Gluten-free Ankara has a municipal side: in 2025 the Ankara Metropolitan Municipality opened a café for celiacs inside the Gökkuşağı Kamu Pazarı in Bahçelievler, run by its Halk Ekmek bread factory. The café opened after a World Celiac Day breakfast hosted by the mayor, and the local celiac association called the opening a historic day.
To see how the capital’s initiatives fit into the wider picture, our gluten-free Turkey guide covers similar safe spots and municipal programs across the country.
The city’s own café and bread
The café sells about 25 products, among them buckwheat-flour bread, regular bread, simit, cookies, gluten-free flour, carob flour from producer cooperatives, spreads, cakes, baklava, börek, cocoa snacks, breakfast cereals and poğaça. It stands opposite the National Library, and the same market is the address of Ankara Pastası, a bakery that the celiac association lists among the places selling nothing with gluten.
The same bread factory supplies Metvak, a shop at Aksu Caddesi 9/5 in Sıhhıye with a second address at Marmara Sokak 24/2. Metvak sells only products without gluten and low-protein products, so it also serves people with phenylketonuria. Ankara Halk Ekmek bread (250 g) and corn-starch-based flour (1 kg) sit next to Mayalıhane cookies and pasta from European and Turkish brands. At the Ankara Halk Ekmek Başkent Market, fresh simit without gluten goes on sale once a month, and baklava, cakes, lokma and poğaça can be ordered.
A list built from letters and inspections
Çölyak Derneği-Ankara has served the capital since 2004. The board writes to companies and asks for lab reports, and board members inspect businesses in the city. The resulting list is revised every month. It separates places that sell nothing with gluten from places with a menu section for celiacs, and it also covers universities with menus for celiacs and hotels on the Antalya coast, such as Mirage Park, whose separate kitchen the Antalya guide describes.
In Ankara, the universities with menus for celiacs are Ankara University, Ankara Social Sciences University, Bilkent, Gazi, Yıldırım Beyazıt, Middle East Technical University and Lokman Hekim. The association also reminds kitchens of the basics: a separate counter and cutting boards, separate frying oil, and no reuse of pasta water.
Bakeries and shops that sell only for celiacs
- Sevgi Fırını, in Batıkent at Şehit Kaymakam Muhammet Fatih Safitürk Bulvarı 118/2. Under the name Love and Bakes it sells bread, pasta, mantı, tarhana, breadcrumbs, flours, pizza, lahmacun and börek, plus vegan sugar-free ice cream. The café serves breakfast, lunch and snacks.
- Alles Glutensiz, in Küçükesat at Esat Caddesi 48/D. A shop with a bakery, it stocks breads, buns, sandwiches and pastries, a freezer section with pizzas and ready meals, and baklava and croissants for dessert.
- Mayalıhane, a bakery in İvedik OSB at 2271. Caddesi 14. It bakes soft baton bread, a low-protein baguette, cookies and breadsticks, and delivers bread by order every Friday to Alles and to the Cemre Lokman Hekim shop in Balgat.
- Macaron Cafe, in Çiğdem at 1551. Cadde No: 12/16, inside the Atrium İş Merkezi. Cakes made without gluten.
Vegan-friendly cafés in Kızılay and Hamamönü
STARLY in Kızılay, at Menekşe-1 Sokak 10/BC, is a café with a menu that is entirely free of gluten and entirely vegan: waffles, brownies, cupcakes, and protein-based pizzas made without flour for athletes. Istanbul has a similar plant-based kitchen with options for celiacs in Bi Nevi Deli, which the gluten-free Istanbul guide covers along with the city’s other addresses.
İlkerim Kafe in Hamamönü, at Hacettepe Mah., İnanlı Sokak 1/1, is a family-run café and shop in one. Nothing there contains gluten, and part of the baking happens on site. The range also includes vegan and low-protein products. The Izmir guide describes a similar model, a shop with national shipping, in that city.
Cemali Cafe in Dikimevi, at Uzgörenler Sokak 1, sells bread without gluten, mantı, ice cream cones and cakes.
Pizza in Çayyolu
Gluten-free Ankara also has pizza: Pizza Il Forno at Ankaralılar Caddesi 1 in Ümitköy is the only branch of the chain that makes it without gluten. The other branches do not.
Addresses, hours and menus can change, so the map or the venue’s social media is worth checking before heading out, and people with celiac disease should confirm preparation with the staff before ordering.
