The Pierre Loti Café, named after the French novelist, naval officer and Turkophile, is famous for its spectacular views over the Golden Horn. Located in Eyüp, about 6 kilometers from the Galata Bridge in Eminönü, it is not exactly on the typical tourist path. So, if you’re in Istanbul for only a few days, you may want to think twice about going there for a tea. But if you’re not pressed for time, the commanding views are well worth the small ‘detour’.

Pierre Loti Café (Piyer Loti Kahvesi)
Location
Gümüşsuyu Karyağdı Sokak, Eyüp
on Map with My Favorite Cafés and Pubs in the Historical Part of Istanbul
Tel: +90 212 581 26 96
Open
Daily from 08:00 till midnight.
Credit cards are NOT accepted.

The Pierre Loti Café Itself

Terrace of the Pierre Loti Café

The Pierre Loti cafe is a rather modest teahouse that offers a variety of non-alcoholic drinks as well as basic snacks. It’s the location and the spectacular views over the Golden Horn that make this place worthwhile. Since the cafe is dedicated to Pierre Loti (see below), the furniture and the waiter’s clothes refer to the end of the 19th century.

How to Get To the Pierre Loti Café?

The cable car to the Pierre Lotti Café.

Any taxi driver will be glad to drive you all the way to the Pierre Loti cafe, but there really is no need for that. On the contrary actually. Just ask the taxi driver to take you to the Eyüp mosque, or alternatively take bus 39, 55T or 99A and get off close to the mosque.

From there you have two options to make your way to the teahouse on the hilltop. You can either climb your way up through the picturesque cemetery or take the funicular which is signposted from the mosque. I suggest taking the last option to reach the Pierre Loti cafe, and afterwards descend by taking the path between the (mostly Ottoman) tombstones.

Pierre Loti in a Nutshell

You may wonder why there is a teahouse in Istanbul in dedicated to a French naval officer and novelist. Well, the legend has it that during his stay in Istanbul in 1876, Pierre Loti gazed from this exact location over the Golden Horn in search of inspiration for his literary masterpiece Aziyadé.

Aziyadé is semi-autobiographical and tells the story of Loti’s illicit love affair with an 18 year old harem girl named Aziyadé. She was his greatest love, proof of which the golden ring holding her name that he wore for the rest of his life.

For more pictures, check out Istanbul Cafe Picture Gallery at Istanbul Trails Photos.

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With most Istanbul sightseeing spots only open from 09:00 till 17:00, you of course want to make most of the day and not waste any time by having a timely lunch. Luckily, eating on the street is very much a part of local life. You can’t walk from corner to corner on a street, cross a bridge, enter a square or park without coming across one or more snack shops, street stalls (büfe) or street vendors. Most of the snacks on display are delicious, cheap and innocent. But there are a few you may want to stay clear of to avoid the Sultan’s revenge (diarrhea).

Street Vendors

Street vendors are omnipresent on Istanbul’s street. They display their goods in a variety of ways, going from a plain upside down box used as a table to a more professional glass-fronted push-car. Here’s a sample of what they have to offer.

• 

  Street vendor selling simit and açma.

  Simit – A crisp, ring-shaped, savory roll covered with sesame seeds. Delicious when fresh and preferably washed down with ayran (salty liquid yoghurt).

• Açma – This doughnut lookalike is ring-shaped just like the simit, but doesn’t have a crust. It’s soft and oilier, hence less dry.
• Poğaça – A flaky, savory pastry. They come in different versions: plain (sade) or stuffed with pieces of cheese (peynirli), mince (kıymalı) or olives (zeytinli).
• Mısır – During the summer, you can find street sellers offering freshly boiled or grilled corn (mısır) on the cob. Unless you want it generously sprinkled with salt, make sure to tell the seller in time to go easy on it.
• Kestane – Street vendors selling corn in the summer, mostly shift to roasted chestnuts in winter time.
• Su – Water. With temperatures well above 30 C all summer long, you can’t go long without it. It’s perfectly safe to drink the bottles they offer, as long as you make sure the cap has never been opened before.

