Çiya Sofrası is one of Istanbul's most serious restaurants and one of the few places in the city where you can eat genuinely regional Turkish food from across Anatolia — southeastern stews, Kurdish dishes, the slow-cooked stuffed vegetables of Antakya, dishes made with obscure ingredients that have largely disappeared from Turkish urban cooking. Chef-owner Musa Dağdeviren has spent decades documenting Anatolian food traditions, and the menus change daily based on seasonal produce and whatever he has been cooking lately.
The restaurant is in Kadıköy market, a 20-minute ferry from Eminönü. There are actually three Çiya operations on the same street (the kebab place, the sofrası, and a bakery); the sofrası is the one for the stews and daily dishes. Busy at lunch, quieter in the evening. Nothing fancy, communal tables, prices well below anything comparable in European cuisine.