Develi 1912

Develi is a Turkish institution — founded in 1912 in Gaziantep, the culinary capital of southeastern Anatolia, and famous for its pistachio kebaps, its hand-stretched yufka, and its catlicking-good hünkar beğendi. The Ankara outpost, Develi 1912, is the upscale version: white linen, a proper wine list, a 180-cover dining room, and a menu that runs the full south-eastern canon from çiğ köfte through to the signature fıstıklı kebap (lamb minced with Antep pistachio). It was included in the 2024 Michelin Turkey Guide as a Recommended restaurant.

The menu opens with a procession of cold and hot mezes — muhammara, patlıcan söğürme, içli köfte, sıkma — each made from scratch in the kitchen rather than ordered in. The kebaps are the headline; the fıstıklı kebap, the beyti, and the Adana are prepared over charcoal in an open kitchen visible from the dining room. The house also serves the proper dry-aged lamb that is the Antep benchmark — a six-hour slow-braise served with tomato-based sauce and buttered rice.

Develi 1912 is set up for group dining. Round tables, long tables, a large central space — the design is built around the Turkish meyhane tradition of long, shared, multi-course meals. Service is warm and confident. The wine list is shorter than Trilye but focused on producers from eastern Anatolia, particularly Okuzgözü and Bogazkere reds that pair with the kebap programme. Private dining is available in a separate upstairs room for groups of 8–20.

A full dinner with mezes, kebaps, and wine runs ₺1,400–2,200 per person. The restaurant is particularly good value relative to the international-focused upscale rooms: the same spend buys substantially more food and a more characterful evening.

Develi 1912 is the Ankara team dinner restaurant. The shared-meze format, the long tables, the open kitchen with a visible grill — the whole setup is designed for 6–20 people eating for three hours together. For a closing-of-quarter team dinner, an onboarding dinner for a new hire group, or a board meeting close-out, it is the obvious choice. For an international visitor, it also happens to be the single most culturally specific meal Ankara offers.