Street Stalls (Büfe)

Near busy public transportation hubs or in popular (tourist) areas, you’ll find plenty of small kiosks on street corners. These büfes typically sell cigarettes, phone-cards and non-alcoholic cold drinks in cans or small bottles, but most of them also sell inexpensive, tasteful thin roasted sandwiches (tost) and hot dogs (sosili sandviç). Do try out the kaşarlı tost, a sandwich with melted cheese.

Pastry Shops (Börekçi)

Plate of börek

These too are excellent places for a quick breakfast or lunch, although you normally don’t enjoy it while standing in the street. A börekçi is usually a tiny shop, with only a handful of chairs and tables, offering tea, coffee or a small selection of cold drinks and börek.

Börek is a flaky pastry existing of several thin layers. There are different kinds, based on their shape, filling and cooking method. You may want to try out the juicy su böreği (something in between a pastry and a lasagna), peynirli börek (with cheese filling), patatesli börek (with potato filling), ıspanaklı börek (with spinach filling) or kıymalı börek (filled with minced meat).

Most of these shops also sell pide which is a pita like baked dough with the same filling options as börek.

Kebap, Köfte and Döner

These typical Turkish cheap but delicious eateries couldn’t be left out of this list. Here you’ll find an overview of the different kinds of kebap and 14 types of köfte. In the Sultanahmet area, you simply must check out Sultanahmet Köftecisi.
If you’re wandering around in Taksim, try out Çılgın Dürüm – my favorite döner eatery at the beginning of Istiklal Caddesi. Try out their excellent dürüm, a thin roasted sheet of bread, stuffed with döner, salad, a (hot) tomato sauce and french fries. You can have it spicy (acı) or not too spicy (orta).

Fish Sandwiches (Balık ekmek)

Fish sandwiches being prepared on a boat

Balık ekmek is another typical Istanbul snack, and pretty tasteful and safe when prepared fresh. It’s pretty straightforward – a grilled or fried fresh fish inside a large piece of bread. The best way to explore this snack is in Eminönü, left from the Galata Bridge.
You’ll see them prepare the sandwiches on the nicely lined up boats, after which they hand them to customers on the shore.

Street Food to Stay Clear Of

Unless you want to have an army of bacteria for lunch, pass for the following major offenders:

• 

  Street vendor selling midye dolma

  Midye dolma – These are stuffed muscles. Nothing wrong with them and even delicious, but a huge risk when bought on the (sunny) streets. If you really want to try them, order them as a starter for dinner in a respected restaurant.

• Çiğ köfte – This is raw meat, kneaded by hand for hours, seasoned with plenty of spices. A delicacy, but not when sold on the streets. No matter how long you kneed it, it still stays raw meat exposed to high summer temperatures.
• Kokoreç – Lamb intestines cooked with herbs and spices, roasted horizontally on a skewer. Maybe not so much a bacteria heaven, but still… intestines?

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5.Kat (Beşinci Kat) was Istanbul’s first rooftop cafe, bar and restaurant, hence trendsetter of the genre. Kat is Turkish for floor, and beş means five.
You guessed it correct; this popular venue is located on the fifth floor of a building in the backstreets of Cihangir, offering excellent food and beverages in an elegant setting with breathtaking views of both the Bosphorus and Sultanahmet alike.

5.Kat Cafe Bar Restaurant (Beşinci Kat)
Location
Soğancı Sokak 3, Kat.5, Cihangir – Beyoğlu
on Map with My Favorite Cafés and Pubs in the Modern Part of Istanbul
Tel: +90 212 293 37 74
Open
Daily from 10:00 till 02:00. Fri-Sat until 03:00
Credit cards are accepted.
Make reservations if you want good seating arrangements.

Interior and Location

5.Kat was founded by the famous red-haired actress Yasemin Alkaya, who still keeps a close eye on things and is often spotted on the premises. The easiest way to get to 5.kat is to walk down Sıraselviler Caddesi from Taksim Square. After about 10 minutes you’ll pass the German hospital (Alman Hastanesi), after which you take the first street left. After 50 meters you should spot the 5.Kat angel logo at street level (see picture). Locate the small elevator inside the building and press five.

