Pide is Turkey's answer to comfort food. A boat-shaped flatbread with a thick, pillowy rim and a thin, crispy base, filled with melted cheese, seasoned meat, or a combination of both—finished with a runny egg if you're doing it properly.
Types of Pide
| Style | What It Is | Where to Get It |
|---|---|---|
| Kaşarlı Pide | Filled with melted kaşar cheese | Gökyüzü, Hala |
| Kıymalı Pide | Spiced minced lamb with tomato and pepper | Devran, Gökyüzü |
| Yumurtalı Pide | Cheese and egg cracked on top | Petek, Selale |
| Kuşbaşılı Pide | Diced lamb cubes with peppers | Gökyüzü, Antepliler |
| Karışık Pide | Mixed: meat, cheese, egg, peppers—everything | Available everywhere |
The Best Pide in London
Gökyüzü
The Pide Powerhouse | Green Lanes | ££
Gökyüzü bakes their pide in a proper stone oven, and you can watch the pide masters stretching and filling dough all day. The base comes out perfectly crispy on the bottom, soft on the sides, with generous fillings that run edge to edge.
What to Order: Kaşarlı pide (cheese), kuşbaşılı pide (diced lamb). Order bread on the side—it arrives fresh from the same oven.
Pro Tip: Pide here is big enough to share as a starter between two.
Hala Restaurant
The Homestyle Baker | Green Lanes | ££
Hala treats pide like home cooking—generous, unfussy, and deeply satisfying. Their cheese pide has a thicker, breadier base than Gökyüzü, which some prefer. The kıymalı (mince) version is particularly good.
What to Order: Kıymalı pide, kaşarlı pide, then a pot of tea
Pro Tip: Combine with their gözleme for a full Turkish bread experience.
Devran
The Local Pick | Dalston | ££
A Dalston stalwart that does pide with real care. The dough is made fresh daily and baked until the edges puff and char slightly. Their kıymalı pide has a good spice level—more flavour than most.
What to Order: Kıymalı pide, sucuklu (spicy sausage) pide
Petek
The Neighbourhood Gem | Stoke Newington | ££
Small, family-run, and doing everything right. Their yumurtalı pide—cheese with a runny egg cracked on top in the last minute of baking—is the comfort food you didn't know you needed.
What to Order: Yumurtalı pide (egg and cheese), karışık pide (mixed)
Pro Tip: Cash only. Small space—arrive early on weekends.
🥖 Pide vs Lahmacun vs Pizza
People call pide "Turkish pizza" but it's really its own thing. Here's the difference:
- → Pide: Thick, boat-shaped, filled generously, eaten with knife and fork
- → Lahmacun: Paper-thin, round, topped with spiced mince, rolled up and eaten by hand
- → Pizza: Round, medium-thick, different dough, different cheese, different universe
The key difference: Pide dough is enriched with yogurt and olive oil, giving it that distinctive soft, pillowy texture. The base is stretched thin in the centre but left thick at the edges, creating a natural rim that holds the filling in.
Pide Tips
✓ Do
- → Order the yumurtalı (with egg)
- → Eat it hot—pide doesn't travel well
- → Share one as a starter before grills
- → Ask for extra butter on top
✗ Don't
- → Call it Turkish pizza
- → Order it for delivery (it steams in the box)
- → Skip the crispy edges—they're the best part
- → Confuse it with lahmacun