Hidden Beyoğlu Tour

Thoroughly enjoyed this tour. Remziye is a first-class guide: passionate, knowledgeable and a champion of Turkish culture and food. She generously shared her family's history and thoughtfully weaved the history of the Beyoglu district and Istanbul into the walk and stops. Each stop was different and the dedication of the owners to their cuisine was clearly evident. I would never have imagined enjoying a juice of pickles! Highly recommend!

As a solo traveller to Istanbul this was a great introduction to local cuisine and an especially vibrant part of the city. Completely satiated after 5 hours but not overfull. Defne was a warm, engaging and very open host - no question was off limits and we learnt a lot about life in Istanbul and Turkey as a result. Another amazing Culinary Backstreets tour - can’t wait to experience my next destination with them.

We had an amazing time doing the Hidden Beyoğlu tour with Duygu as our tour guide. She was knowledgeable about everything and took us on a comprehensive tour of the food available in the area, not just the most famous foods but also little known and delicious dishes which we’d never had before or even heard of. She was also really fun to travel with across the city. Overall, the pacing of the experience was excellent and the walking distance was not tiring at all. We had way too much food to eat so we had to pace ourselves, but there wasn’t a bad bite among the dishes! Overall a great way to spend your evening in Istanbul if you like food and learning about new things to eat.

Duygu was an amazing guide! We had so much fun and tasted so many different foods. The restaurant choices were out of this world. We loved that we were able to tour the Beyoğlu neighborhood which is something we would have not been able to do during our short stay in Istanbul. I would 100% recommend Culinary Backstreets to everyone!!! Thank you Stacy L

Our guide Remsiye gave us a fantastic evening, visiting 8 different places for a variety of food and drink. She explained some of the history of the area, the food culture of Istanbul and Turkey, and told us some of her story as well. I would highly recommend this tour and Remsiye as a guide, and we will definitely look for other opportunities to go on a Culinary Backstreets tour in another city.

Absolutely love this tour with the lovely guide Ersin. (A national certified guide for the whole country of Turkey) What a pleasure and a privilege to get to know these local flavors. Hidden gems that light up when the stories are told. Delicious food, lively neighborhood, beautiful human bonds. Highly recommend!

This tour was phenomenal and definitely a highlight of our time in Istanbul. Our guide Remziye was so knowledge about the neighborhood and every place we visited made us feel like a local. We were so impressed with Remziye, not just her expertise about the places we visited and the history behind the food, but her willingness to share her own background and personal perspectives made it all the more special. Five hours sounds like a lot but the walking really wasn’t that bad and you spend enough time sitting and eating that the evening flies by. Definitely do not eat beforehand! We ate at six different restaurants and one street vendor, none of which we’d ever find or know about on our own.

Discovering the hidden Istanbul thanks to food has been a highlight for our holidays. We spent 5 hours with our great guide Basak, who knows perfectly to combine explaining the taste of the local food with the history of the city. Local authenticity reveals at every step. We let ourselves surprised, excited and ready to embrace an adventure, just steps away from the full touristic paths. This is the perfect tour if you enjoy food, good company of small groups ( we were 6 people) and real quality. Spend time and deep dive in culinary memories on the roads of Istanbul. Highly recommend for you, your family and friends.

My husband and I loved our tour with Basak through the Beyoğlu neighborhood. I highly recommend this evening tour as you get to hop around to different bars and restaurants and see the nightlife of a beautiful and lively neighborhood as a local. Basak was an amazing tour guide, you can tell she loves her culture and is passionate about food and where it comes from. We ate a bit of everything throughout the night, you will not go hungry. At the end of the evening she gave a great recommendation for a small jazz club that we thoroughly enjoyed. Thank you, Basak!

What an amazing experience, loved the intimate group size and the hand crafted selection of foodie experiences!! Highly recommend!!

Duygu was an amazing host. I had an amazing time with our small group. No way I would have found the places she showed us myself.

Amazing tour with Duygu! Time flew by and it was so much fun. Would highly recommend to anyone! Fantastic food and great way to see restaurants you otherwise wouldn’t go to.

Fantastic tour. Defne was a lovely and generous guide. All the spots we went to were delicious and felt authentic. It was a great way to explore Istanbul outside of the Old City, definitely worth the cost.

Highly recommend. My guide was Basak. She was very knowledgeable and friendly. What i love about the culinarybackstreets tours is they take you in to the working neighbourhoods, where people live, and show you more of the local life, away from the tourist hot spots. Really gives you a good understanding of the life in the area I also did trips with benoit and remziye, both excellent guides. It isnt a one and done type thing, it really shows that care and local knowledge went into designing each tour. 10/10 would do again.

Basak was a cool, kind, and knowledgeable guide! The food spots were delicious and varied, and she gave great context to every dish we consumed.