This excellent bar and restaurant actually consists of two floors: a covered fifth floor with full-length windows on one side, and one up the actual rooftop which is used during summer. Both interiors are strikingly decorated with deep red walls and velvet furnishing as well as plenty of candles. The breathtaking views (see 5.Kat picture gallery) are the same on both floors, but having the sea breeze bring some cool on hot summer nights offers that nice extra touch.

On the Menu

5.Kat rooftop terrace and bar.

Every day 5.Kat starts out as a cozy cafe where you can enjoy brunch or snacks and light drinks. Around the time the sun starts setting, tables are set and candles lit for dinner while the bartender serves aperitifs. Starting 22:00 the DJ, playing anything from Abba to Zappa, cranks up the music and the venue transforms into a bar and nightclub.

Beşinci Kat offers samples of the world’s kitchen with tasteful pasta, meat, chicken and seafood dishes. Prices range from TL 20 to 40. Accompanying drinks range from TL 8 (beers & local spirits) to TL 15 and above for cocktails, imported wines and spirits.

Special Events

5.Kat rooftop terrace.

On Saturday and Sunday you can enjoy a buffet brunch (TL 30) between 11:00 and 15:00 including fresh fruit juices, daily prepared home-made rolls, cookies and pies as well as delicious meals in olive oil.

Every month 5.Kat also organizes some special nights. Among the most popular events are ‘What they eat, drink and listen to’ where famous guests elaborates on his or her habits, and ‘Singles nights’ when no couples are allowed.

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The Turkish national dish is undoubtedly the kebap. Kebap refers to a variety of meat dishes, consisting of grilled or broiled meats (usually lamb or beef) on a skewer or stick.

The word kabab is ultimately from Arabic and originally meant fried meat, not grilled meat. Only in the Turkish period, did kebap gain its current meaning. Turkish tradition has it that medieval Turkic soldiers who used their swords to grill meat over open-field fires invented the dish.

One of the most famous kebap dishes is undoubtedly döner. But the kebap comes in many forms, of which you’ll find a wide variety in Istanbul. Take a look at the list below so you know what to order … and to expect.

Grilled Kebabs

• Adana Kebabı – Minced meat (lamb), dried red and green hot pepper, garlic and fresh red pepper are kneaded, coated on the skewers and grilled.
• Antep Kebabı – Minced meat is kneaded with red hot pepper and salt, grilled and served with pide (pitta bread), onion, tomato and green pepper.
• Çağ Kebabı – Very thin sliced lamb meat is rested in onion, yogurt, salt and pepper for a day, put on a skewer, and then grilled. Thin slices are cut like döner and served on skewers with grilled pepper, tomato and onions.
• Döner – Pieces of meat and minced meat are put on a big skewer, cooked vertically by spinning it next to the grill. If you know that dönmek means ‘to turn’, then you understand the origin of the word döner. Thin pieces are cut like leaves with a big knife. Can be served on a plate, in between bread or with pide. Döner dürüm is wrapped in lavaş (tortilla like thin leaves of bread) with some tomato, lettuce, pickles and fried potatoes.
• İskender Kebap – Döner meat is laid on pieces of pide dressed with butter. Yogurt is served on a side of the plate and if preferred tomato sauce and extra butter can be used for dressing. It is also known as Bursa Kebabı.
• Patlıcan Kebabı – Minced meat, salt and pepper kneaded and meatballs are put on the skewer in turns with big pieces of aubergines. Served with grilled tomatoes and peppers.
• Şiş Kebap – Small cubes of lamb meat are rested in onion, yogurt, salt, pepper and olive oil for two hours and then grilled with cubes of pepper and tomato.
• Urfa Kebabı – Minced meat (lamb), dried red hot pepper, onion, tomato and parsley are kneaded, coated on the skewers and grilled. Served on small pieces of pide and dressed with gravy.

