Istanbul Food Tour with Ferry Ride and 20 Tastings in Kadikoy

Eminönü and the Spice Bazaar: breakfast the Istanbul way

The walk starts in front of the historic dairy shop at the entrance to the Spice Bazaar, the covered market of 1664 beside the New Mosque in Eminönü, three minutes from the Eminönü tram stop. Your guide browses the dairy counter with you, explaining the cheeses, the thick clotted cream called kaymak and the honeycomb, then leads you to a local bakery for a sit-down breakfast: warm sesame simit rings, kaymak with honey, several cheeses, a pan of menemen with eggs and tomatoes, and glasses of Turkish tea.

Turkish breakfast is a meal Istanbul takes seriously, usually stretched over an hour, and this is the version locals eat rather than the hotel buffet. The Spice Bazaar food tour element is short but real: you walk the market lanes of spices, dried fruit and Turkish delight on the way to the ferry, and the guide points out what is worth buying later. As everywhere in Istanbul, all the food on the walk is halal. The breakfast stop takes about an hour.

The ferry across the Bosphorus to Kadıköy

From Eminönü the group boards a public ferry to Kadıköy, the 20-minute crossing that Istanbul commuters make every day and visitors remember for years. The boat passes Sarayburnu with Topkapı Palace and Hagia Sophia on the hill, the Maiden's Tower on its islet and the whole European skyline from Galata Tower to the Bosphorus Bridge; tea sellers walk the decks and seagulls follow the wake. The ferry ticket from Europe to Asia is included, as is the return.

Our Istanbul team's tip is to sit on the open upper deck on the right-hand side going out for the best view of the old city. Kadıköy is the Asian side's most lively district and its market, called Kadıköy Çarşı, is where families come for fish, pickles, olives, cheese and the best-priced produce in the city. How to get to Kadıköy is a question the ferry answers: it is the fastest and prettiest way, far better than the bridge by road.

Kadıköy market: İskender kebab, stuffed mussels and the fish market

In the Kadıköy market streets the serious eating begins, about an hour and a half of tastings. The first sit-down dish is İskender kebab, thin slices of lamb döner laid over pieces of pide bread, soaked in tomato sauce and melted butter and served with thick yoghurt; it was invented in Bursa and Kadıköy has some of the best kitchens making it in Istanbul. Next come midye dolma, mussels stuffed with spiced rice and eaten with a squeeze of lemon from a street vendor, an Istanbul classic.

Then the guide takes you into the fish market, a narrow street of marble counters piled with fish on ice, where you eat balık ekmek, the grilled fish sandwich with onion and greens that defines Istanbul street food. Between stops you pass pickle shops with jars of every colour, olive sellers and bakeries, and the guide explains how to read a Turkish market. Two of the eight stops have no vegetarian option, so tell us about dietary needs when you book.

Moda, Turkish coffee and the last market stop

From the market the route continues on foot to Moda, the seaside neighbourhood south of Kadıköy with tree-lined streets, old apartment buildings and a relaxed café life. Here you spend about an hour on street food and regional dishes from different parts of Turkey, the kind of small plates that locals eat standing or at a shared table. Moda is also where many Istanbul residents would choose to live, and the guide shows you why as you walk.

Back in Kadıköy the group sits down for Turkish coffee brewed slowly in a copper cezve, served with a glass of water and a piece of Turkish delight, and the guide explains how to read the grounds. A final 15-minute stop in the market and one more regional tasting round off the Asian side before the walk returns to the pier. The best time for a Kadıköy food tour is a weekday morning start, when the market is fully stocked and not yet crowded.

Ferry back to Karaköy: tastings and künefe to finish

The second ferry, also included, takes you from Kadıköy back across the Bosphorus to Karaköy on the European side, the old port district below Galata Tower, in another 20 minutes of skyline views. Karaköy's streets of former warehouses are now full of cafés and dessert shops, and the last two stops are here: a round of tastings at a local favourite and then dessert at a house known for künefe and baklava.

Künefe is the sweet that ends most Istanbul meals: shredded pastry baked crisp over a layer of melting cheese, soaked in syrup and topped with ground pistachio, served hot with a scoop of stretchy Turkish ice cream, about 45 minutes of lingering over the table. The walk ends here around six hours after it began, near the Karaköy tram stop and the Tünel funicular, so you can reach Sultanahmet or Taksim in minutes. Come hungry and plan nothing heavy for dinner.