What to Eat in Burdur: Local Specialities

By All Over InformationUpdated August 10, 20268 min read

Burdur sits where the Mediterranean and the Anatolian interior meet, and its kitchen has the best of both: olive oil and mountain herbs from the south, bulgur, beans and dairy from the plateau, and lamb raised on the high pastures of the Taurus. There are no famous restaurant names here, and that is the charm of it. The food is eaten in lokantas, at family tables and in village tea gardens, and it is honest, seasonal and deeply satisfying. This guide walks you through the dishes and the eating places that define the region.

The Lakes Region Table

The cooking of Burdur is built on what the land provides. The Taurus slopes supply lamb, mountain herbs and honey; the valley floors produce beans, chickpeas, wheat and vegetables; and the dairy of the region, yogurt, cheese and butter, anchors nearly every meal.

The style is simple and direct: soups, stews, grills and bulgur pilafs, seasoned with restraint and eaten with the excellent local bread. Spring brings wild herbs to the market, summer brings tomatoes and peppers, and autumn brings grapes, apples and walnuts.

Nothing here is fancy, and that is the point. The food rewards the traveler who eats where the locals eat, and the region’s cooking is one of the quiet reasons to linger in Burdur. The seasons matter: eat the fresh cheese and herbs in spring, the tomatoes and peppers of summer, and the walnuts and honey of autumn, and the kitchen will show you its full range.

Breakfast: The Long Spread

Breakfast in this region is an event. The table arrives covered in small plates: local white cheese and aged cheese, olives, honey with clotted cream, jam, tomatoes and cucumbers, eggs, and the sesame bread rings and flatbreads from the morning oven.

The centerpiece is often menemen, eggs scrambled with tomatoes and peppers in a copper pan, eaten with fresh bread. The tea is black and strong, poured from a pot and served in tulip glasses, and it never stops coming. In the colder months the table adds the local cheese pastry and a pot of thick village soup, which is the proper way to face a January morning.

In the villages around Burdur the breakfast may add local specialties: cheese from the yaylas, mountain honey, and fresh butter churned the same morning. Give the meal an hour; you will not regret it.

Burdur, Turkey — Photo by smuldur on Pixabay

Lamb: The Meat of the Mountains

Lamb is the meat of the region, raised on the high pastures and cooked with a respect that the tourist coasts sometimes lose. The classic preparations are the grill and the stew, with the meat seasoned simply with salt, pepper and herbs.

Shish kebab, cubes of lamb grilled over charcoal, is the everyday version; the larger cuts, shoulder and leg, appear at celebrations, often cooked slowly with tomatoes and peppers. The local butchers know their animals, and the quality shows in the first bite.

Order the kebab with bulgur pilaf and a salad of tomato and onion, and finish with yogurt. In the villages you may be offered lamb cooked in a clay pot or on the open fire, and you should accept. The slow cooking over wood gives the meat a smokiness that no restaurant grill can match, and the portions will always be larger than you expect.

Bulgur, Beans and the Yayla Pantry

The plateau staple is bulgur, cracked wheat, which appears at almost every meal: as pilaf, in soups, or mixed with tomato paste and peppers. It is the backbone of the local table, and the region’s bulgur is excellent.

Beans are the second pillar. White beans stewed with tomatoes and onions, the classic kuru fasulye, is the daily dish of the lokantas, served with rice or bulgur and pickles. Chickpeas and lentils round out the pantry.

The yayla, the high pastures, contribute their own specialties: dried herbs, cheeses made in summer, and the dried yogurts and milk products that the region preserves for winter. These are the flavors of the mountains, and they have no coastal equivalent. Ask for the shepherd’s dishes in the highland villages, and you will be rewarded with the deepest tastes of the region.

Breads, Gozleme and the Village Oven

Bread is sacred in this region, and every neighborhood has its bakery. The daily loaf is a large, round flatbread, and the sesame rings, simit, appear at breakfast and on the street; in the villages, the oven bakes thicker loaves for the day’s meals.

Gozleme, thin rolled dough cooked on a griddle and filled with cheese, spinach or potato, is the region’s great snack, and the village women who make it will often do so before your eyes. It is cheap, filling and perfect with tea.

Also watch for sıkma, a rolled and filled flatbread similar in spirit, and the sesame and poppy breads of the market. The bakeries of Burdur are among the best reasons to be awake early, since the morning ovens turn out the day’s loaves in waves, and the warm bread with cheese and tea is the region’s most reliable pleasure.