Stove or oven cooked Kebabs

• Alinazik – Roasted small chopped pieces of steak or minced meat are served on top of the mash of broiled and peeled aubergine, yogurt, garlic and spices.
• Beyti Kebap – Minded meat is kneaded with tomato, tomato paste, garlic, parsley, salt and pepper. Wrapped in lavaş (see above), baked and served with tomato sauce and yogurt.
• Buğu Kebabı – Small pieces of lamb meat are cooked with tomato, shallot (small onions), thyme, daphne, salt and pepper in casserole (clay pot) covered with dough not to let the steam go out.
• Kağıt Kebabı – Sebzeli kebap (see below) is cooked, wrapped in fireproof paper and oven cooked some more.
• Sebzeli kebap – Pieces of meat cooked in a pot with various vegetables like onion, potato, carrot, tomato, aubergine, pepper.
• Tandır Kebabı – Lamb chops (legs) are baked with lemon, onion, tomato and green pepper, served with fried potatoes.

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Köfte is commonly translated as meatballs – but this is selling the Turkish versions a bit short. It is believed that there are 291 different kinds of meatballs (köfte) in Turkey. However, originally meatballs came from Iran. They called a mixture of vegetables and eggs covered with meat küfte. Once the Turks got their hands on them, they increased the diversity of the dish enormously and called it köfte. Make sure to eat at least once this Turkish delicacy.

Köfte Ingredients

The diversity comes from a number of sources, such as:

• the minced meat used: lamb or calf
• the onion: grated or chopped
• the cooking style: fried, grilled or baked
• variety and preferences in spices
• type and amount of oil or butter used for frying
• amount of the fat the meat has

Most Common Köfte Dishes

Below you will find the most common meatball dishes (köfte çeşitleri) that you can find in Istanbul (or Turkey for that matter).

• Kuru köfte – Kuru means dry because there is no dressing or sauce, just kneaded and pan fried rolls of minced meat, onion, egg, bread (soaked in water and squeezed), parsley, pepper and köfte baharı (spices mixed for meatballs). Cumin and garlic are optional.
• Dalyan köfte – It is prepared as kuru köfte and rolled as a big loaf with carrots, peas and even hard boiled eggs in the center. Baked in the oven and served in slices.
• İzmir köftesi – The kuru köfte and potatoes cooked with tomato sauce in a pot on the stove or in an oven.
• Çiğ köfte – Fatless minced meat kneaded with grinded wheat (ince bulgur), onion, tomato or red pepper paste and spices like cumin, paprika, pepper, mint, coriander, cinnamon. This is a raw dish, served with lettuce and is ordered as a starter.
• Şiş köfte – It is prepared as kuru köfte, wrapped around a skewer and grilled (originally on a charcoal fire).
• Harput köftesi – Small balls of kneaded minced meat, wheat, onion, parsley, pepper and sweet basil cooked in a sauce of butter, water, tomato and/or red pepper paste.


İçli Köfte is served with lemon and parsley.

• Mercimek köftesi – Red lentil and grinded wheat kneaded with onion, parsley and tomato paste. Served with rocket or lettuce.
• Izgara köfte – It is prepared as kuru köfte only the egg doesn’t participate in the game and it is grilled.
• İçli köfte – Roasted minced meat, onion and walnut with a coating of wheat, flour, egg and red pepper paste. Generally served as a starter. It looks like a big egg, mostly fried but can be boiled as well.
• İnegöl köftesi – Balls of very thoroughly kneaded minced meat, onion, pepper and sodium bicarbonate are cooked in the oven. To get the taste of the meat, very few spices are used.
• Kadınbudu köfte – Big balls of kneaded roasted minced meat and onions with boiled rice are fried after being dipped in flour and eggs.
• Tekirdağ köftesi – It is prepared as kuru köfte, only the bread is used as dry small pieces.
• Sulu köfte – It is a soup like dish. Small balls of kneaded minced meat, grinded wheat or rice, onion and parsley are cooked in a sauce of butter, tomato paste and water. Some prepare the sauce with small cubes of carrots and potatoes as well.
• Ekşili köfte – It is called terbiyeli köfte, too and prepared as sulu köfte. The difference is the additional sour (ekşi) taste. An egg, lemon, yogurt and flour mixture is used to get the sour taste.

