Çiya Sofrası is one of the most interesting restaurants in Istanbul — a small group of eating places in the Kadıköy market quarter run by chef-owner Musa Dağdeviren, who has spent decades travelling Turkey to document and recreate regional dishes from Anatolian culinary traditions that are rapidly disappearing. The result is a menu that changes daily and includes dishes from Kurdish, Armenian, Syriac, and Ottoman cooking that appear nowhere else.
The restaurant operates from adjacent premises: Çiya Sofrası for hot dishes, Çiya Kebap for grilled meats. Both are unpretentious, priced for locals, and almost always full. Go at opening time or be prepared to wait. Dağdeviren has been featured in multiple international food documentaries and is considered one of Turkey's most important culinary figures.