BEST Vegan Food in Istanbul - The Ultimate Guide
Vegan Community Kitchen
At the Vegan Community Kitchen, you’ll find home-cooked Turkish food. The lady who owns the place is friendly and wholesome. There aren’t many choices on the menu but the portions are massive and the food is good. The seitan is homemade and good if you’re into fake meats. My favourite thing here was the Lahmacun and the fresh hibiscus tea.
Vegan Community Kitchen is in a nice up-and-coming trendy area, Ballat. There are lots of cute cafes and cool antique shops around the area.
The price for two people (two drinks, two kebabs, and one Lahmacun) was 410TL.
Sago
Vegan sorbet in Ballat. Trendy area, and a good place to get a refreshing treat on a hot day. The Guy spoke really good English and we could ask which ones were vegan. The sorbets were flavourful which was pretty good for 15TL per scoop.
Veganarsist
There are two of these restaurants in Istanbul. We went to the one on the European side for some cake and Baklava. These were both delicious! I really couldn’t fault the deserts here and I am a bit of a dessert connoisseur.
We also visited the Veganarsist on the Asian side of Istanbul for the main meal. The menu was endless, like actually endless. We decided to keep it simple and stick with the “traditional menu”.
I’m not entirely sure what we ordered, but all of the things we tried were so lovely and had a home-cooked vibe. If you wanted to they everything on the menu it would probably take you a couple of weeks, if we had longer in Istanbul we would come back here a few more times to try more of the food.
After a big traditional meal we got some desserts to try (just to talk about and show you guys of course)... We got a variety of baklava, cakes, cookies, and even a homemade vegan bounty bar. Honestly, all the food here is amazing. 100% recommend it.
For all of this, we paid 390TL which I think is good value for the quality of the food and the experience of being able to try so many different foods.
Falafel Koy
Wow, you have to eat here if you’re visiting Istanbul. The food is spot on. Everything was perfectly flavoured, even the salad, and I’m not usually a salad person. This was the best falafel we’ve both ever eaten and the hummus was gorgeous topped with spices and packed with flavour. Don’t be put off by the exterior of this place, it shouldn’t be skipped. For the price and the quality of the food, this might be the best vegan place in Istanbul.
For one meal it was 75TL
Vegan Dünyası
We stopped here for a coffee and a Burma Kadayif (a traditional tureen desert). It was delicious. The staff are incredibly friendly and they even have a little shop where you can buy lots of vegan goodies.
If I remember correctly it was around 120TL for two drinks and two desserts.
Vegan Masa
If you’re looking for an ACTUAL restaurant with a clean indoor eating area and a relaxed vibe, vegan masa is perfect. They specialise in these delicious Turkish pizzas called Pide. You can choose between lots of flavours, I chose a mushroom one and Jake had a mock meat one. You can also get Lahmacun here with a fresh salad. We also tried our first Ayran here.. which didn’t go down well but I was just happy to be able to try a vegan version of a very popular Turkish drink, (salty, yogurty milk.)
The food was really good and it was so cool to be able to eat traditional Turkish food without worrying bout accidental meat. We also had the chocolate dessert which of course I 100% recommend.
For the two pides, one Lahmacun, a glass of Ayran, and a chocolate dessert, it was 218TL. That's amazing value for all that food, the portions were a good size and everything inside was clean and well-presented.
Cigkofteci Ali Usta
One of the most frantic moments of my existence, but brilliant and entertaining. Watch our YouTube video to find out what I’m talking about. I definitely give this a 10/10 for experience, the guy was so funny and lively and I’m not usually into that sort of thing. Brilliant.
A Cig Kofte is a meat made from bulgur, onion, tomato, or red pepper. It has the consistency of a thick grainy paste and is served cold in a wrap with salad and sauce. It tastes better than it sounds. Just be careful because they aren’t ALL vegan, you need to make sure it's a vegan one as sometimes they make it with actual meat and not bulgar.
It cost 18TL per wrap.
Vegan Istanbul
This was the place we were most excited about because it was the best-rated 100% vegan restaurant in the whole of Istanbul.
The staff were so friendly and the place had a really good vibe, but sadly the food wasn’t the best for us.
It's a buffet-style place where you choose what you want. There is a price for 3 options, a price for 4 options and 5 options, and so on. The food was a little on the cold side and had been sitting out on the counter all morning.
However, if you are in the area looking for something quick and cheap, this is a good option. The baklava and cake balls were my favourite part.
We paid 265TL for a 6-option meal for Jake, a 5-option meal for me, a box of little homemade cookies, some chocolate cake balls, and four pieces of baklava. Good value for the amount of food we got.
Wegain
We ate so much in Istanbul that we had to come here just for dessert since we didn’t need an entire meal.
However we did get a chance to check out the food so I can comment on that, it was a buffet style similar to Vegan Istanbul. All of the options were vegan apart from a vegetarian one, she made that very clear to us when we were asking about vegan options.
We ended up having chocolate cake, baklava, and orange cake, all were delicious and she gave us complimentary tea.
The cakes and food were priced well!
Mahatma Cafe
I had to include this place in my blog post because it's somewhere we were looking forward to visiting. We went all the way there to find out they were closed on that day of the week. It was the first ever 100% vegan place in Istanbul and the reviews for it were so positive. We were gutted that we couldn’t try it, so you’ll have to let us know how it was on Instagram if you go there and find out!
Karakoy Gulluoglu
A bakery specialising in ALL KINDS of baklava. More baklava in one place than I’ve ever seen in my life. There is one vegan kind, there is a leaflet inside and it has all of the clergy information, so you can grab one of those and point to the vegan option. This was OFFICIALLY the BEST baklava we have had in Turkey. It was quite posh inside so we thought it was going to be expensive, But actually, it was reasonably priced. It was hectic and unbelievably busy in there, as you saw if you watched our video. But it was so worth it. My biggest regret about Istanbul was not buying a big box of them.
It was 44TL for 4 pieces, very good.
Vegan Street Food in Istanbul
Simit
A circular seeded bread that you’ll see everywhere on the street 5TL
Corn
Pretty self-explanatory but you can easily find corn on the street, Usually it has already been boiled and when you buy it they heat it on the fire for a minute. For this, it's 12TL per corn for a tourist.
Chestnuts
Roasted chestnuts, 25TL for 100g. A safe, cheap, easy snack on the street.
Locum/ Turkish delight
If you find a Turkish delight vendor with good English, you’ll be able to find some that you can eat. Stay away from the ones that are covered in a white milky-looking substance, and opt for the clear plain ones or the clear nutty ones. As long as they don't have honey, they are vegan.
And last but not least…
Turkish Tea
A cheap, always vegan, warming drink that comes in a little Turkish cup. You’ll see people drinking these everywhere in Turkey. Never served with milk, always a safe option.
And thats it guys, Thank you SO MUCH for reading this blog post all about the very BEST food in Istanbul. If you’d like to see our ratings for each place and see us trying ALL of this food, don’t forget to check out the video at the top of this blog post :)
