Friday

Karaköy Lokantasi: A Dockside Winner

6 Comments April 17, 2009 – 8:56 am | Permalink |  Print This Post |

Tucked into the street behind the yet-to-be gentrified docks at Karaköy, among shops advertising boat tickets to Odessa and cubby-sized import & export offices, is the neighborhood’s culinary port of call, Karaköy Lokantasi. With great food, personable service and tasteful décor, this family-operated eatery defiantly proves that a good dining experience doesn’t have to come with a shocker of a bill.

After relocating from just two doors away to a much bigger, high design space, we feared they might loosen the grip that established this place as one of the best restaurants in the neighborhood. A recent visit to the elegant new locale put our minds at ease; same classic menu, same painstaking attention to detail.

Karaköy Lokantasi is best known as a power lunch spot, with the midday star of the menu being hunkar begendi. A leftover from the Ottoman imperial kitchen, this dish is one of the specialties on the menu that is not to be missed. It starts with eggplants charred whole on a charcoal grill then peeled, mashed and thickened with milk and cheese. On this bed of rich creamy eggplant begendi, tender morsels of slow-cooked beef are drizzled with the thin red gravy they were stewed in. The smoky taste from the grill lingers long after the immediate flavors from the stewpot have passed. Make no mistake, beautifully roasted meat is always welcome, but it’s the begendi experience that keeps us coming back come for more. Unfortunately, this dish is only served at lunch, but the dinner menu has a few star attractions of its own.

A casual dinner starts with a selection of meze, or cold salads picked from a large tray. All are meze tray standards, but the stuffed artichoke heart dressed up zesty with lemon and olive oil is a particularly tasty pick. The Karaköy salad is a refreshing blast of greens spiked with beans. The thick yogurt in a small clay pot is irresistible as a side dish, or even a dessert.

From the hot side, you’ll see the kitchen’s skills at work on the grilled octopus, which features the desired char to tenderness ratio. If you are as into innards as we are, you’ll be happy to find a delicious hot starter of thinly sliced, lightly fried liver. If the catch of the day doesn’t grab you, the lambchops are sure not to disappoint.

Traditional Turkish desserts like fruit compote, rice pudding and asure, a curious blend of fresh and dried fruits, nuts, wheat and rose water, are on offer. However, we recommend satisfying the sweet tooth with one of the best baklava in town, right down the street at Gulluoglu. Otherwise, treat yourself to a walk through this interesting, slightly scruffy, neighborhood of seemingly abandoned Churches, scuba gear shops, Ottoman-era banks and even a couple of bordellos.

Karaköy Lokantasi
Address: Kemankes Caddessi, Karaköy
Telephone: 90-212-292-4455

Gulluoglu Baklavacisi
Address: Rihtim Caddesi, Katli Otopark Alti Karaköy
Telephone 212-249-9680