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The Best Turkish Restaurants in Melbourne for Smoke, Spice & Storytelling
An old-world cuisine, redefined with heart, smoke, spice, and soulful flair. These are the best Turkish restaurants in Melbourne.
Melbourne might be known for pasta alle vongole and ramen with a cult following — but if you’ve yet to dive fork-first into the city’s Turkish dining scene, you’re seriously missing out. Rich with history and wrapped in ritual, Turkish cuisine is one of the most generous and soul-stirring expressions of culture you’ll find. Think fire-licked meats cooked over charcoal, pillowy pide fresh from the oven, and mezze that keep on coming.
It’s a cuisine built on balance — spice and sweetness, texture and tenderness — and Melbourne’s best Turkish restaurants bring it all with heart, heritage and serious finesse. From elegant Anatolian degustations to no-frills joints where the gözleme hits like a hug, these are the spots that truly capture the magic.
Tulum & Kismet Mezze Bar
Tulum remains one of Melbourne’s most compelling Turkish restaurants, with chef Coşkun Uysal shaping Anatolian flavours into something precise, expressive and entirely its own. In Balaclava, the menu moves with confidence between memory, technique and Australian produce, making dinner here feel far more nuanced than the usual special-occasion booking. Nearly a decade on, Tulum still feels transportive, and still earns its place among the city’s most distinctive tables.
Sitchu Tip: Hidden at the back, the newly opened Kismet Mezze Bar is the move if you want Tulum’s more relaxed, tavern-style sibling, with dips, house-made simit and a generous meze-led set menu built around old-school Turkish comfort.
217 Carlisle Street, Balaclava
Mehmet Usta
Mehmet Usta is the Epping address to know when appetite is leading the evening. The menu runs gloriously deep, from Adana, mixed grill and pides to soups, dips and charcoal-led plates that arrive smelling faintly of fire before they even hit the table. There is a pleasing sense of abundance to the whole thing, whether you are dropping in for a richly satisfying dinner or making a weekend breakfast of simit, menemen, cheeses and endless tea.
2B Forum Way, Epping
Marmaris II
Marmaris II is one of those Caulfield South Turkish takeaways that inspires fierce local devotion. Fresh bread, baked on site daily, sets the tone, followed by smoky dips, richly seasoned mixed doner, juicy chicken shish and all the deeply comforting pleasures of a very good Turkish feast. It is generous, fragrant and deeply moreish. For Turkish food in Melbourne that satisfies on every level, Marmaris II is a very good place to start.
398A Hawthorn Road, Caulfield South
KÖMÜR
KÖMÜR is the Ascot Vale Turkish restaurant to know when a craving for smoke, spice and serious grill work strikes. Chef-owner Emir Uker has built a loyal following around charcoal-fired Adana kebabs, lamb shish, fresh wraps and creamy dips, all plated with the kind of generosity that makes sharing feel compulsory. Compact, spirited and rich with fire-kissed flavour, it is one of the most compelling spots for Turkish barbecue in Melbourne right now.
446 Mt Alexander Road, Ascot Vale
Bodrum
Bodrum has been part of Essendon’s dining fabric for more than 30 years, and under new management and a new head chef, it feels newly worth your attention. The menu moves through Anatolian favourites with confidence, from clay pot olives and crisp saganaki to slow-cooked kuzu tandir and a deeply smoky Ali Nazik kebab that deserves your full focus. Come with a group and do the banquet properly, then finish with the kunefe, all molten cheese, syrup and pistachio.
51 Fletcher Street, Essendon
Nicosia Turkish Restaurant
Nicosia Turkish Restaurant has long been one of Malvern’s most satisfying family-run addresses, bringing Turkish-Cypriot cooking to Glenferrie Road with real generosity and range. Start with pillowy Turkish bread, including gluten-free pita, then work through the house-made dips before moving on to charcoal-grilled meats and slow-cooked lamb that all but falls apart. Vegetarians are beautifully looked after too, with falafel, grilled halloumi, patlican kizartma, spinach and fetta borek, and fragrant dolma all earning their place.
Come with friends, order widely, and save room for the baklava, especially the honey-soaked classic or the chocolate-Nutella version.
250 Glenferrie Road, Malvern
Yakamoz
Yakamoz is the one to book when you want Turkish flavours with a little more swag. In Brunswick East, Ali Atay’s menu pulls from across the Mediterranean and lands in dishes you end up talking about afterwards: fried eggplant with labneh and chilli, halloumi slicked in brown butter and honey, smoky shish, wood-fired pide and prawns that deserve their own moment. It is loose, lively and built for ordering across the table, with a drinks list that keeps pace and Sunday lunch that easily turns into the rest of the afternoon.
74 Lygon Street, Brunswick East
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Gozleme Pide and Sweet House
Gozleme Pide and Sweet House is the Flemington address to know when only Turkish comfort food will do. Come for the freshly baked simit, stay for crisp gozleme, silky manti and trays of syrupy baklava that make restraint feel unnecessary. It is casual, generous and full of the sort of dishes that hit especially well at the end of a long week. Slide in on a Friday night, order widely and let dinner do the heavy lifting.
311 Racecourse Road, Flemington
Lezzet
Lezzet brings Anatolian cooking to Elwood with plenty of theatre and a little glamour. Start with the chef’s meze and let the table fill from there, with smoky Adana kebabs, abundant seafood, richly spiced platters and stuffed calamari that lands beautifully. There is generosity in every course, but also finesse, the sort that keeps each plate feeling considered rather than heavy. Finish with the house-made baklava, all crisp pastry, syrup and crunch, and call it a very good decision.
81 Brighton Road, Elwood
Marmara
Marmara has the glow of a place built for appetite. In Windsor, plates arrive fragrant with smoke and spice, the bread comes hot, the dips silky, and the grills laden with the things Turkish kitchens do so well: lamb, seafood, char, softness, fire. There is pleasure in the abundance here, in the way the table fills and keeps filling. Go straight for the banquet, loosen your grip on moderation, and let dinner turn gloriously excessive.
68 Chapel Street, Windsor
Chef Sofra
Chef Sofra brings a polished take on Turkish dining to Essendon, with char-grilled kofta, lamb shish and generous mezze setting the tone for a feast best shared. The name nods to the traditional Turkish table, and that sense of abundance carries through the room and the menu alike. For a Turkish restaurant in Melbourne’s north-west with plenty of heart and a more refined feel, this one is well worth booking.
1021-1023 Mt Alexander Road, Essendon
Nefes
While Lygon Street is better known for red sauce and ravioli, Nefes takes the strip in a different direction with a Turkish menu built around smoky skewers, charred lamb cutlets and generous mezze. The room feels refined, the cocktails are excellent, and the shisha adds to the mood without overpowering it. For a Turkish restaurant in Carlton with date-night appeal, Nefes makes a strong case for skipping the pasta.
174-178 Lygon Street, Carlton
Pehlivan
Pehlivan is the Hadfield local people get a little possessive about, a family-run Turkish spot where the room is small, the grill does serious work and the Adana has a loyal following for good reason. Come for smoky wraps, chicken shish, pillowy bread and dips like hummus and cacik, then add Mum’s pilav if you know what you are doing. It feels unfussy, full of heart and exactly the sort of place worth crossing town for.
142 Middle Street, Hadfield
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