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In the days that the Orient Express still rolled into Istanbul, the Flower Passage (Çiçek Pasajı) was the most glamorous address on Istiklal Caddesi – or the whole Beyoğlu district for that matter. You can find it almost halfway Istiklal Caddesi, marked on Map with Tourist Attractions in the Modern Part of Istanbul
These days unfortunately have long gone. The theatre as well as the stylish shops and flats have been replaced by mediocre restaurants. Luckily its extraordinary architecture remains largely intact, making a small visit to the Flower Passage worthwhile.

Istanbul’s Most Important Cultural Center

The land of the Flower Passage was originally occupied by the famous Naum Theatre. Mihail Naum, the owner and administrator of the Naum Theatre, bought the building of Bosco Theatre. After small renovations the Théatre de Péra was opened in 1844. Lucrezia Borgia was the first opera that was staged.

The wood theatre building had to be rebuilt after a big fire and opened in 1849 as Théatre Italien Naum. Sultan Abdülhamid II and Sultan Abdülaziz of the Ottoman Empire attended several operas that were hosted there. Even before it was staged in Paris, Giuseppe Verdi’s famous opera II Trovatore was staged in this theatre which had become one of the most important cultural centers of Istanbul and Europe.

From Theatre to Flower Shops

Due to the great fire of Pera in 1870, the Naum Theatre collapsed. A Greek banker Hristaki Zargos bought the land and built a shopping arcade with flats designed by an Italian architect Cleanthy Zanno. There were 24 shops and 18 luxurious flats. The shopping arcade was called Hristaki Pasajı and the whole building was called Cité de Pera.

In the first years of the passage there were various shops, among which Acemyan’s tobacco shop, Maison Parret and Vallaury’s patisserie, Pandelis’s flower shop, Schumaher’s bakery, Keserciyan’s tailor shop, Yorgo’s tavern and Sideris’s fur shop.

In 1908 the building was bought by the Ottoman Grand Vizier Sait Paşa and it became known as the Sait Paşa Passage. After the 1917 Revolution of Russia, many noble Russian women, including baronesses, came to Istanbul and opened flower shops in Cité de Pera. Because of the presence of all those flower shops, the place became a flower auction place as well. Today people still refer to the arcade as the Çiçek Pasajı.

Çiçek Pasajı Today

Starting from the 1940s more and more pubs, wine houses and taverns opened their doors in the Çiçek Pasajı, which gradually made the florists and residents of the flats move out. Only the name of the passage survived.

The building underwent a major renovation in 1988 and re-opened with its restaurants, taverns and pubs. In 2005 the roof and all the other visual parts were restored. Today, with its brilliant architecture, the Flower Passage is still one of the most stylish buildings of Beyoğlu. According to a recent poll, the Flower Passage is the first thing that comes to ones mind when they think of Beyoğlu.

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The lively Nevizade Street (Nevizade Sokak) in Beyoğlu, located in the modern part of Istanbul, is where the party’s at, on any night of the week, winter or summer. A trip to Istanbul simply is not complete without having tasted the mezes (cold starters) in one of the many meyhanes (taverns), or having enjoyed a beer on the terraces of the various pubs.

The Most Atmospheric Eating Spot in Town

Nevizade is a small street parallel to Istiklal Caddesi, located behind the historical Flower Passage (Çiçek Pasajı) and easily accessible via the Fish Bazaar (Balık Pazarı). Marked with on the Map with Tourist Attractions in the Modern Part of Istanbul. While Nevizade is the name of the main street, it actually refers to whole nightlife area, including the maze of small streets connecting to it.

If Nevizade is not the most famous eating and drinking area of Istanbul, then it certainly is the liveliest. On any given night the streets are packed with people, young and old. All with the same goal – having a good time out while enjoying mezes or other small dishes, accompanied by alcoholic beverages – being it rakı, beer or wine.

Any Meyhane in Nevizade Will Do

As soon as you enter the Nevizade Street, waiters will try to convince you to pick their restaurant. Food wise you can’t go wrong in any of them. Just walk up and down the street first, and pick the one which offers you the most attractive table. Personally, I’m a regular of the Nevizade Restaurant.

