Would like to go to an exceptional good restaurant in Istanbul for dinner. We like fine dining including wine with dinner. Any suggestion?
Posted by
Seattle, USA
990 posts
I'd suggest Asitane, which is in the hotel right next to the Kariye Musee (Chora Church) with its awesome Byzantine mozaics. Asitane is a lovely, white tablecloth kind of place that has a menu of items that are taken from recipes from the Ottoman sultans' kitchens. I can't vouch for the authenicity, but I can swear by the wonderful results. Also, they have a pretty good (though pricey) winelist
Posted by
pacific grove, ca, usa
144 posts
we were in turkey in july. the only restaurant we ate in other than our hotel and banquets was a place called mezza luna. the food was fine but very pricey. dinner for 6 with just 2 bottles of wine and no appetizers was $600. we found wine and beer to be very, very expensive.
i did eat a nice and reasonable lunch in an upstairs restaurant near the spice market. bustling place with view of the water, tho not exactly elegant. lunch, including a beer, was about 15 dollars.
Posted by
pacific grove, ca, usa
144 posts
I remembered the name of the restaurant near the Spice Market--Hamdi Locontali. It is upstairs, with a nice view. I had lunch, and I felt like I was in San Francisco with an eastern flair. It may not be as fancy as you might like, but it was fine for lunch between forays into the Spice Market.
Posted by
Seattle, USA
990 posts
Hamdi is good for kebabs, particularly. I don't recall whether they served wine, but if they did, it was probably the usual garden variety Turkish wines, which are overpriced and not very good. (Turasan is an exception--their reds are like a good quality table wine in France or Spain, which trust me is the best that Turkish wines offer, at least at the moment.)
Lebiderya is good if you are in the Taksim area of Istanbul, but also not as "fine dining" an atmosphere as Asitane. I think there are a few upscale "international dining" places in the Taksim area catering to young and moneyed Istanbulites, but I haven't tried any.
Posted by
Seattle
4637 posts
We were in Istanbul last October. The most memorable restaurant for us was Hamdi (close to Spice Market). We met Rudi Maxa there. We told him we were from Rick Steves group and he ordered raki (hard liquor) for our table.