4 Best Restaurants in The Bazaar Quarter and Environs, Istanbul

This large, airy café on a main street near the Spice Bazaar has a large selection of cakes and sandwiches to accompany its coffee and tea.

Squeezed into a former market stall in the heart of the Grand Bazaar, the small kitchen at Fes Café turns out simple sandwiches, salads, excellent fresh lemonade and fruit juices, homemade desserts, and other American-style fare. The fuller menu includes salads, pastas, and meat dishes.

This grill house is an Istanbul institution, with a huge selection of kebabs, as well as appetizers like mini lahmacun (thin flatbread topped with spicy ground meat); although the food may not be too different from other kebab houses, Hamdi's three dining floors still tend to be packed with both tourists and locals. This makes for a lively, even boisterous, atmosphere, and service can be a bit harried; make sure that you get—and pay for—exactly what you order.

Above the Spice Bazaar, this well-established restaurant has distinct turquoise tiled walls, white tablecloths, and low hanging chandeliers. The menu features local meat and fish dishes, including balık köfte (fish meatballs) and hünkar begendi (slow-roasted lamb over eggplant puree), as well as a selection of hot and cold starters.