What is meze?
Meze are small plates set out to share before a main course or alongside drinks. The word is usually traced to a Persian word meaning "taste" or "relish". At a Turkish table, meze is less a dish than a way of eating: nothing is rushed, plates arrive a few at a time and the conversation matters as much as the food.
For the wider map of Turkish food, see our guide to Turkish cuisine.
Cold meze
- 1Haydari: Strained yoghurt with garlic, dill and mint.
- 2Acılı ezme: Finely chopped tomato, pepper and onion with pomegranate molasses.
- 3Fava: Purée of dried broad beans with olive oil and dill. An Aegean classic.
- 4Patlıcan salatası: Smoky charred aubergine with olive oil and garlic.
- 5Hummus: Chickpeas and tahini, from the south of Türkiye.
- 6Cacık: Yoghurt with cucumber and garlic.
- 7Atom: Strained yoghurt topped with sizzling dried chillies.
- 8Muhammara (acuka): Roasted red pepper, walnut and pomegranate molasses.
- 9Şakşuka: Fried aubergine in tomato sauce.
- 10Olive-oil artichokes: Artichoke hearts with broad beans and dill.
- 11Yaprak sarma: Vine leaves rolled around rice cooked in olive oil.
- 12Samphire (deniz börülcesi): Sea greens with garlic and olive oil.
- 13Purslane salad (semizotu): Dressed with yoghurt or olive oil.
- 14Circassian chicken (çerkez tavuğu): Shredded chicken in a walnut sauce.
- 15Topik: An Istanbul meze of chickpea, onion and tahini.
- 16Lakerda: Salt-cured bonito, the meyhane's most skilled meze.
- 17Midye dolma: Mussels stuffed with spiced rice.
- 18White cheese and melon: The inseparable pair of the rakı table.
Hot meze (ara sıcak)
- 19Sigara börek: Thin rolls of yufka filled with cheese.
- 20Paçanga börek: Pastry filled with pastırma and kaşar.
- 21Fried calamari: Crisp squid with tarator sauce.
- 22Albanian-style liver (arnavut ciğeri): Fried cubes of liver with sumac onions.
- 23İçli köfte: A bulgur shell around a spiced minced-meat filling.
- 24Prawn güveç: Prawns baked in butter with tomato and cheese.
How a meyhane table is paced
A classic meyhane evening moves in three parts:
- 1Cold meze and rakı: White cheese, melon and 6–10 cold meze arrive. Rakı is drunk with water and ice.
- 2Hot meze: When the cold plates are half gone, the hot ones come one at a time.
- 3Main course (optional): Usually grilled fish. Many meyhane evenings end without ever reaching a main course.
Building a meze table at home
- How many: For 6–8 guests, 6–8 cold meze and 2–3 hot ones are enough.
- Balance: Mix yoghurt, vegetable, pulse and seafood meze; don't let everything be yoghurt-based.
- Prep: Almost all cold meze can be made the day before, and most taste better the next day.
- Quantity: Allow 40–60 g of each cold meze per guest.
To take meze into an event format, our cocktail party menu and finger food guide covers bite-sized versions.
A chef's meze table
Meze asks for good ingredients handled simply and precisely. For villa and yacht events with a menu that brings the Aegean and Istanbul meyhane tradition to a modern table, see our private chef service and special event design.
