Lacto
Ovo
Mediterranean
Middle Eastern
Turkish
The main entrees, soups, and salads change daily. Sample dishes are quiche with leeks, stuffed dry aubergine and green lasagna. Located near the vegetarian place called Parsifal. 2016 update menu is now all vegetarian. Reported closed, Jul 2020.
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Last update on 28 Jul 2020 by fordph0714
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39 Reviews
First Review by Upliftance
sayko
Points +28
nice one - Edit
this is a place one of the few ones who knows the what is vegan. because in turkey most of the restaurant employees don't know what is vegan. little bit expensive but ambiance and food is good.
Read moreGuest
SG213
Points +861
Pretty decent, but some shortcomings - Edit
Firstly, I have to say that this place is confusing, as it seems to alternate over time between pure vegetarian and meat-serving without much predictability. For what it's worth, I didn't see any meat on the menu at Zencefil today.
Read moreThe place usually seems to be busy, (which is uncommon enough for a veggie restaurant in Istanbul), the main draw being the outside seating in a walled garden at the front. Just don't spoil the illusion by looking up at the concrete sides of the nearby buildings :)
For the privilege of your quasi-rural garden idyll, expect to pay about 25% over the odds compared to average Istanbul prices. And a 2TL "kuver" charge for the bread & butter - ok fair enough, but explaining that it's for a (single) plate of bread and then charging per person?
Price concerns aside, the food is good and I was pleasantly surprised to see that everything on the menu appeared to be vegetarian. There was also a considerable list of dishes of the day chalked up on a blackboard. For vegans, it might not be so great, although still worth a look, however a quick check on the day suggested that none of the dessert options were vegan (try Loving Hut or Govinda instead for vegan desserts). For a restaurant that trades on at least some reputation for vegetarian food, they could have done a bit more to indicate the dietary suitability of each dish.
We didn't have problems with the table service, it was quite fast when ordering and serving. Paying directly at the till circumvents any hassle trying to get attention when asking for the bill.
If you're not on too much of a budget and have time to try a few different veg. places in Istanbul, Zencefil is worth a visit.
Pros: Nice seating area, Not bad food, Central location
Cons: Veg. status unsure, Relatively expensive, Vegan desserts unavailable
Guest
xkillerx
Points +133
Dissapointing - Edit
The place is in dead center of istanbul.
Read moreIt has a lovely garden and great atmosphere.
That is all the good i can say about it.
Our friends really went out of his way to find us a veg restaurant and I am sad that this place was the best recommended to him. It casts a dark cloud all over the whole plant eating thing.
It's called ginger, and they claim they put ginger into almost all of their foods. Well, I for one eat ginger almost every f***** day because it does wonder for my ailing wrists and joints, and I can assure you there is hardly any ginger in any of the dishes (especially the home made ginger drink).
The dishes are sized for kids up to 7 years of age. The prices are astronomical, and there is hardly anything vegan on the menu.
Like I said, i can not be thankful enough for people who bend over backwards to make their guests feel as best as possible ; so this place is quite a letdown due to itself.
Avoid.
Pros: nice atmosphere, good location
Cons: food, menu, prices
Guest
filippodibari
Points +1499
Good food, nice place, but a bit overpriced - Edit
The quiche with leek was delicious, the stuffed dry aubergine was good and the green lasagna very good. Service rough but efficient, very nice setting, slightly overpriced for the small portions they serve.
Read morePros: tasty, nice place, central
Cons: overpriced, small portions
Guest
shedonteatnomeat
Points +32
Love - Edit
Great atmosphere, excellent ginger ale, fast service. I wish there were more vegan options but the ones offered are satisfying and tasty.
Read morePros: location, vegan friendly, ginger ale
Cons: not many vegan options
Guest
Manuela
Points +89
ZENCEFIL - ISTANBUL - Edit
The place is nice and comfortable and they do have some vegetarian options available. Unfortunately, not too many vegetarian/vegan dishes are actually available, also when on the menu, and the portions are definitely too small. The quality of the food is not bad, though.
Read moreCons: small portions, small choice
Guest
twinkle
Points +61
Beautiful atmosphere, moderate prices - Edit
My friends and I (veg and non-veg) sometimes go to Zengefil (we are local). The menu doesn't have a very broad selection, but the foods are well prepared. As one reviewer noted, they usually do not come with a side, so if you want a salad or other side, you have to pay more, and it can add up.
Read moreThat said, the food they do offer is quite good, their homemade fruit wines are very nice (sometimes we just stop in for a drink) and the garden is gorgeous.
