Serving dishes steeped in history and rich in flavour, Antepliler offers a taste of the cuisine of Gaziantep, with its incredible diversity and fresh ingredients.

Ahmet Ustunsurmeli from Gaziantep, set up a bakery in 1993, making the first authentic baklava in London, before opening the restaurant Antepliler in Green Lanes (‘Little Turkey’), in 1993.

Antepliler means ‘from Antep’, the area known as Gaziantep. Located in the south eastern Anatolian region of Turkey, Antep is one of the world’s oldest continuously inhabited cities. Its long gastronomic history was influenced by the Arabs, Persians, Alexander the Great, the Romans, Byzantines, Seljuk Turks and the Ottomans, who all left behind influences on the local cuisine.

Being an important city along the ancient Silk Road, and its close proximity to the Syrian city Aleppo (an administrative centre of the Seljuk and Ottoman empires), helped shape the tremendous diversity of its local cuisine.
Today Gaziantep remains an important agricultural centre in Turkey, incorporating a huge variety of fresh produce in its cuisine. Famous for its pistachios, it is also known as the baklava capital of Turkey.

The city is regarded as home to Turkey’s richest regional cuisine, attracting a great deal of food tourism, and is listed by UNESCO as a ‘capital of taste’. With over 400 dishes from this area, food has long been the centre of Antep’s cultural identity.

The cuisine is known for being slightly spicier than in other parts of Turkey. The Aleppo pepper is commonly used (which is similar to the ancho chilli but with a medium heat), and paprika.

With a passion for cooking, and to showcase the regions specialities, Ahmet has implemented many of the unique cooking techniques of Antep. Fresh ingredients are carefully selected, and those such as ghee (sade yag), olives and pistachios are imported from Turkey.

Our Branches

Antepliler Restaurant | Doner | Baklava | Kunefe