All posts filed under: In Istanbul

Restaurant guide for locals

Best Way to Enjoy Ramadan in Istanbul

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Ramadan bayram (holiday after finishing the fast) has started and this year will be longer, which is good news. This post was written on Tuesday but I get to post it just now. I’m so busy right now and will be even more so for a few months. Ramadan means something different for people who have different beliefs and values. Nevertheless, the one thing that is shared by many is that it is an once-a-year event, which reflects a big part of the culture. Whether you fast or not, you try to get the most of this holy and festive period. Now the end of this madness of late night eating is less than a week away. People must be fed up with pide – I can’t wait to get my regular sourdough bread – and the genetic set menu, so called iftar menu by now. Iftar means ‘break fast’ and consists of simple food, most commonly dates, pide, or soup. But these days many restaurants seem to make an event out of it. I …

Suadiye Hidden Gem – Şaşkın Balık

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I am quite critical when it comes to reviewing restaurants because of my high(?) standards and low pocket. And I don’t judge a restaurant right after the first visit as my experience can be affected by various factors, some of which lead to a biased and subjective conclusion. If I don’t go to the same place twice, it already proves itself that I didn’t like it, therefore there is no need to write about it, unless it’s great without a doubt in every aspect. I came across this restaurant, Şaşkın Balık, which means Confused fish, all by chance and I couldn’t have been more pleased, knowing that I’d have another place added to my very limited eat-out list. Tucked away in a tree-lined small street in Suadiye, known as a rather posh area, this modest fish restaurant serves dishes that you don’t find anywhere else in Turkey. The chef, who friendly presented every single dish while explaining about the dish, makes sure he creates something different with his inspiration from other cuisines. Now I don’t …

Lokanta Maya

Lokanta Maya (closed down July 2016)

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I’d never had it in mind to write restaurant reviews in Istanbul so I hadn’t really paid attention to or taken photos of the restaurants I had tried here. Another reason I don’t have photos of restaurants and cafes here is that in Turkey, the food served in restaurants is almost identical so I didn’t feel it necessary to make a record of the places I visited. After some time in Istanbul, I started yearning for different flavours and dining experiences, oh, come on, even if dolma, mezze and kofte  are nice, you get tired of the same food and want something new, don’t you? As I was realizing that the chance of stumbling upon places that serve Turkish food in more interesting styles mixed with world cuisine by chance, let alone international cuisine restaurants, is almost zero, I had to search for them myself. And during the research, I realised that such places are not cheap. Well…excited and disappointed all at once.