Taste Of Turkey On Two Continents: From European Istanbul To Asian Kadikoy

We had a brilliant tour with Erol. He was extremely knowledgeable and took the time to answer all my many questions. The food was delicious, and this is such a great way to explore some parts of Istanbul you might never otherwise see. A must do!

Erol was an incredible tour guide! We had so much fun with a small group. I especially loved that Erol showed us what the locals eat, not just the same old baklava! He was knowledgeable and kind and I would recommend him to anyone for a can’t-miss experience.

We really enjoyed this tour. Our tour guide Erol was very friendly, approachable, knowledgeable and just what we needed. Erol took us through a number of food experiences we might not have otherwise have had. We certainly had plenty to eat and a strong variety of foods and drinks. He also gave us a really helpful explanation of Turkey's and Istanbul's history. The pace was spot on for us. It really helped us enjoy the rest of our stay in Istanbul as we understood food and customs so much better. We would thoroughly recommend this.

I had an amazing time with Erol. At every stop we tasted amazing food and learned the history behind it. Between each stop we talked about turkish culture and the history of Istanbul.

Oh what can we say Gamze, was a wonderful tour. She was kind, knowledgeable and a lot of fun. There was never a dull moment. She took us to a variety of places and tried a great variety of popular Turkish food. I loved this tour and it prompted us to spend our last night in Istanbul on the Asian side. Totally recommend

We really enjoyed trying different foods. Our guide Kim was very knowledgeable and we loved traveling to the Asian side of Turkey.

We had a wonderful experience on this food tour with Tolga. He was an exceptional guide and made the afternoon feel like much more than just a food tour. Every stop was thoughtfully chosen, and we got to experience a great variety of Turkish food while exploring both the European and Asian sides of Istanbul. What made the experience especially memorable was everything Tolga shared along the way. He taught us about Turkish culture, history and everyday life, giving us much more context for what we were seeing and tasting. He was incredibly knowledgeable, engaging and easy to spend the afternoon with. A fantastic way to experience Istanbul through its food, culture and history. Highly recommend Tolga!

We had an amazing tour with Tolga! He knew where to get all the best local food we wouldn’t have known where to go otherwise. It was really fun to go on our first day in the city as well, because we learned about the city and got tips we could use the rest of our trip. Thanks again!

This food tour is a must see experience in Istanbul. It offers a unique and fun way to understand the food, neighborhoods and culture. Our guide Tolga, was experienced and kind giving us a ton of information. We started at the spice bizarre and the headed to Asian side for a ton of stops and more food than we could eat. Come hungry!

From the moment we met, Erol was engaging and kind. He brought us a delicious, fresh-baked walnut simit that was nothing like those sold by street vendors. He speaks perfect and eloquent English as he shares the history and stories of the area. This tour has it all. A calming and scenic ferry ride with live music, more delicacies than you can imagine and a lovely walk through the beautiful Asian side of Istanbul. If you want to escape the crowds if tourists and enjoy wonderful Turkish food , Erol is a fantastic guide. We recommend him 100%.

This was such a memerable tour all thanks to Gamze! My husband and I were the only ones on this tour and she personalized it for us. We were able to try food we would normally never have. The choices were perfect and the hospitality of Gamze was even better!

Erol, our guide, was excellent, he is Turkish with excellent English. He was very enthusiastic and knowledgeable about the food and local customs, as well as wider Turkish history and culture. If you are looking for a Baklava and Beer tour this isn't for you. Erol introduced us to a variety of new food and flavours teaching us along the way. The trip across the Bosphorus and walk around the market stalls and bustling streets of Karakoy was great and not at all tiring. The amount of food and drink is perfect for this type of tasting tour. I would highly recommend this tour and especially Erol.

Excellent fun; our guide Gumze was brilliant, friendly, insightful and knowledgeable. Note that you don't eat until you reach the Asian side but once you do eat, food and drinks are plentiful, varied and seconds were always on offer. Our group size was only 6 and Gumze explained a lot more about Istanbul and Turkey than just it's food. Would highly recommend.

Our tour guide, Erol was fantastic! Very knowledgeable about Istanbul’s history and food. Everything on the tasting was delicious.

Our guide, Erol, lead us on a tour that exposed us to a variety of flavours of Turkey. He also was quite knowledgeable in the history of the area.

We were guided by Errol who was fabulous and very accommodating of our toddler. We would never have the confidence to go to the Asian side of Istanbul ourselves, and having a food focus felt like the best was to experience this part of the city. The local restaurants are simply miles better than the European side and Errol guided us through dishes we would have never tried ourselves. I would 100% recommend this tour.

Erol was a fantastic guide and made the tour an exceptional experience. He engaged with each guest, explained what we saw and ate, and responded thoughtfully and knowlegeably to our questions. The tour itself was well-designed and offered us insights and chances to try food and drink that we would never have found on our own.

