About Us
Olive is the terrace restaurant of Yaşmak Hotel Collection in Sirkeci. Our cooking follows a journey from the ancient kitchens of Anatolia to the refined flavours of the Ottoman table — a land where cultures, traditions and flavours have met for centuries. We believe food is more than something to be tasted; it is something to be experienced, shared and remembered. With the Bosphorus and Hagia Sophia stretching across the horizon, the taste of Anatolia, the legacy of the Ottoman kitchen and the spirit of Istanbul come together at one table.
How the menu came together
We did not tie the menu to a single region. We took what we liked from tables across Anatolia: olive oil dishes from the Aegean, the generous hand with spice you find in the southeast, and the classics that belong to Istanbul itself. Each dish carries something of the lands and the people behind it. Alongside those classics, our kitchen is open to new readings. We keep the essence of the traditional flavour and rework the way it is put together and served for the table of today. Alongside the à la carte menu there is a separate one made up of vegan and vegetarian dishes, our own selection of drinks, and a wine list that leans heavily on Turkish producers. Almost every wine on it comes from Turkey. If you have been curious about the native grapes, we think this is a good place to begin.
View Our Menu
Our vegan and vegetarian kitchen
Vegan and vegetarian cooking is not an option we added on. The vegetables, pulses, grains, herbs and olive oil dishes that have held the leading role at Anatolian tables for centuries are what our own kitchen is built on. Artichokes in olive oil can be a meal on their own; a pot of lentils set down in the middle of the table is generous enough for everyone to share; and a stuffed vine leaf is not a garnish but a dish in its own right. We put the menu together in that spirit. Rather than offering guests who do not eat meat something special, or something thought of afterwards, we gathered the vegan and vegetarian dishes that already come out of our kitchen's own character. Here everyone sits down at the same table, with food from the same kitchen.
See the vegan menu
Where We Are
Ebusuud Caddesi is one of Sirkeci's quieter backstreets. The Orient Express made its last Istanbul stop a few doors from here; Hagia Sophia is a five-minute walk away, Topkapı Palace about ten. The Gülhane tram stop is only fifty metres from the door, and there is valet parking for guests arriving by car. But the hour we love here is late afternoon. As the sun begins to disappear behind the old city, the lights along the Bosphorus come on one by one. That is the best moment of the day on the terrace.