In the meyhanes, musicians playing fasıl (mostly classical Turkish) music wander from table to table. Be aware though that it’s considered rude to have them play a few songs without tipping them (TL 10-15). So make sure to kindly decline their offer as soon as they approach your table if you’re not a big fan of the genre.

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A month ago, Midpoint Café & Restaurant opened up its eighth branch. In Taksim of all places, the heart of the modern part of Istanbul. And not just somewhere in Taksim! It’s located right in the middle of the busy Istiklal Caddesi shopping street.

Midpoint (Midpoint)
Location
Tom Tom Mah., İstiklal Caddesi 187, Beyoğlu
on Map with My Favorite Cafés and Pubs in the Modern Part of Istanbul
Tel: +90 212 245 70 40 – 41
Open
Daily till past midnight.
Credit cards are accepted.
Make reservations if you want good seating arrangements.

Two Seasons, Two Views

The café and restaurant is designed to please you no matter the season. For the colder days they have a spacious covered area consisting of a nice mix of wood and glass, with giant windows facing İstiklal Caddesi from where you can watch the Istanbul people mix stroll by. Noteworthy is the fact that if the weather permits, these windows can be opened completely.
From spring to winter however, there is the roof terrace. Not a high-rise one, but still enough to provide you with a nice glimpse of Kadıköy on the Asian side, Topkapi Palace, the Hagia Sophia and the Blue Mosque in Sultanahmet, and the entrance to the Golden Horn.

I was lucky. Not only did the mild November weather allow me to sit outside, arriving at 18:00 without reservation proved to be just in time. By 18:30 there was not a single table left on their rather big terrace. Sure, they could have stuffed some more tables on it, but apparently the people at Midpoint understood that sitting like sardines in a can is not good practice. No matter how comfortable the chairs are. Bottom line: since you’re most likely to arrive a bit after six in the evening, make reservations.

Excellent Food and Service

With the sun setting, the candles being lit and nice background music putting me in the right mood, I ordered the Chicken Quesadella (TL 13,5). A very tasty tortilla filled with a sautéed hot pepper mix, chicken pieces, yellow cheese and served with French fries, Mediterranean greens and a salsa sauce.
A tough but excellent choice out of their very varied menu with starters (TL 12-15), salads (TL 13-17,5), sandwiches , burgers, quesadillas, wraps (tortilla) and burgers (TL 12-15), pastas (TL 12,5-15,5), 12 chicken dishes (TL 16-17) and over 15 meat dishes (TL 19-21). I wouldn’t recommend the place if you’re a fish connoisseur, with only 5 fish plates on the menu, each TL 20.
During the weekdays and until noon you can have a breakfast plate for TL 17,5 but in the weekend you have two hours extra to order. Drinks are all reasonable priced between TL 8-9.

Exactly Midpoint

You can’t pick a better location to open up a café or restaurant called Midpoint. But that doesn’t mean it’s easy to find the place. Coming form Taksim Square, you walk down towards Tünel and pass Çiçek Pasajı, Balık Pasajı, Galatasaray Lisesi until you reach Oda Kule on your right. You can’t miss really; it’s one of the oldest and now ugliest ‘high-rise’ office buildings in Istanbul, with a small shopping arcade underneath it.
Right across from it, on your left, you’ll see yet another shopping arcade – İstiklal Caddesi has plenty of them – and the entrance to Midpoint right next to it. Enter the building and take the stairs (no elevator!) to the first floor.

If the small flight of stairs didn’t make you breathless, the stylish room will. From the outside you would never give it a worthy look, but they really outdid themselves in renovating this previously shaggy ‘beer garden’.

In the future I think we’ll see people meet more and more in Midpoint instead of standing in front of the Galatasaray Lisesi gates.

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The James Joyce Irish Pub is the only authentic Irish bar in Istanbul. It has been around for years and has become an integral part of the Istanbul bar scene. With daily live music, sports TV nights, folkdance lessons and easy listening music during the day, the Irish Centre is a great place to socialize until the early hours.

