very traditional 'künefe' shops(vermicelli desert with cheese inside).There's a hidden small hamburger and steak restaurant very close to that street, Virginia Angus.

Honestly, any of the food stalls. Most of them are so good! If you like fish, theres this really wonderful restaurant at Karakoy (just a couple tram stops away from the Old Town and Spice Market) called Tufan Balikci. Its this really small restaurant and everyone sits on little chairs in the alley. He's famous for his balik ekmek (traditional Turkish fish sandwiches). You can look his exact address up from google maps, but by what I remember, its about a 2 minute walk from the Karakoy tram station. Each sandwich costs 8 TL (approx. 2.5 USD).

If youre in Karakoy, DO go to Karakoy Gulloglu. Theyre famous for their baklava, and most of their sweets are outstanding and each portion really wont cost you much. Its another 2 minutes away from the Karakoy tram station. If you ask around, literally anyone can guide you to it. Its ridiculously famous. DO NOT EAT BAKLAVA FROM ANYWHERE ELSE BEFORE HERE! This is the place you should visit first :P

I highly recommend that you try Iskender kebab. You can have it at a popular chain called HD Iskender. Youll find it practically anywhere. One serving costs about 20 TL, but the serving is MASSIVE. Its probably one of my favourite Turkish food.