Önder was an incredible guide! He provided so much insight to the city of Istanbul including its rich culinary history. We thoroughly enjoyed getting to see a bit of each area of Istanbul and trying dishes the locals enjoy. Our favorite was the Turkish breakfast - WOW! This tour provided incredible value for the price and our trip, and Önder's recommendations were super helpful as we navigated Istanbul for the first time. Highly recommend!

Taste of Turkey on Two Continents: From Istanbul to Asian Kadikoy. We rode the ferry on the Bosphorus Strait which is gorgeous. The tickets ($130 p/p) included: ferry round trip, tasting foods & learning about how they fit in the culture. The foods were delicious and our guide was knowledgeable. It was a wonderful experience. We would love to take this tour again.

Erol gave us a fantastic tour of Kadifoy as well as around Eminonu Spice Market. We had a fantastic time sampling all sorts of different foods and the children were captivated. It was the best tour we had in Istanbul and a fantastic way to sample foods and explore Kadikoy.

Brilliant. No crowds. V taysetasti All in all a very new and different experience.wooonderuuullllll.

It's just 2 weeks since I've returned from my trip to Istanbul and as I reminisce my trip through my numerous photos, the standout excursion of our trip to Istanbul was our guided fooding and culture tour with Erol. My friends and I learned so much from Erol's very passionate knowledge of origins of food and Turkish culture. We started off with breakfast pastries and the Spice Market on the European side and then really got to taste many delights on the Asian side. We discovered and fell in love with borek (filled with savory potatos is my fav), menemen (no onions!) and lamucun (turkish pizza) with aryan (salted milk). Erol, I tried to purchase of a few of these food items after our tour, and your versions were indeed so much better. We consider ourselves very fortunate to have had Erol as our food guide as he truly took us to the BEST local favorites to try the very best versions of all popular Turkish street foods. We also really enjoyed the deep conversations that covered so many unlikely topics. Erol was a true joy and speaks perfect English. Thank you for making our first trip to Istanbul unforgettable and so enjoyable Erol.

Spent a wonderful 4.5 hours with Erol—-he is friendly, a good communicator, and so knowledgeable about food, culture and history. Excellent English. It was wonderful to ride the ferry and visit both the European and Asian sides, and sample local specialities. Would highly recommend for a new visitor to Istanbul.

The tour was fantastic! We had Kim for the tour and she was very knowledgeable and a fantastic tour guide. The food was also delicious so overall, it was a great experience!

Today a friend and I went on this food tour with Erol, who is an incredible guide. Not only did he take us on a wonderful culinary adventure, stopping at a variety of excellent restaurants and food shops, but also the breadth of his knowledge about Istanbul, its people, the culture, and the history was great. He made it so much more than a food tour. I cannot rate the tour or Erol highly enough. It is a high point of our time in Istanbul.

Excellent walking tour of various foods of Istanbul/Turkey. Fa was an excellent and knowledgeable guide for our small group tour. Recommend this tour to get a taste of unique Turkish foods. Particularly and surprisingly really enjoyed the kokorec.

Great experience with good food stops and informative guide Erol. We recommend this tour to other visitors.

We thoroughly enjoyed the food and background information Erol provided on this tour. We had seen some of these items on restaurant menus, but all the items we sampled were fresh prepared and delicious. We booked this tour at the end of a long vacation filled with significant walking and were apprehensive about a 5 hour tour. Luckily, we were the only ones on the tour that morning, and Erol worked with us to minimize the walking time. Highly recommend.

Erol was our guide. We really enjoyed our experience because Erol focused on the foods that Turkish people eat every day. He explained every food that we ate and told us whether the item was something that could be made at home. He was also took an interest in us personally. Overall, a great afternoon on the European and Asian sides of Istanbul.

We had a fantastic time with Erol. His English was excellent and we learned a lot about Turkish culture, history, and cuisine. We tasted a variety of Turkish food and really enjoyed spending time with Erol. It was the best tour that we’ve taken. We highly recommend taking a food tour with Erol.

Erol (I think that was his name) was an awesome tour guide during our “Taste of Turkey-on Two Continents from European Istanbul to Asian Kadikoy.” He took us to sample several foods, Ayran, Turkish coffee and our choice of Turkish dessert. He explained how they fit into the Turkish culture. He even shared the history of the Spice Bazaar and how it’s also called the Egyptian Market. We loved the food & culture tour.

Very well organized and interesting tour of local foods in Istanbul. Erol, our guide was exceptional - knowledgeable, had facts and interesting tidbits and made it a wonderful experience. Tasted foods that you will not normally experience - the foods locals eat in back alleys and neighborhood eateries.

Erol was a brilliant tour guide. Apart from knowing a lot about Istanbul’s history, he was an expert on local food and knew all the little places where we could taste the variety of dishes which locals eat. We didn’t see a any other tourists on our tour.

