Monday

Istanbul Eats Drinks: Otantik Turku Bar

3 Comments December 21, 2009 – 10:50 am | Permalink |  Print This Post |

One night in Otantik, a Turku (Turkish folk music) bar in Beyoglu, delivers all the emotional peaks and valleys of life itself. As the saz strumming bard on stage moans out the first few bars of a familiar song of lost love, even the table of stony-faced, raki-drenched fellows in leather jackets melt with a sigh. Then a foot stomping number gets rolling and out come the handkerchiefs – if not to wipe a tear then to flap at the band in rapturous approval.  Before long everyone is dancing in a wide circle, pinkies interlocked, in a synchronized, shoulder-shrugging shimmy led by one fellow who is either waving a napkin or horsewhistling with his free hand. During a slow jam about a fair-haired bride, exhausted, they slump over a plate of fresh fruit and another glass of raki. Lovers canoodle and singles yearn to, as the electric saz twangs and thrums to the bard’s squinty-eyed lament. It is a traditional night out and a celebration of Anatolian culture that, for many, is just as culturally significant as the kebab.

There is no shortage of Turku bars around town, but most feel like a no go zone. Seemingly, Turku’s natural environment is subterranean and, well, shady. It thrives in the backstreets around Taksim Square in cramped basement spaces — forbidding and suffocating even with Turkey’s new smoking ban in place.

On the other hand, Otantik, located in a lovely, if slightly shabby, historic building on Beyoglu’s main pedestrian artery, Istiklal Caddesi, occupies a charming room with high ceilings, period accents and a mishmash of Anatolian décor. The attentive staff, led by the charming manager Bilal, allows an outsider in without feeling like an intrepid anthropologist among the locals.

Otantik has a full dinner menu featuring meze and kebab, but we suggest coming here after dinner to get your drink on and soak in the Turku experience. After a couple of raki duble, you’ll be laughing, crying and waving a napkin in the air like a local.

Address: Balo Sokak No.1, Floor 3, Beyoglu
Telephone: 212-293-6515
(Live music every night 9pm-2am)

(photo by Ansel Mullins)