Food to Try in Eskişehir 2026: Çibörek, Tatar Mantı and Local Specialities

Eskişehir’s food identity is tied to its Crimean Tatar heritage — the community that arrived in the 1860s–1870s as refugees from the Russian Empire brought their pastry and dumpling traditions, which have become so embedded in the city that they are now considered specifically Eskişehir food. Beyond the Tatar heritage, the city has the standard Turkish lokanta culture and a specific cheese (Çanak peyniri) produced in the surrounding plateau.

Çibörek

The signature dish of Eskişehir — a half-moon fried pastry with seasoned minced lamb and onion filling.

What it is: The dough is stretched thin (thinner than regular börek dough), shaped into a half-circle around the filling, the edges crimped, and the whole thing fried in shallow oil. The result is a crisp, slightly translucent pastry with a juicy, flavourful filling. The contrast of the crisp dough and the hot, aromatic filling (seasoned with onion, salt, black pepper, and sometimes mint) is what makes çibörek compelling.

Origin: Crimean Tatar — the dish is known in Crimea and other Tatar communities as “çiberek” or “chebrek.” The Eskişehir version has evolved slightly — sometimes larger, sometimes with a slightly different dough — but the connection to the Crimean original is clear.

Price: ₺30–60 per piece. A lunch of 2–3 çibörek + ayran: ₺100–200.

Where to find: Dedicated çiböreciler in the city centre and bazaar area. The shops with a queue of regulars and a visible frying pan are correct. Avoid tourist menus — çibörek should be eaten at the counter, straight from the oil.

When to eat: The traditional timing is breakfast or lunch (08:00–14:00). The shops typically sell out by mid-afternoon.

Tatar mantısı

The Crimean Tatar dumpling — larger and less refined than the Kayseri mantı (the other famous Turkish dumpling tradition), but with its own character.

What it is: Dough pockets filled with minced lamb and onion, boiled, then served with yoghurt, melted butter, and dried mint. The Tatar version uses larger pockets than Kayseri mantı — roughly thumb-sized rather than the tiny folded squares of the Kayseri tradition.

Price: ₺120–200 per portion.

Where to find: Traditional restaurants and some lokanta menus. Less ubiquitous than çibörek but more common in Eskişehir than in most Turkish cities, where Kayseri mantı is the default.

The comparison: Kayseri mantı are the “competition” form — smaller, more delicate, with a higher ratio of dough to filling. Tatar mantısı are more rustic and substantial; the flavour of the lamb filling is more present. Neither is superior; they are different traditions.

Çanak peyniri (Eskişehir Çanak cheese)

The local cheese — a soft, fresh cheese produced in the plateau villages around Eskişehir, stored and aged in distinctive earthenware bowls (çanak).

What it is: A white, slightly brined fresh cheese with a creamy, mild flavour. The çanak storage method — the cheese packed into traditional clay pots — gives the product its name and affects the mild fermentation character that distinguishes it from standard white cheese (beyaz peynir).

Price: ₺150–300/kg at market stalls; ₺200–400/kg at specialty cheese shops.

How to eat: As a breakfast cheese with honey and fresh bread; in börek filling; on its own with çay. The combination of çanak peyniri and local acacia honey on fresh bread is one of the better breakfasts in western Anatolia.

Where to buy: The bazaar area in Odunpazarı; the city market (Pazar); dedicated cheese shops in the city centre.

Gözleme

Gözleme — thin flatbread cooked on a griddle (sac), with various fillings — is a national Turkish snack, but Eskişehir has a particular gözleme culture connected to the Tatar pastry tradition. The best gözleme in the city are made by hand, the dough stretched on the counter, filled and cooked to order.

Standard fillings: Spinach and cheese (ıspanaklı peynirli); potato (patatesli); minced lamb (kıymalı).

Price: ₺80–150 depending on filling and size.

Where to find: The Odunpazarı bazaar area has gözleme stations, often operated by women in traditional dress — tourist-oriented but the product is genuine. For the less staged version, the market area in the city centre.

Local börek

Eskişehir has a specific börek culture tied to the Tatar baking tradition. The characteristic is the extreme thinness of the yufka (pastry layer) — achieved by the specific stretching technique brought by the Tatar community.

Key varieties:

• Su böreği — layers of thin pastry, parboiled and then baked with cheese filling; almost pasta-like in texture
• Kol böreği — rolled thin pastry with cheese or spinach
• Tatar böreği — the thin-pastry version specific to the local tradition

Price: ₺60–120 per slice or portion.

Where to buy: Bakeries (fırın) and börek shops throughout the city; the bazaar area has the most traditional operators.

Eskişehir food summary

Dish	Price	Origin	Where
Çibörek	₺30–60/piece	Crimean Tatar	Çibörek shops
Tatar mantısı	₺120–200	Crimean Tatar	Traditional restaurants
Çanak peyniri	₺150–300/kg	Local plateau	Bazaar, cheese shops
Gözleme	₺80–150	Turkish/Tatar	Bazaar, markets
Local börek	₺60–120	Tatar influenced	Bakeries

The Tatar food trail

For a focused visit to Eskişehir’s Tatar food heritage: start with morning çibörek at a city-centre specialist (08:00–10:00), visit the bazaar for çanak peyniri and fresh gözleme (10:00–12:00), and find a traditional restaurant for Tatar mantısı at lunch (12:00–14:00). This circuit — two to three hours, under ₺400 total — is the specific food argument for including Eskişehir in an Ankara–Bursa itinerary.

• Eskişehir food guide
• Best restaurants in Eskişehir
• Things to do in Eskişehir