Feb 15
Monday
Beyoglu Oğretmenevi: The Teacher’s Lounge
Like Ataturk statues and crescent-and-star flags etched into the sides of mountains, the oğretmenevi (“teacher’s house”) is an integral part of the Turkish landscape. Found in almost every city in Turkey, the government-run oğretmenevi acts as an affordable guesthouse for educators on the road and – since anyone is welcome if space is available – for those traveling on a teacher’s budget.
For the most part, these guesthouses are drab affairs, 1970’s-era concrete boxes usually painted in a shade of pink and found in some of the least interesting parts of town. Not so in Istanbul’s historic Beyoglu neighborhood, where the local oğretmenevi in a grand old building dating back to the late 1800’s, formerly a French-built hotel that put up some of the same Orient Express travelers who stayed at the more famous Pera Palace Hotel nearby. Continue…
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48 Hours in Istanbul: An Eater’s Guide
7 responses - Posted 02.08.10
(Editor's Note: The New York Times' travel section recently ran a "36 Hours in Istanbul" feature that was low on good eating suggestions. Prompted by the Times piece, today's post is a food-centric "48 Hours in Istanbul" guide we prepared a few months ago for a local magazine.) Day One: Turkey’s ...continue
7 responses - Posted 02.08.10
(Editor's Note: The New York Times' travel section recently ran a "36 Hours in Istanbul" feature that was low on good eating suggestions. Prompted by the Times piece, today's post is a food-centric "48 Hours in Istanbul" guide we prepared a few months ago for a local magazine.) Day One: Turkey’s ...continue
Çukur Meyhanesi: When Liver Met Hamsi
1 response - Posted 01.25.10
It wasn’t quite as dramatic as Meg Ryan’s big moment at Katz’s deli in “When Harry Met Sally,” but a low-register, guttural moan of pleasure was detected from our table upon our tasting of the shredded celery root in yogurt, a house specialty meze at Beyoglu’s Çukur Meyhanesi. And we ...continue
1 response - Posted 01.25.10
It wasn’t quite as dramatic as Meg Ryan’s big moment at Katz’s deli in “When Harry Met Sally,” but a low-register, guttural moan of pleasure was detected from our table upon our tasting of the shredded celery root in yogurt, a house specialty meze at Beyoglu’s Çukur Meyhanesi. And we ...continue
Eski Kafa: New-Age Old-Fashioned
2 responses - Posted 01.05.10
An ironic wink and nudge come with the restaurant name Eski Kafa, which is also a Turkish term for “old fashioned to the hilt.” This little eatery, with its Zen lodge décor and signage boasting “all natural” “organic” and “without hormones” is also decidedly new age – to the hilt. ...continue
2 responses - Posted 01.05.10
An ironic wink and nudge come with the restaurant name Eski Kafa, which is also a Turkish term for “old fashioned to the hilt.” This little eatery, with its Zen lodge décor and signage boasting “all natural” “organic” and “without hormones” is also decidedly new age – to the hilt. ...continue
Sofyali 9: Keeping it Real in Asmalimescit
1 response - Posted 12.28.09
It’s hard not to feel pangs of nostalgia when walking through Beyoglu’s booming Asmalimescit neighborhood these days (and nights). The old corner butcher shop with its window display of lamb carcasses? Gone and replaced by a generic bar imaginatively named “The Corner.” The veteran grocery store where the colorful and ...continue
1 response - Posted 12.28.09
It’s hard not to feel pangs of nostalgia when walking through Beyoglu’s booming Asmalimescit neighborhood these days (and nights). The old corner butcher shop with its window display of lamb carcasses? Gone and replaced by a generic bar imaginatively named “The Corner.” The veteran grocery store where the colorful and ...continue
Istanbul Eats Drinks: Otantik Turku Bar
no responses - Posted 12.21.09
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 ...continue
no responses - Posted 12.21.09
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 ...continue
Koco: Quest for the Holy Grill
no responses - Posted 11.02.09
Reviewers are often tempted into using metaphors that portray the restaurant as a sacred place -- the sushi temple, a t-bone pilgrimage, chili-cheese fry heaven. But in Istanbul’s Moda district on the Asian shore, we’ve found a praiseworthy fish restaurant that could justifiably be described as a shrine – literally. ...continue
no responses - Posted 11.02.09
Reviewers are often tempted into using metaphors that portray the restaurant as a sacred place -- the sushi temple, a t-bone pilgrimage, chili-cheese fry heaven. But in Istanbul’s Moda district on the Asian shore, we’ve found a praiseworthy fish restaurant that could justifiably be described as a shrine – literally. ...continue