Yogurt, Cheese and the Dairy Tradition

The dairy of the Lakes Region is exceptional. The yogurt is thick and tangy, eaten with nearly everything, and the cheeses range from fresh white cheese to the aged yellow cheeses of the highlands, each with its own character.

Cacik, yogurt thinned with water and cucumber, is the summer refresher; ayran, the salted yogurt drink, is the region’s answer to lemonade, and it arrives with grills and kebabs almost automatically.

The highland cheeses, made in the yaylas in summer and brought down in autumn, are the ones to seek out in the markets. Ask for the local cheese in the shop and taste before you buy; the flavors change with every pasture. Some are fresh and milky, others aged and sharp, and the shopkeepers will happily guide you through the differences.

Keşkek, Tarhana and the Festival Kitchen

The festive cooking of the region has its own repertoire. Keskek, a slow-cooked dish of wheat and meat pounded to a porridge, is the classic celebration food, served at weddings, gatherings and religious holidays, and it is the dish that defines a true feast.

Tarhana, the fermented dried mixture of yogurt and wheat, is the region’s winter soup base, and every family has its own recipe. In the villages you will see the trays of drying tarhana laid out in the autumn sun.

These are foods made for communities rather than restaurants, and tasting them usually requires an invitation or a festival day. If you are lucky enough to be invited to a village meal, go: the table will be spread, the portions generous, and the welcome unforgettable. The keskek is served from a single large tray, and sharing it is the truest form of the region’s hospitality.

Sweets: Walnuts, Honey and More

The sweets of the region follow the same honest logic as the rest of the kitchen. Walnuts, abundant in the hills, appear in pastries and puddings; honey, dark and aromatic from the mountain flowers, is eaten with yogurt or clotted cream.

The milk puddings of the lokantas, and the simple syrupy pastries of the bakeries, round out the sweet side. Fruit in season, apricots, apples and grapes, is the natural dessert of the summer table.

Turkish coffee and tea end the meal, and the coffee, prepared in its copper pot, is the proper conclusion to any serious eating in the region. Take it slowly, the way the locals do. The coffee arrives with a glass of water and, if you are lucky, a piece of lokum, and the pause it creates is part of the meal itself.

Where to Eat: Lokantas, Tea Gardens and Village Tables

The eating map of Burdur is simple. The lokantas of the city center serve the daily dishes, with the pots visible at the counter and the menu written on the wall; you point, and they serve. These are the best-value meals in the region.

The tea gardens around the old town are for the hours between meals, and the market is for provisions, cheese and fruit. In the villages, the eating happens in homes and gardens, and the invitation is usually genuine.

The golden rule is to follow the crowd at lunchtime. Where the workers eat, the food is fresh and the price is right, and that rule has never failed a traveler in the Lakes Region. Do not be afraid to ask what is in the pots; the owners are proud of their cooking and will tell you exactly what to order.

Markets and Take-Home Foods

Before you leave the region, the market deserves a slow pass. The producers’ stalls hold the local cheeses, honey, walnuts, dried fruits and the herbs that define the regional kitchen, and they make the best take-home presents.

The honey of the Taurus, the aged cheese of the highlands and the walnuts of the hills travel well, and the small jars of pepper paste and tomato paste are the tastes of the region in a jar. Ask the sellers for their recommendation and taste freely.

Pack them carefully and declare them at customs, and the memory of Burdur’s table will follow you home. The kitchen of the Lakes Region is simple, but it is the kind of simple that you remember, the food of a land that has never needed to impress anyone with anything but the truth of its own table.

Frequently asked questions

What is the signature dish of Burdur?

The region does not have a single famous dish in the way of some Turkish cities; instead, its signature is the honest interior table: lamb kebabs, bulgur pilaf, thick yogurt, white beans and long breakfast spreads. For the truest taste, eat the daily soup and the grilled lamb in a lokanta at lunchtime.

Where should I eat in Burdur?

Follow the locals. The lokantas of the city center serve fresh daily dishes at lunch, the tea gardens around the old town handle the hours between meals, and the villages offer home cooking and generous hospitality. The market is the place for cheese, honey and produce to take home.

Is Burdur good for vegetarian travelers?

Reasonably, since the kitchen is built on bulgur, beans, lentils, vegetables and dairy. Breakfasts are rich with cheese, eggs and jams, and the lokantas always have bean and vegetable dishes. The grilled meat is the highlight, but a vegetarian can eat very well here with the soups, pilafs and gozleme.

All Over Information

The All Over Information editorial team researches and writes practical English-language guides to Turkey. Facts are checked against official and local sources before publication, prices are published as dated ranges rather than quotes, and guides are revised when things change. We accept no sponsored posts, paid placements or paid links.