Choosing a Restaurant
How to Tell a Tourist Menu from Real Turkish Cooking
Photographs, a hundred and fifty dishes, twelve languages. Concrete signs of whether a restaurant works for tourists or for the food.
Notes from Olive
We write about the streets of Istanbul, the stories behind Anatolian cooking, the table and the culture around eating out. Sometimes we follow a single dish, sometimes we stop in a corner of the city fewer people know. These are the notes worth a look before you come.
Choosing a Restaurant
Olive Anatolian Restaurant: The Story of a Terrace in Sirkeci
Where it is, what it cooks, who it suits. A single account of the restaurant — location, menus, workshops and capacity — for anyone getting to know it.
Choosing a Restaurant
Seven Questions to Ask Before Booking a Restaurant with a View in Istanbul
"With a view" covers a lot of ground. Seven questions that, asked before you book, save the evening.
Choosing a Restaurant
Where to Eat Near Hagia Sophia and Sultanahmet
The streets around the square are full of tourist restaurants. Concrete signs that tell a good one apart, and where to look instead.
Cuisine & Recipes
Baklava, Künefe, Rice Pudding: The Differences Between Turkish Desserts
Syrup or milk, hot or cold? The three families of Turkish desserts and when each one belongs.
Istanbul Guide
Travelling Gluten-Free: What to Eat in Istanbul and How to Ask
Which part of Turkish cooking is naturally gluten-free, and where the traps are. A practical guide to reading menus and talking to a kitchen.
Workshops
A Cooking Class in Istanbul: What Do You Learn in Two Hours?
What people want to know before booking: what gets cooked, whether experience is needed, and how it ends. A two-hour session, step by step.
Istanbul Guide
Sunset in Istanbul: The Best Hours to Watch the Bosphorus
It is not the moment the sun goes down that matters but the forty minutes after it. Seasonal times, which way to face, and where to watch from.
Bar & Drinks
How a Rakı Table Is Set: Meze, Ice and Order
Rakı is not a drink to be finished quickly but the spine of a table that lasts for hours. How it is poured, what it is drunk with, and in what order.
Bar & Drinks
A Guide to Turkish Wine: Kalecik Karası, Öküzgözü, Narince and Boğazkere
What Turkey's native grapes taste like and what they go with. Four names, and a practical way to read a Turkish wine list.
Cuisine & Recipes
Zeytinyağlı: Why Anatolian Cooking Was Already Vegan
Plant-based food is not a new turn in Anatolia but a course that has existed for centuries. The logic behind zeytinyağlı dishes, and where a vegan menu comes from.
Cuisine & Recipes
Ottoman Palace Cuisine Today: Mahmudiye, Sultan Kebab and the Pastry Plate
Palace cooking put honey beside meat and fruit beside spice. How those recipes were built, and how they sit on a menu today.
Cuisine & Recipes
A Guide to Turkish Meze: What Are Muhammara, Hummus, Mütebbel and Şakşuka?
Knowing the names on a meze plate makes ordering easier. What goes into the eight you will meet most often, which one is hot, and which are vegan.
Istanbul Guide
From Sirkeci to Sultanahmet: A One-Day Walking Route Through the Historical Peninsula
A single day that starts at Gülhane and ends at the Grand Bazaar — little climbing, a planned lunch stop, and the right order to see things in.
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