Kosinitza: Trattoria ala Turca
no responses - Posted 10.20.09
(Editor's Note: This guest post was written by Kathryn Tomasetti and Tristan Rutherford, freelance travel journalists for The Guardian, The Independent and Time Out, among others. Their website can be found here.) Kosinitza is located in the charming Bosphorus-side village of Kuzguncuk, a short bus ride north of Üsküdar. It’s a time-forgotten ...continue
no responses - Posted 10.20.09
(Editor's Note: This guest post was written by Kathryn Tomasetti and Tristan Rutherford, freelance travel journalists for The Guardian, The Independent and Time Out, among others. Their website can be found here.) Kosinitza is located in the charming Bosphorus-side village of Kuzguncuk, a short bus ride north of Üsküdar. It’s a time-forgotten ...continue
Melengeç : Mean Greens
1 response - Posted 07.31.09
They might as well have named this restaurant the “Solar Eclipse” or the “Dodo Bird,” because in the handful of meals we’ve had at this cozy Arnavutkoy restaurant, the restaurant's namesake dish, melengeç, made from the green leaves of a tree from the Aegean shores, has not once made an appearance at ...continue
1 response - Posted 07.31.09
They might as well have named this restaurant the “Solar Eclipse” or the “Dodo Bird,” because in the handful of meals we’ve had at this cozy Arnavutkoy restaurant, the restaurant's namesake dish, melengeç, made from the green leaves of a tree from the Aegean shores, has not once made an appearance at ...continue
Kiyi: A Winning Island Castaway
no responses - Posted 07.27.09
Although the area around the ferry terminal on Buyukada, the largest of the Princes’ Islands, tends to get unbearably crowded during the summer, we’re still big fans of making the occasional visit to the island. A horse carriage ride past breezy (and blessedly car free) Buyukada’s grand mansions or a ...continue
no responses - Posted 07.27.09
Although the area around the ferry terminal on Buyukada, the largest of the Princes’ Islands, tends to get unbearably crowded during the summer, we’re still big fans of making the occasional visit to the island. A horse carriage ride past breezy (and blessedly car free) Buyukada’s grand mansions or a ...continue
Mekan: The Cosmopolitan
4 responses - Posted 07.24.09
Sometimes billed as “that Armenian-Jewish restaurant in Beyoglu,” Mekan harkens back to the neighborhood’s cosmopolitan past, when it was home to a large non-Muslim population. The food is sometimes Sephardic and Armenian, sometimes Turkish. But the important point here is the place’s authenticity. Mekan is not trying to be anything ...continue
4 responses - Posted 07.24.09
Sometimes billed as “that Armenian-Jewish restaurant in Beyoglu,” Mekan harkens back to the neighborhood’s cosmopolitan past, when it was home to a large non-Muslim population. The food is sometimes Sephardic and Armenian, sometimes Turkish. But the important point here is the place’s authenticity. Mekan is not trying to be anything ...continue
Ismet Baba: Great Fish for Goodfellas
no responses - Posted 06.26.09
As the ferry approaches the dock at Kuzguncuk, a charming Bosphorus neighborhood on the Asian side, and passengers start scrambling for position at the bow to be the first to hop off, a soft yellow light, raki-fueled laughter and a whiff of grilled fish seem to guide the boat in ...continue
no responses - Posted 06.26.09
As the ferry approaches the dock at Kuzguncuk, a charming Bosphorus neighborhood on the Asian side, and passengers start scrambling for position at the bow to be the first to hop off, a soft yellow light, raki-fueled laughter and a whiff of grilled fish seem to guide the boat in ...continue
Akdeniz Hatay Sofrası: The Syrian Connection
6 responses - Posted 04.20.09
The only positive thing about the torturous annual visit we make to Istanbul’s main police station in order to renew our residence permit is the chance to drive through the low-rent Aksaray neighborhood, home to dozens of intriguing off-the-beaten path restaurants, most of them opened by migrants from other parts ...continue
6 responses - Posted 04.20.09
The only positive thing about the torturous annual visit we make to Istanbul’s main police station in order to renew our residence permit is the chance to drive through the low-rent Aksaray neighborhood, home to dozens of intriguing off-the-beaten path restaurants, most of them opened by migrants from other parts ...continue
Karaköy Lokantasi: A Dockside Winner
3 responses - Posted 04.17.09
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 ...continue
3 responses - Posted 04.17.09
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 ...continue
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