Istanbul — Where We Ate & Drank
We ate at 20 restaurants, stayed in 4 hotels including Raffles Istanbul and Four Seasons at the Bosphorus, and mapped 4 bars across Beyoğlu. Every place we personally visited.
One April in Istanbul, timed by luck to tulip season, and the city over-delivered on every front: Yeni Lokanta's modern meze, rooftop dinners staring at the Bosphorus, jazz at Nardis, and the Hagia Sophia at opening time. Our list leans Beyoğlu and the water; spring and late autumn are the windows worth aiming for.
We stayed at four hotels—including Raffles Istanbul and both Four Seasons properties—ate our way through twenty restaurants from TURK FATIH TUTAK to Ararat Terrace's rooftop, and collected four bars worth the detour. Everything here we tested ourselves.
- We were there in April 2023
- Best months to visit: April–May, September–November
- 4 Michelin-starred tables · 2 Top-500 bars · 1 UNESCO site
- Worth timing: Tulip Festival (1 April)
Plan your Istanbul days with these picks →
Restaurants
- Ararat Terrace Restaurant & Rooftop
- Yeni Lokanta
- Alaf Kuruçeşme
- TURK FATIH TUTAK
- Aheste
- Bayramoğlu Döner
- Yapı Kredi bomontiada
- Mürver Restaurant
- inari Omakase Kuruçeşme
- Zuma Istanbul
- Mikla
- Kıyı Restaurant
- Arkestra
- Karadeniz Döner Asım Usta
- The Populist Galataport
- Park Fora Restaurant
- Sunset Grill & Bar
- Nobu Istanbul
- Spago Istanbul by Wolfgang Puck
- Dönerci Şahin Usta
- See all 20 restaurants in Istanbul →