Dishes you should try in Yakutiye: Cağ Kebabı (horizontal spit-roasted lamb), Kadayıf Dolması (walnut-filled kadayıf), Su Böreği (layered water pastry) and Ayran Aşı (yoghurt and wheat soup). This guide also covers the local products to buy and what Yakutiye is famous for.
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Prepared by roasting lamb on a horizontal spit over a wood fire. The geographically indicated speciality of Erzurum, cağ kebabı is cut into thin slices and served with lavash and onion.
Fine kadayıf dough is rolled around walnuts, baked, and then soaked in syrup. The most famous sweet of Erzurum, it is served in the city's historic pastry shops.
The Erzurum su böreği is prepared by boiling thin yufka sheets and layering them with cheese or minced meat. Served with butter, it is a traditional breakfast dish.
A traditional soup made with yoghurt, bulgur and mint. It is one of the most popular hot dishes on cold winter days in Erzurum.
These dishes are known throughout Erzurum province; see the provincial food guide for details.
A kebab with a registered geographical indication, cooked on a horizontal skewer over a wood fire and served on the cağ skewer.
Shredded kadayıf filled with walnuts and soaked in syrup; it has a registered geographical indication.
A registered börek made with layers of boiled yufka and cheese.
A registered soup made with yoghurt, wheat and herbs.
A syrupy dough dessert with a registered geographical indication.
A registered traditional dessert made with flour, butter and sugar.
The Erzurum Congress, held from 23 July to 7 August 1919 in a building in Yakutiye, is a historic meeting where the foundations of the Turkish War of Independence were laid. Chaired by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the congress was a turning point in the national struggle.
With structures such as the Çifte Minareli Madrasa, the Yakutiye Madrasa and the Three Tombs, Yakutiye is one of the areas where Anatolian Seljuk and Ilkhanid architecture is most concentrated. These monuments are on UNESCO's World Heritage tentative list.
Yakutiye is known for 4 local dishes, above all Cağ Kebabı (horizontal spit-roasted lamb), Kadayıf Dolması (walnut-filled kadayıf), Su Böreği (layered water pastry) and Ayran Aşı (yoghurt and wheat soup). Prepared by roasting lamb on a horizontal spit over a wood fire. The geographically indicated speciality of Erzurum, cağ kebabı is cut into thin slices and served with lavash and onion.
Yakutiye is known for Cağ Kebabı (horizontal spit-roasted lamb), Erzurum Civil Peyniri (stringy cheese) and Erzurum Congress Legacy. Its best-known sights include Yakutiye Madrasa and Çifte Minareli Madrasa.
Local products and souvenirs to buy in Yakutiye include Erzurum Civil Peyniri (stringy cheese) and Oltu Taşı Jewellery (Oltu jet stone).