Basak was an incredible guide. We loved our tour and are grateful we were paired with her. Basak offered nightlife, reading, film, and other recommendations that were all spot on perfect. The food was authentic and we stopped at places we wouldn’t have seen if not for Basak.

We had an amazing food tour with Basak! The food was amazing, we did many stops and sampled lots of local dishes beyond the famous staples. The tour was a great mix of sweet and savoury dishes and the eating was well paced over 5 hours. We will definitely return to many of the spots. Although the tour is not cheap it is well worth the value! Basak was incredibly knowledgeable and was able to answer all our questions about the food, culture and history of Turkey. She also provided lots of tips for our visit and we were so glad we did the food tour early in our trip.

We are big fans of Culinary Backstreets tours and this was no exception. Our guide, Basak, was knowledgeable, well-trained, and clearly enjoyed sharing her experience of the city. We enjoyed all the delicious, varied, and plentiful food picks while learning about the neighborhood, its food traditions, and even some family lore about pickle brine. All in all outstanding.

Great experience. Definitely worthwhile. Perfect night of great food stops and also walking experience through the streets of Beyoglu.

Duygu was a great guide! Super knowledgeable and friendly

Everything was delicious! Duygu did a great job of explaining the foods and also the history of the areas of İstanbul that we were exploring. This was a great way to try Turkish foods that I wouldn't otherwise have thought to try.

What a marvellous night. Basak, our guide was delightful. She was not only knowledgeable but so very generous in her replies to our group's many questions. The food Basak sourced and shared was quite wonderful, definitely more varied than we would have tried without her. We felt at the end of the tour that we had a far broader understanding of Istanbul, it's food and culture . We highly recommend this tour and especially Basak for those wanting a 5 star experience that caters for foodies and all just wanting a broader view of Istanbul. 10 out 10.👍

Beshak was a superb culinary guide. We have been on culinarybackstreets food tours in Lisbon, Madrid, Porto, and Istanbul in the past. Usually more than one in each city. Each provides a great historical and cultural perspective on the culinary experience. Weaving our way through the labryinth that is Istanbul, we sampled savory and sweet treats. The first thing we do in any city we travel is check if CB tours are available. If not, we check out their articles. Thank you ‘B’ for a tremendous experience. We will again go on one in 2 days which will make 4 in Istanbul.

Basak was an excellent guide. The food was extremely good. Very interesting local suppliers.

This tour was a perfect way to get to know a little bit about Turkish food and Istanbul! Our guide, Basak, was really knowledgeable and just a lovely person to welcome us to the city. She shared some great history, insights on the neighborhood, background on the food and drinks, and also followed up with recipes and recommendations that we requested! The food was absolutely delicious and we tasted a wonderful variety of things and ended up having the perfect evening including a beautiful drink at a rooftop bar watching the sunset. Don’t miss this tour!

We had an amazing experience on the Culinary Backstreets tour in Istanbul! Our guide, Basak, was fantastic, very knowledgeable, friendly and passionate about the city and its food. We discovered so many delicious dishes and places. We really enjoyed our time with Basak and would absolutely recommend this tour to anyone visiting Istanbul.

Başak was a lovely and knowledgeable companion through the side streets of Beyoglu and introduced us to lots of interesting Turkish specialities.

We had such a brilliant tour. Our incredible guide Dafne was so knowledgeable and charming and just super fun to spend the evening with. We felt like we connected with Istanbul in a while new way because of the fascinating information and places we went and the delicious food we tasted that Dafne gave us context for. Highly recommended. We totally loved it.

Excellent tour! Basak was an outstanding guide and we loved all of the places we visited and the food we tasted. The group was also a nice size and very congenial. 10 out of 10.

I wanted to share some feedback following my recent experience with the Culinary Backstreets evening food tour in the Beyoğlu area of Istanbul. From a tourism and product perspective, I found the experience to be excellent and would certainly consider it a strong option to recommend to clients looking for an authentic and culturally immersive experience. The tour successfully combines sightseeing, local food and cultural storytelling. What particularly impressed me was that the various food stops provided much more than simply an opportunity to taste Turkish cuisine — they offered genuine insight into local eating habits, traditions and the role that food plays in everyday Turkish life. The selection of venues and dishes were varied, authentic and of a very good standard, with everything we tasted being delicious. The experience felt distinctly local rather than tourist-oriented, which I believe is an important selling point for discerning international clients. The guide was also exceptional. She was extremely knowledgeable, engaging and clearly passionate about both Turkish cuisine and Istanbul. Her ability to connect the food with the history, culture and character of the city added considerable value to the experience. From a supplier perspective, I would rate the tour very positively. It offers a good balance of culinary discovery, cultural interpretation and interaction with local establishments, making it a product that could complement a more traditional Istanbul sightseeing programme. The Donner Kebab and all the Meze were all fresh , tasty - absolutely delicious. The cobbled stones roads, backstreet alleys and all the cats watching , added to make the culinary experience more extraordinary. Only the best were served - from the pickles , raki wine, meze platter and off course my favourite - the baklava.

