Karagedik Lokantası

About Karagedik Lokantası

Karagedik Lokantası, which signs itself "Tarihi Karagedik lokantası" (the historic Karagedik), is an old-style Ankara döner and lahmacun house on the edge of Ulus. For years it was a simple, no-frills place on İtfaiye Meydanı, the fire-station square by the Ulus flea market; it has since moved a short distance to Talatpaşa Bulvarı, opposite the old Numune Hospital, where it now trades. Its reputation rests on its et döner, made from beef with lamb tail fat in the traditional Ankara manner, which local food writers and the long-running Ekşi Sözlük thread regularly place among the city's best. The döner is served on rice or on pide, with or without sauce. A wood-fired stone oven turns out thin-crusted lahmacun and pide, and desserts include syrup-soaked sweets such as walnut kadayıf baked in the same wood-fired oven. Practical notes: visitors report that the döner is ready from around 11:30 and can sell out by mid-afternoon, so come for lunch rather than dinner. The restaurant's own Instagram account says it is closed on Sundays and takes reservations by phone on +90 537 878 76 70. It is a straightforward stop to combine with Ulus Square, the Samanpazarı streets or the climb to the citadel.