Adana is the culinary capital of southern Turkey — the original Adana kebab was invented here, şalgam suyu is brewed here, and the food culture of the Çukurova plain is unlike anywhere else in Turkey.
Katmer (Antep-style flaky pastry with clotted cream and pistachio, grilled on a sac) is eaten in Adana as the breakfast before a kebab-heavy day. At any fırın (bakery) near the bazaar.
Visit the spice market before the kebab restaurants open — the dried red pepper paste (biber salçası), the sumac (sour purple spice), and the pul biber (Aleppo pepper flakes) that go into the authentic Adana kebab.
The most authentic Adana kebab restaurant — the minced lamb with red pepper on wide flat skewers, grilled over burning vine charcoal. Served with lavash bread, roasted tomatoes and green peppers, raw onion with sumac, fresh parsley. Drink şalgam alongside.
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideBici bici (shaved ice with chickpea starch — like very soft jelly noodles — rose water syrup and coconut shavings) is found only in Adana and a few nearby cities. One of Turkey's most distinctive regional desserts. At a stand near the bazaar.
Şalgam suyu (fermented purple turnip water with black carrot juice and spices — sour, spicy and intensely purple) is Adana's most unusual drink. Some producers offer tastings. Otherwise: every restaurant serves it — drink it ice-cold with the kebabs.
Ciğer kebabı (lamb liver on skewers) at a specialist liver grill — the liver pieces are cut thin, seasoned with parsley and onion, and grilled very fast so they stay pink inside. A cold şalgam alongside. At any ocakbaşı in the centre.
Not Gaziantep baklava (Adana would be offended by the comparison) — but Adana's own pastry shops make excellent baklavas, kunefe (kadayıf with cheese) and sütlaç (rice pudding). At any pastane in the city centre.
Tea (çay) in tulip glasses with simits (sesame bread rings) at the kahvehane (coffeehouse) inside the Kapalı Çarşı. The morning social ritual of Adana.
Adana is a major producer of pastırma (air-cured beef with fenugreek paste coating) — the covered market has pastırma dealers with the slabs hanging. Buy vacuum-packed pastırma to take home.
Tantuni is Adana's unique street food — very thinly sliced beef or lamb stir-fried at high heat on a convex iron griddle with tomatoes, peppers and spices, then wrapped in thin lavash with parsley and lemon. Faster, cheaper and more street-level than kebab.
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideThe riverside park for evening çay and watching the Seyhan flow past the Roman bridge.
A restaurant offering the full range of Adana specialties: fıstıklı kebab (with pistachios), patlıcanlı kebab (with aubergine), yoghurtlu kebab (over yoghurt sauce). The whole of Adana cuisine in one dinner.
Turkish milk pudding shops (muhallebici) stay open late and serve tavuk göğsü (chicken breast milk pudding — a traditional Ottoman dessert with no detectable chicken flavor), sütlaç (baked rice pudding) and kaymak (clotted cream) with honey.
Tarsus has a daily market (çarşı) with Çukurova plain produce — cotton, citrus, pomegranate, dried fig and the freshest vegetables in southern Turkey. The market is more agricultural and less touristy than Adana's covered bazaar.
Tarsus has its own kebab culture — the lamb here is from Taurus mountain flocks (different flavor profile from Adana's Çukurova lamb). A Tarsus restaurant for the comparative kebab experience.
The Şelale park with riverside restaurants and tea houses — pide (Turkish flatbread with toppings) from a riverside pide restaurant. The coolest lunch spot in the region in summer.
Return bus to Adana for the final evening in Turkey's kebab capital.
The farewell dinner: Adana kebab + ciğer + tantuni + şalgam + bici bici for dessert. The full Adana culinary experience on one table.
A final walk on the Roman bridge over the Seyhan lit at night — the 2nd century AD engineering that has survived 1,800 years is the most fitting finale for Adana.
A final tea and hookah at a riverside çay bahçesi. The perfect Adana ending.