Head-to-Head · Istanbul
Neolokal vs Çiya Sofrası
Neolokal is Aşkar's Michelin-starred New Anatolian room; Çiya is Dağdeviren's Kadıköy heritage canteen. Book Neolokal, walk into Çiya.
The Verdict
Neolokal sits on the top floor of the SALT Galata building on Bankalar Caddesi in Karaköy, with the Golden Horn through the windows. Chef Maksut Aşkar opened it in 2014 and cooks what he calls New Anatolian: traditional recipes from across Turkey rebuilt with modern technique and hyper-local produce, from aged lakerda to a reworked white-bean stew. It holds one Michelin star and a Green Star in the 2026 guide for its sustainability work, and the tasting menus run roughly 5,300 to 5,800 lira, around 110 euros. It scores 8 for food, 8 for the room and 7 for value.
Çiya Sofrası is the opposite proposition and just as serious. Musa Dağdeviren opened it in 1998 in the Kadıköy market on the Asian side, and turned it into a research kitchen for the forgotten dishes of Anatolia: regional kebabs, stuffed vegetables, sour-cherry and tamarind stews, and the famous spread of candied vegetables for dessert. It runs as a casual canteen where you point and pay close to by-weight, which keeps a full lunch inexpensive. Featured on Netflix's Chef's Table and a World's 50 Best Discovery listing, it scores 8 for food, 6 for the room and 9 for value.
The split is fine dining against living tradition. Neolokal wins the anniversary, the view and the tasting-menu evening; Çiya wins the value, the walk-in and the education in regional Turkish cooking. One is a starred room above the water, the other a market canteen that historians cite.
Scores, Side by Side
| Score | Neolokal | Çiya Sofrası |
|---|---|---|
| Food | 8 / 10 | 8 / 10 |
| Atmosphere | 8 / 10 | 6 / 10 |
| Value | 7 / 10 | 9 / 10 |
Which One for Which Occasion
| Occasion | Editorial Pick |
|---|---|
| An anniversary or milestone | NeolokalA Michelin-starred tasting menu over the Golden Horn makes Neolokal the room for a night that matters. |
| Best value | Çiya SofrasıA point-and-pay Anatolian lunch in Kadıköy market keeps a serious meal genuinely cheap. |
| A solo lunch | Çiya SofrasıWalk-in casual and built for one, the Kadıköy canteen is the easy solo seat on the Asian side. |
| A tasting-menu dinner | NeolokalAşkar's New Anatolian menu, with a vegetarian and gluten-free version, is the structured evening. |
| Understanding Turkish food | Çiya SofrasıDağdeviren's research kitchen of regional stews and kebabs is the single best lesson in Anatolian cooking. |
Price and How to Book
Neolokal takes reservations directly and through its website, and a starred room with a small dining floor fills on weekends, so book one to two weeks ahead and ask for a window table for the Golden Horn view; the full picture is in the Neolokal review. Çiya Sofrası is a walk-in canteen where reservations are rarely needed, busiest at weekend lunch when the Kadıköy market is full; arrive early and the wait is short. The detail is in the Çiya Sofrası review. Both anchor our Istanbul dining guide.
For cuisine context, both belong in any survey of the best Turkish restaurants worldwide, while Neolokal also sits among the city's serious tasting menus. For occasion fit, see our picks for an anniversary and for solo dining. More Istanbul match-ups sit on the compare index, and the city's toughest seats are in the hardest Istanbul reservations guide.