The Irish Centre (James Joyce Irish Pub)
Location
İstiklal Caddesi, Balo Sokak 26, Beyoğlu
on Map with My Favorite Cafés and Pubs in the Modern Part of Istanbul
Tel: +90 212 244 79 70
Open
Daily till early morning.
Credit cards are accepted.

Multipurpose Pub

The James Joyce Irish pub moved to its current and probably final location in March 2004. An excellent choice, since it’s now only a few meters away from Nevizade Sokak, one of Istanbul’s famous night-life streets, and a side street of Istiklal Caddesi.
In 2008, the Irish Centre underwent a very successful facelift. With lessons learnt from the first four years, the current interior design and layout are excellent to serve all of the pub’s entertainment goals:

• a relaxed atmosphere to socialize over a drink or a snack, without loud music (until the evening)
• being able to receive plenty of customers, yet don’t give an empty impression during the daytime
• ability to show concerts and sports programs or play a game of darts without disturbing regulars that just want to have a drink
• provide a quiet corner for romantic souls or people who want to read a book
• a stage for live performances
• plenty of space to dance the night away until early hours
• a small boutique hotel consisting of seven rooms (to be opened in 2009)

Irish Pub with a Mixed Crowd

You definitely don’t need to be Irish to visit James Joyce. While the pubs character and décor is Irish, the crowd is most certainly not. On any given night, you’ll find a nice mix of Turks, expats and tourist from around the globe.

The Irish Pub really gets packed for soccer nights with Turkish derbies or international matches, and during the weekends with live cover bands performing. If you’re more into traditional Irish music, then make sure to cross out Sunday and Monday evenings in your calendar.

Guinness in a Can

The Irish Pub has a nice selection of food and beverages. A typical Irish breakfast (bacon, sausages, eggs, mushrooms, tomatoes, chips and salad) is served all day and will set you back for TL 17,5. You can also choose from a nice variety of appetizers (TL 7-10), pizzas and main dishes (TL 10-18) and desserts (TL 7,5).

I had the hot cream cheese jalapeño poppers ( deep fried nuggets of cream cheese an hot jalapeño pepper). Although listed as an appetizer, it made me cancel the main course since portions are certainly not small.

Of course, an Irish pub wouldn’t be complete without a decent range of beers (TL 5-7) including, albeit not from the tap, a pint of Guinness. You may also be tempted to try their fine selection of Irish, Scottish and international liquors.

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After visiting main tourist attractions such as the Hagia Sophia, the Blue Mosque or Topkapi Palace and before descending into the Basilica Cistern or heading to the Grand Bazaar, people often end up in the Sultan Pub for a refreshing drink. Not surprising, given its location. It’s the first pub you come across on Divanyolu Caddesi. But by taking a few strides extra, you can save quit a bit of money!

Bodrum Cafe & Restaurant (Bodrum Cafe & Restaurant)
Location
Divanyolu Caddesi, Şeftali Sokak 16, Sultanahmet
on Map with My Favorite Cafés and Pubs in the Historical Part of Istanbul
Tel: +90 212 526 94 71
Open
Daily till around midnight.
Credit cards are accepted.

The Bodrum Café & Restaurant is located next to the Sultan Pub, which is the first establishment you’ll see on Divanyolu Caddesi while coming back from Sultanahmet Square. With its nice outdoor tables located on the corner of the street, it’s an excellent spot to enjoy a refreshment and watch the world go by.

But if you make a right and walk less than ten meters extra, you’ll find the Bodrum Café & Restaurant. It also has an outside terrace with comfortable chairs and there are still plenty of people walking by to observe. But, not only do they serve the same kind of drinks, they charge significantly less. On top of it all, the pub is located adjacent to the park, hence further away from the tramway (noise).

Don’t get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with the Sultan Pub, but why settle for it when just a few steps further you can get more value for your money.

They also serve food, but I never ate there. For a quick snack, I prefer the Sultanahmet Köftecisi around the corner and for a full course dinner I there are better restuarants in my Istanbul food and beverage guide.

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