Istanbul: Where To Eat

Welcome to my second Istanbul installment, a cheeky lil guide of where to eat when you hit up the wonderful city of Istanbul.
We were lucky enough to dine at some seriously beautiful restaurants, but every now and then, you know, because I am Northern after all, it was nice to get a good ole takeaway. So there’s a lil bit of everything in this guide, from top notch traditional restaurants to a tummy filler for just 50 cent…

Karakoy Lokantasi:
Situated by the port within the centre of Istanbul, Karakoy Lokantasi was one of the restaurants that came up within EVERYONE’s recommendation lists, so naturally we just had to see what all the fuss was about!

Karakoy Lokantasi is a seriously beautiful restaurant, with an extremely traditional yet modern interior, I mean, just look at those tiles #IHaveThisThingWithFloors…& Walls.

The menu boasted an array of traditional Ottoman dishes that were created to be shared- as I’ve said before, that is my kind of dining: No food envy here folks.
We opted for bread and dips… Of course Tzatziki and Houmous and chose to sample some traditional Ottoman meatballs and some seriously scrummy chilli prawns; simply delicious,

The interior, the food and the ambiance were all to die for and I can totally see why this restaurant comes so highly recommended.

Journey
For my birthday, all I wanted was EGGS! If you know me, you’ll know that I’ve only recently discovered that I actually like eggs (weird, I know) and now I crave them on the regular, so we were determined to scope out an awesome birthday breakfast.

Journey looks like a cafe that has stepped straight out of East London, with it’s seriously cool interior: the tiling, furniture, plants and styling, it was the ultimate in Pinterest chic.

The breakfast menu was INSANE and it was rather tricky to decide what to order.
After much deliberation I opted for the mushroom, Camembert, avocado and spinach toastie on rye bread, of course with a side of poached egg, whilst Sedge went for good ole scrambled eggs and bacon, you know, with a side order of halloumi… Caje!

It was utterly delicious with the coffee completely exquisite, the perfect setting for a birthday breakfast.

Burger House
Now, for my birthday dinner, I wasn’t quite so particular.
A little bit drunk on delicious cocktails all I wanted was a big juicy burger. And a big juicy burger was what I got, straight from Kadakoy’s Burger House.

It’s a build your own style burger joint with THE BEST CHIPS IN TOWN, honestly, I could not get over them, even if you’re not a meat eater, you MUST check out this place purely for the chips, they were insanely tasty!

The burgers too, were absolutely delicious, with all the toppings you could ever imagine up for grabs.

Cok Cok Thai
After a long day at sea and a pretty dramatic boat journey, we decided to stay local and check out some of the little haunts that littered the area by the hotel.
After, yet again, much deliberation, we decided we were in the mood for Thai so headed to the extremely busy Cok Cok Thai.
We managed to get a lovely table outside and watched the world go by, whilst sipping on some seriously delicious cocktails.

In true Megan and Sedge style we decided to share two mains and chose a good ole Prawn Pad Thai and a Prawn Red Curry, both were seriously fresh, seriously tasty and super spicy, just the way I like it. Absolutely to die for, particularly that Pad Thai!

Munferit

For our final night, Sedge and I chose to visit Munferit, a restaurant that regularly came up on many recommendation lists.
Just a short taxi ride away from our hotel, Munferit is tucked away on a charming Turkish street with a beautiful outdoor setting.
We were greeted by the sweetest of waiters who funnily suggested we tried the cocktail, “Man Boobs” which, was actually seriously delicious (we may or may not have drank 4 each…)
Whilst we perused the menu we nibbled on complimentary toast and pate and had a good ole chin wag as the sun set and the outdoor area slowly became more and more magical.

In yet again typical Megan & Sedge style we opted for a sharing feast of dreams!
Starting with Fried Cheese with Chilli Jam- Simply divine, with the most delicious and refreshing Aubergine, Tomato and Onion Dip, that I was honestly spooning into my mouth!

We then opted for yet more cheese with a Baked dish of Turkish White Cheese with Mushrooms and Truffle Oil, three of my all time favourite foods all combined into one, safe to say I died and when to food coma heaven! And finally a scrummy dish of King Prawns on a bed of chickpea puree with a balsamic glaze… Just as delicious as it sounds!

For the both of us, Munferit provided the best meal of the trip and I would whole heartedly reccomend that you check it out if you are ever in Istanbul. The setting, the staff and the food were simply divine!

The 50¢ Bagel

And finally, the little treasure that is the 50¢ Bagel.
On each corner of every busy street within Istanbul you will find one of these little red trucks, which hold the secret of afternoon snacking.
For just 50¢ you can bag yourself one of these seasame seed bagels, which are delicious both on their own, or with creamed cheese which you can get free of charge.
An absolute god send and perfect for doing Istanbul on the cheap without sacrificing on flavour, I obviously had one every day of our trip… OOPS!

So there we have it, the places we dined whilst in the beautiful city of Istanbul, I can honestly say that each and every place was as delicious as the next, so this is a pretty nifty guide if you ever get the chance to visit.
Really hope you enjoyed it and your mouths are suitably watering… I know mine is.
Next up, a hotel review, stay tuned!

x M