As you might expect, we’ve been working hard on this list since we arrived in Istanbul just about three months ago. And here, fruit of our dogged pursuit of excellence, are our top picks for Istanbul restaurants, spread out across the city.
Antiochia
Everyone we’ve spoken to about this place says it is known for its meat. And their meats are excellent, especially the kebabs. But mostly we eat the meze (which we love), especially an olive salad with pomegranate molasses that’s not quite like anything we’ve ever eaten before – salty and sweet and yummy. They’re just off Istaklal Caddesi, located on the second (= first) floor in a cosy little spot overlooking the street. A small but delicious wine list and very friendly staff. This is probably our very favourite of the many Istanbul restaurants we’ve been to.
Lokanta Kru
We’ve already mentioned this place, and its sister restaurant KruVasan, in a previous post on Teşvikiye. The latter has simple but elegant food and great baked goods. The former is the kind of Turkish restaurant we love, where you can go look at the food and point to what you want. (Çiya, which we’ve also mentioned in our post on Asian Istanbul, is like this too.) Somehow this means we always end up ordering more food than we mean to, but that’s never a problem; we always then order more to take home. They also serve wine, and they’re often crowded, but never rush you. Plus, the last time we were there, they gave us a free dessert. (We must have looked hungry…)
Arya
Just about every one of the gorgeous Turkish breakfast pictures you’ve seen in our blog comes from here. We’ve eaten other stuff too, but we have ‘breakfast’ here every couple of weeks and then often don’t eat for about another 24 hours. We love the endless pot of tea, the fruit juices, and especially the view of the Golden Horn (see top of post). The restaurant is located in the northern part of Fatih, near the Suleïman mosque, on a couple of high floors. There are a ton of Istanbul restaurants that serve breakfast, but we think this one can’t be beat!
Giritli
This is a meze-restaurant, run by Greek immigrants (the name is Turkish for ‘Crete’). You can order an all-you-can-drink menu, where they bring you tons of everything, but we usually opt for our favourites instead. The food, especially the fish, is great. And we like the meze (well of course we do!) Another big draw here is the outdoor garden, warmed in winter by heat lamps. And the cats, who jump right into your lap. (Maybe that is not a draw for everyone…) When it’s too cold to sit outside, you can eat in a beautiful old wooden house, which is maybe even lovelier than the garden.
Ehli Mesut Usta Et ve Mangal
This place is blissfully close to where we live. As for appearance, you wouldn’t look twice at it. It is a plain grilled-meats joint, but it’s spectacular! We think the kofte are spiced perfectly, and we’re also partial to the eggplant-and-beef kebabs. Which isn’t to slight the chicken or lamb, also excellent. And oy, the portions! Funnily enough, though, the thing that keeps us coming back to this place is the salad, which has the freshest lettuce we’ve seen in Istanbul, in a pomegranate dressing.
Moretenders
We mentioned this place in our Istaklal post, but it’s so great we’ll mention it again. Istanbul has plenty of bars, but they are often not quite what we expected, either too grubby or not serving alcohol (caveat bibator; ‘bar’ is apparently an ambiguous term). This ‘crib and cocktail lounge’ is one of a small number we like very much. They’ve got a really interesting cocktail menu, and will also make our favourites. It spills onto a lively – but not too lively – street, so there’s good people-watching, and they don’t mind if you hang out for a while; we’ve even brought books there to read. Best of all – because sometimes drinking makes you hungry – they serve sushi after 5, and it’s great. This place, however, like many bars in Istanbul, is pricey; drinks will run you about what they would in any major city, and sushi is similarly spendy.
