From left: Chef Serkan Aksoy (Nicole-Istanbul), researcher Vedat Başaran, chef Gürkan Kaya ( Zennup 1844), HDN columnist Aylin Öney Tan and chef Tahir Özkorkmaz (Baran Et & Mangal) attend the Türkiye Culture Route Festival in Bursa.
There is always a reason to return to Bursa, and it usually involves something delicious. This time, my journey back was inspired by the Türkiye Culture Route Festival, a massive initiative organized by the Culture and Tourism Ministry. Now in its sixth year, the festival spans 26 cities across the country, showcasing a vibrant lineup of exhibitions, concerts and artisan workshops. My mission, however, was purely culinary: I was on the team tasked with uncovering the city’s gastronomy. In every host city, the festival highlights local culinary heritage by curating a list of “Taste Spots” and spotlighting regional ingredients. Bursa, already famous for its rich gastronomic history, outdid itself this year — and outshined many other cities — by mapping out a whopping 50 distinct taste stops. It was an invitation far too tempting to pass up. I knew right then that it was going to be an incredibly delicious weekend.
Foundations of an empire
This year is a special one for Bursa, as it marks the 700th anniversary of the city’s conquest by the Ottomans. Between 1335 and the 1360s, Bursa served as the Ottoman capital, laying the foundations for the future empire. The capital was later moved first to Edirne and then to Istanbul, yet the city has remained a spiritual and commercial center ever since. As the fourth-most populous city in Türkiye, it is a gastronomic haven and home to a thriving food industry with several leading producer brands. The city also holds geographical indications for numerous agricultural products. In my childhood, we would often visit for its thermal baths, but for me, the trip was always about İskender kebab and candied chestnuts. Now, my gastronomic vision is wider, and Bursa always stands for top-tier flavors, remaining one of my favorite culinary destinations in the country. In a way, the city is not only a former Ottoman capital, but also a culinary capital.
Culinary capital
Bursa has always been a prosperous city. As a crucial center for silk production and the textile trade, its markets and bazaars were always bustling with both locals and visiting merchants. This busy trading life brought to fruition the first-ever food standard regulations in the world. Dated 1502, the Bursa Edict of Standards (issued by Sultan Bayezid II) listed countless food items alongside their prices and quality criteria, practically covering every food item sold in the city’s markets. It can also be considered the first-ever attempt to protect consumer rights, ensuring that customers received the desired quality of a product, worth every coin they paid. The range was massive: From fruits and vegetables to butter and cheese, and from bread to sweet delights, it covered almost every single item produced and consumed in Bursa and its environs. This meant the quality of produce was heavily scrutinized to set fair standards and prices. Today, the edict is an invaluable source for culinary historians seeking to understand the food culture of the early 1500s. It also formed the basis of a deep-rooted gastronomic legacy, which is why I consider Bursa an irresistible destination for food lovers.The “Türkiye Cultural Route Festival Taste Spot” project—the festival’s gastronomy program—aims to highlight the gastronomic identity of the host cities by showcasing restaurants that represent their culinary heritage and its contemporary food culture.
The project aims to present gastronomy as an integral part of the city’s cultural exploration. The Bursa list includes the classic İskender Kebap restaurants, sizzling köfte joints, foremost bakeries and pastry shops. Last but not least, there are a number of not-to-miss “cantık” spots, the delicious round meat-topped flatbread, soft and juicy in the center and puffy on the edges, and the delectable “tahanlı pide” round flat breads with tahini, with a crunchy sugar topping. That’s why the list of taste spots reached a whopping number of fifty, and this is only the basic list, which can easily be multiplied a few times. Bursa might have been an imperial capital once upon a time, but it will forever remain as a culinary capital! Note: Bursa is easily reachable from Istanbul. One option is taking a direct shuttle, which departs every 15 minutes from Sabiha Gökçen Airport for a journey of only 1 hour and 10 minutes. Another choice is taking a ferry from the Yenikapı or Kabataş ports directly to Mudanya or Güzelyalı, from where one can easily take public transportation to the Bursa city center. If one prefers to drive, the trip takes about an hour and a half via the Osmangazi Bridge, depending, of course, on rush-hour traffic.
1. 21 Masa.
2. Abidin Usta, Osmanlı Sofrası.
3. Acı Dayı Cantik Salon.
4. Akay Ciğbörek ve Mantı.
5. Artizan Fırın.
6. Balıkçı Rıza.
7. Besler İnegöl Köftecisi.
8. Bi Esnaf Lokantası.
9. BigChefs.
10. Börekçi Şevket.
11. Bursa Çiçek Izgara Bursa Çarşısı 1963.
12. Bursa Kebapçısı Tophane Meydanı 1956.
13. Dağbaşı Grill Restoran.
14. Fasulyeli.
15. Fikret Balıkçılık.
16. Geye Dondurma.
17. Giritli Balık Restoran.
18. Gökhan Aperatif.
19. Hacı Hasan Oğulları.
20. Hacıbaba Izgara.
21. Han 1426.
22. İnan Kardeşler.
23. İnanç Fırını.
24. İskender Heykel Şubesi / Mavi Dükkan 1867.
25. Kafkas Kestane Şekeri.
26. Kardelen Kestane Şekeri.
27. Kardeşler Pide ve Cantık Salonu.
28. Kebapçı Hüseyin Usta.
29. Kebapçı İdris.
30. Mavi Köşe.
31. Mustafa Usta Kebap.
32. Paçacı Hüsnü.
33. Pasto Bursa.
34. Pidecioğlu Cantık Pide Fırını.
35. Rumeli Kardeşler Sofrası.
36. Sade Çorba.
37. Saitabat Kadınlar Derneği.
38. Sanat Lokantası Bülent Şef.
39. Şark Yaprak Döner.
40. Tarihi Taş Fırın.
41. Tavacı Refik.
42. Tola Restoran. 4
3. Tuzhan Pideli Köfte.
44. Uludağ Kebapçısı Cemal & Cemil Usta.
45. Ulus Pastanesi.
46. Uzan Et & Mangal.
47. Yavuz İskenderoğlu Botanik.
48. Yerkapı Fırın.
49. Yeşil Pideli Köfte Mahir Usta.
50. Zennup 1844.