I had breakfast there once, which was largely bread and cheese (traditional Turkish breakfast). It was very nice and a good selection, but cost more than I would usually pay for a similar breakfast.
Pros: Atmosphere, Well-prepared food, Fruit wine :)
Cons: Limited selection, Higher prices
Guest
Rahoul
Points +58
Lovely atmosphere, reasonable food - Edit
Visited on a warm summer evening and managed to get a seat in the garden, which was lovely. The food is reasonable with a very limited selection for vegans. I had the lentil patties, which as other reviewers have pointed out, were fine, though the portion was on the small side. My fiancee was not very hungry and opted for the courgettes, which were very simply spiced and cooked in olive oil. We shared a mixed salad which was the highlight of the meal, given the extensive use of fresh vegetables and black-eyed beans. Overall, the experience was pleasant, the atmosphere lovely and the food reasonable.
Read morePros: garden seating, vegan options
Cons: limited vegan options, reasonable but not outstanding food
Guest
gourmande
Points +25
Food ok, but nothing special; nice atmosphere - Edit
We were rather disappointed by the food here, given the reputation it seems to have and the good reviews we had read previous to our visit. The restaurant is pleasant, and clearly quite popular, judging by the fact it was nearly full on both our visits. There was nothing wrong with the food as such, but there was no particular flair in the execution of the dishes. The range of dishes on offer sounded good by their descriptions, but the various dishes we tried were rather bland - this seems unforgivable and unfathomable in a city where spices and herbs are available in abundance! For instance, the lentil patties I had on one visit were presented without any garnish, without a side salad, and were poorly seasoned/spiced - had it not been for the accompanying relish, I would not have been able to eat that dish. I rather resented paying the 11,50 TL for the SMALL portion of this not-very-tasty dish. If you are looking for a really memorable and satisfying vegetarian meal in Istanbul, go across the road instead to Parsifal!
Read moreGuest
Liah
Points +55
Ok Food, Terrible Service - Edit
Went in here last Monday on our last night of a 5 night stay in Istanbul.Pleasant surroundings, as there was no seats we sat outside(big mistake).After about 15 mins no menus, nothing, no problem I went into the restaurant to get them.The waiter met me "Oh I will bring them, sit down" so it wasn't a self service restaurant after all.The menu hasn't a great selection, but there was also a blackboard, we made our choices and waited and waited.Eventually I went into the restaurant to order.The starters and mains all came together a half carafe of wine and beer we waited for.The food wasnt bad but I noticed no garnish of salad on the side of our lentil patties, or Borek.Considering most of the food we ordered was all pre-made,I can't imagine why the service was so bad.My pesto penne was the only dish that needed cooking.So we were left outside, not one waiter came out to ask us if we wanted dessert,we managed to catch one eventually and ordered coffee and desserts.A rich chocolate cake, which tasted lovely, but again not much work involved.The worst was yet to come, we went to pay our bill and it was 175TL! On close inspection of the bill we had been charged twice for the wine carafe and glass of beer.Overall I was really disappointed to waste my last night in Istanbul in this restaurant, maybe they were having a bad night,maybe all the waiters were new or had beamed down from Mars and couldn't understand the concept of how a restaurant works!I wouldn't recommend seeking this restaurant out for dinner, maybe lunch would be better, but thats something I will never know.
Read morePros: pleasant interior
Cons: expensive, bad service
Guest
Jemima
Points +484
Pleasant restaurant - Edit
Pleasant decor with a green colour theme. The entrance is on one side which you enter through and you pass through to the dining area on the right side. Half of it is inside and it opens to an outdoor area. They seem to have taken up the space between multi-storey buildings and you can see the brick work from those buildings which makes up their space's walls.
Read moreSmoking is permitted throughout the restaurant.
The menu has a repertoire of Western vegetarian standards such as lasagna, quiche, cheesecake. The blackboard menu is just as big and has Turkish dishes. First we had bread. They gave us a variety and olive oil and garlic butter for it. I chose the zeytinyağlı for dinner. This one was made up of all green veggie and was a good choice, being cold, for a hot day but was tasty enough to be satisfying. It was well prepared.
I had a glass of white house wine instead of the famous zencefil limonata (ginger lemonade). The wine was Turkish, it was sweet.
Service was fine.
I was ok with the value at just over YTL20 for main and a wine although this is relatively expensive for Turkey. For the same thing at a lokanta, or a lot of other restoranlar you would pay less.
For me this is a four and a half.
Pros: Setting/ atmosphere, food, central
Cons: smoking area throughout
Guest
Upliftance
Points +44
Another decent option for vegan food. - Edit
Another decent option for vegan food.
Read morePros: some vegan food.
Cons: smokers
Guest
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