We had a fantastic evening with Basak and the other people of our small group. It was wonderful walking around the streets, learning about the area and Istanbul. The food was great, a really nice selection of different types of dishes from a variety of restaurants and shops. We would highly recommend.

I really enjoyed this wonderful culinary experience. We visited many restaurants, cafes and shops, sometimes to sit and eat, other places just to sample a quick bite or a taste. Başak was a great guide, she knew the area very well and chose some super locations. She was warm, friendly and helpful with many facts about local food traditions and history. We ate many diverse foods, all tasty and full of flavour. I can highly recommend,to experience the great food and to experience many locations that would be difficult to find without a local guide.

We just finished the Hidden Beyoglu tour by night in Istanbul and it was outstanding. Basak was a wonderful tour guide - so knowledgable and charming. And the group we were with was so nice and compatible. But most importantly the food was delicious and we felt like we learned a lot about local food traditions and also the neighborhood. And it was a good value! 10/10!

Basak was an amazing tour guide, gave us so much history and understanding of food and culture. She made us feel like family! The food choices were spectacular, a highlight of our trip!

Great tour and great tour guide! I am a firm believer that the tour guide can make or break an experience, and Basak was an amazing tour guide. Very informative, helpful, and encouraged us to try local favourites, not just the most known Istanbul eats. Food all included, so it’s a hassle free tour even if you just landed from the airport. Would recommend, and if you can request Basak as your tour guide, I absolutely would!

Duygu was a most delightful guide of a fantastic range of local eateries and even a pickle shop. The tour showcased a great selection of Turkish food and drinks, had a stop with a lovely view and the 4 hour tour went by so quickly.

Duigu was a great host. The restaurants and selections were perfect. Would book with her again.

Hidden Beyoglu Tour led by Basak was wonderful! It was such a good way to explore Turkish culture, geography, and history. The food was wonderful. We went to so many hidden gems that I would have missed otherwise. Basak did a great job explaining each dish, the significance, and guiding us through the neighborhood. I want to sign up for more food tours on future travels now.

Fantastic experience. Highly recommend. Our guide Başak was brilliant!

OMG this tour was deliciously awesome. Duygu was fun, full of knowledge and gave our group an unforgettable tour. I can’t recommend her enough!

Duygu was an amazing guide! The food was delicious and varied. She shared so much history with us. If I could give her 10 stars, I would.

So lovely, “D”, our guide was an absolute informational delight. So delicious, relaxing and wonderful to see this European Quarter of the city. Don’t miss it.

Katerina was a great tour guide . She took her time to explain the history behind the neibourhood, streets , food etc , I got the opportunity to eat food that I would have never discovered by myself . Small group size made it very family like atmosphere, highly recommend this .

excellent. Would recommend to anyone going to Istanbul who's interested in a food tour. Guide was very knowledgeable and shared a lot about the city and the culture not just the food. They took us to like 5 restaurants and two bars and there was great food at all of them. Guide was friendly and the group was fun. Took all evening so need to come hungry and well-rested, ready to walk. Only complaints are that the pickup location was a little awkward since it was a restaurant that wasn't actually the first stop. Was glad that the food was a diverse mixture and also included some local beer and raki.

Duygu is the best, most knowledgeable guide ever! We sampled so much good food and learned so much about Turkish culture and history. Highly recommended.

Başak took us on a relaxed and comfortable tour of the Beyoğlu neighborhood in İstanbul. She made us feel like we were like going out with an old friend, showing us some truly local spots. The small size of the tour group helped to foster a more personal experience. One wish is that the tour would start later in the night, to capture more of a "nightlife" feeling. We appreciated and were in the mood for the chill vibes, but we perhaps expected a bit more rowdiness and controlled chaos.

What a great tour, Culinary Backstreets is now on my list for all international trips. Our guide Daphne was very knowledgeable and informative and helped explain the historical and cultural background of all the places and foods that we ate. Fantastic experience!

Defne was amazing! She took us to so many local spots - the food was delicious!! We had a wide variety of dishes. Defne also shared so much about the culture and history of Istanbul with us - it was all so interesting! Highly recommend doing this food tour!

We took the Hidden Beyoğlu tour with Başak and highly recommend it! We had a great time wandering the neighborhood and seeing it come alive on a Saturday night. The food was all exceptional, and the tour was well paced so we never felt rushed or over stuffed. Başak was a lovely guide and additionally gave us some great tips for places to check out during the rest of our day. This is our second tour with Culinary Backstreets and we look forward to our next.