We absolutely loved this tour. We were very lucky to get Erol as I had seen excellent reviews about him before, and those reviews were very true. His English is brilliant, his knowledge, not only of Istanbul itself, but its history was superb and his knowledge about local places to eat was even better. We were lucky to have a brother and sister from the US join the tour, and Erol made it such a nice time. We ate lovely food and enjoyed interesting drinks. He just made it very special for us. Thank you so much! Top Man!!

Can't say enough good things about this tour!  Our group had a fantastic guide, Tolga, who not only introduced us to many different types of Turkish foods, but also provided us with a lot of information about Turkey and its history. The tour included stops at several different restaurants and food vendors and the opportunity to sample a large variety of foods and beverages, all of which were delicious. You will not finish this tour hungry!  We particularly enjoyed spending time on the Asian side of Turkey, which we might not have experienced but for this tour. Highly recommended!

Our guided food tour on both the European and Asian sides of Istanbul with Erol was an absolute highlight of our trip! Most of the tastings were done on the Asian side, so we took the ferry over as a group. As we traveled across to the other side, Erol engaged with us throughout. Upon arrival to the other side, Erol truly opened our palates to flavors we wouldn't have typically tried on our own. Beyond the delicious food, Erol was outstanding. He was incredibly easy to talk to, creating a relaxed and engaging atmosphere. He answered all of our questions, not just about the food, but he also provided us with history about both the Asian and European sides of Turkey. Erol's knowledge and passion truly brought the city and its cuisine to life. If you're looking for an authentic and insightful food experience while in Istanbul, Erol is your guy! Thank you for making this experience a great one!

Eron our guide did a fantastic job exposing us to many different types of foods and sites in and around Istanbul! He introduced us to areas along the Bosphorus that we would not have even thought to explore! He is well versed in not only Turkish but world history and his English speaking is excellent.

Erol, our guide, was knowledgeable, personable and very interesting. Not only did we have a great variety of tasty food, we learned much about history and society. We also got to explore a lively area of the city away from tourist zones

One of the best food tours we have taken. Erol was knowledgeable, friendly, and paced the tour well. We tried a lot of food and numerous places without feeling rushed.

This was a great tour. Erol took us to places the locals go to. He explained the food and how it fit in with Turkish culture. This was a fun, informative and delicious tour with great views that felt like you were immersed in Turkish society.

Our guide was Erol Utgun, and he was fabulous. It was a most enjoyable experience. We learnt a lot about the history of Turkey and the food scene of Istanbul. Erol took us to a variety of food places and they were all delicious. We had a great day and would highly recommend Erol.

This was the highlight of our short (and first) break in Istanbul. We were lucky to have a first rate guide all to ourselves but Erol was knowledgable and articulate about Turkish food and history, including an eastern insight into the development of Christianity. (Don't worry, I think he was responding to our questions!) We had some great food and a number of different tastes - I liked the whole coffee preparation demo and we went back to the Spice bazzar for turkish delight. The ferry across to Asia and back was memorable. Thoroughly recommended.

The muscle stop !! Our guide was very engaging and truly shared her love of food with us ! Was a nicely paced tour and the ferry ride to the Asian side was enjoyable.

This was a great introduction to Turkish food and great way to start your trip. Erol our guide took us through breakfast snacks coffee and lunch spots through the European and Asian sides as well as explained history of food and Istanbul. Be careful about the stop in the spice market. They will rip you off and the tour guide didn’t say anything. Otherwise it was good.

Wonderful experience! We had our food tour with Erol who provided an excellent food and history tour covering the two continents of Istanbul! Started in Eminonu with food and history and then took ferry to Kadiköy on the Asian side and had more food stops. Erol was very knowledgeable and welcomed any and all questions we had. It was a unique experience and we are grateful to have booked it. Highly suggest trying to get Erol as your guide.

Our small group food tour with Kiymet was fantastic. We tried burek, midye dolma (stuffed mussels), baklava, Turkish coffee, cold mezzes including some delicious stuffed zucchini blossoms, and fresh fruit juice, as well as other treats! It was also great to experience both the European and Asian sides of Istanbul. Also, I unfortunately am lactose intolerant (so no cheese, milk, or yogurt) and Kiymet was very kind and accommodating for my dietary restriction. Highly recommend this food tour!

We had the best day with Elif. She had a lot of historical information to offer as we were tasting some delicious Turkish food. We enjoyed going to many of the aras that the locals were eating as we felt very immersed in the Turkish culture. I would highly reccommend Elif if you are in Istanbul.

This food tour with guide Erol was one of the best we did in Istanbul! Erol showed us some of the finest, small, buzzing restaurants that locals love… all of which we might never have found by ourselves. Just what we wanted. He was highly knowledgeable, not only about the food and customs in Turkey, but also gave us nuggets of history about the places he took us to. Thank you for today. We highly recommend this tour!

Very knowledgeable tour guide! Loved the experience! Lots of food! Personalized private tour. Could of never done on own