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We like to think of İnciraltı, a laid-back meyhane in the sleepy Bosphorus-side Beylerbeyi neighborhood, as a destination restaurant – not so much because of the food, but because of the destination itself.
Not that there’s anything wrong with the food here, which is reliably well made. The meze tray at İnciraltı (which means “under the fig tree” in Turkish) is brought to your table carrying all the classics, plus a few welcome and tasty surprises, such as the zingy brined twigs of the caper plant and a sea bass fillet that had been cured in a piquant sauce redolent of curry. Among the excellent mains we had sea bass again, this time grilled wrapped inside grape vine leaves, and meltingly soft uykuluk (sweetbreads) that were also grilled and dusted with oregano and red pepper. Both were winners.
But it’s İnciraltı’s location that will have us coming back, especially if we’re looking for an opportunity to take an excursion without leaving Istanbul. Located on the Bosphorus’s Asian side, Beylerbeyi is like a miniature and untouristed version of the more popular Ortaköy neighborhood on the European side, mercifully free of the tchotchke vendors and crowds that today line Ortaköy’s narrow streets. Stepping off the evening ferry from Eminönü at Beylerbeyi’s old wooden one-room ferry terminal feels a bit like stepping back in time. There are few Bosphorus-side neighborhoods that have managed to keep their unpretentious original charm the way this one has.
İnciraltı, meanwhile, is located inside a welcoming old house on a small side street a few steps away from the ferry terminal. In the back there’s a leafy garden (home to the restaurant’s namesake fig tree) that, like Beylerbeyi itself, has a transporting quality to it. On a recent night, we found it to be one of the better places in town to forget about Istanbul’s hustle and bustle and to get away from the city’s summer heat.
(Note: To reach Beylerbeyi, take the Bosphorus commuter ferry that leaves from Eminönü. Check the schedule here: www.ido.com.tr)
Address: Arabacılar Sokak 4, Beylerbeyi
Telephone: 216-557-6686
Web: www.inciralti.com.tr [2]
(photo by Yigal Schleifer)
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