A Guide of awesome cafe in Istanbul
Istanbul is a very colorful metropolis. Since we didn’t attend tourist attractions, except for the Blue Mosque, we decided to search for interesting establishments. Interior is especially interesting for us. We choose where to go by design, and then try coffee or food.
Nowadays, there are many opportunities – do as you wish. And it’s very cool when such dedicated to their business people open stylish tasty establishments. We were lucky to get at one of them. As a rule in the places we like at once, the staff is very friendly and they shed love at their business. Small cozy cafés where you feel free and good guests at the same time.
So, the café is called WALTER’S COFFEE ROASTERY and it’s located in Asia. (Look for addresses on foursquare)
Such appearance of baristas leads to the conclusion at once that it’s cool here)
We got latte in this view for the first time, where whipped milk is served separately and two espressos that you have to pour yourself. Very tasty coffee!
A piglet 🙂
We are addicted to spacious rooms with big windows. There’s such a cool atmosphere.
The process of roasting coffee is cool too. The boys wear yellow uniform and work behind the transparent glass.
Now the food. In the European part of Istanbul near the popular Galata Tower there is an interesting industrial district, closer to the sea. There are streets with interesting places at every step. Here we visited a few of them in several days since it makes no sense for us to eat out at tourist eateries. We look for establishments for creative and aesthetic pleasure. This district is not a tourist one; it became a trend to open coffee shops and restaurants here for youth gatherings about a year ago.
We are not burger lovers, but we couldn’t pass by this place. Such cool windows and everything else! It’s called BURGERLAB.
Burgers are served a la carte, meat is grilled, duff is taken away from every bun to make a big round patty fit.
We didn’t order French fries, we thought it was an addition to burger and ate it. And they included per 6 lira in a bill – it’s all about Turkish nature 🙂 But if you are demanding and ask why it happened so, say that they had to warn – they easily return the money. That was the case with us and the waiter gave back even more. So, we ate fries and drank tea as a gift from the establishment. We paid 20 lira for each burger (7-8 dollars). That day we were lucky to get many things for free or cheaper 🙂
Another time we went to the confectionary. There was no price on display, we asked the waiter how much does the cheesecake cost – the waiter hesitated for some time and said 7 lira. Well, ok, we agreed, and sat down at a table, ordered a bottle of water as well. The cheesecake price rose to 9 lira + water in a bill. When we asked how it happened, the waiter returned the money. Thus, along with a bottle of water we paid 5 lira. You have to be extremely careful in Turkey!
Yummy in a word!
For the first time we tried Turkish tea here. We thought it would be something special. However, this is ordinary tea, just served in a special and unusual for us piece of plate. Therefore, if the price is 1-1.5 lira – you can order. If more– it’s not worth the money unless you are really sure of the tea quality.
Then we went out to enjoy Turkish baklava (we cannot articulate the name of establishment). Here you can order an assorted dish for the rich varieties. The most delicious baklava is with pistachio nuts. These small pieces were enough for two of us and for long – very sweet. It’s great that in this place you can drink plain water for free and as much as you want. There’s a machine with disposable cups. You can also drop by just to drink some water here 🙂
Again coffee! DRIP COFFEEIST. Located in the area near the Galata Tower, but in a small street, close to the beginning of the main pedestrian street.
Well, it’s cool, isn’t it? You have to spend time in such environment, in a creative and stylish with natural lighting.
We didn’t like ice latte, but the interior – just the job.
Another coffee shop in the industrial quarter near the Galata Tower. It’s called OPS.
Here we were less fortunate, but we had to charge the phone. Ordinary latte (after we tasted one in WALTER’S COFFEE ROASTERS, all the rest are ordinary). The waiter also simply works here … + price is a little higher. On average, cappuccino and latte cost 7-8 lira (2.6 USD)
The interior is cool too, with large open windows and different tables and chairs.
And here we walked to one tourist street of Sultanahmet district. Fighting off annoying “inviters”, we have still managed to find a small cozy restaurant to taste kebab.
Here’s a portion of kebab – meat with vegetables and rice … By the way, don’t forget that almost all the establishments include 10% tip in a bill at once. And in the tourist areas, or wherever you are invited to a restaurant – prices are overstated, the food is not always cooked of quality products (the Turk told us that).
A cat café NAFTALIN K is dedicated to cat lovers. It’s located in Fetim district, whereto we walked already at sunset (here’s an article).
We found two cats here, who slept all the time. We thought that pussies would welcome us as we come in 🙂 And only a friendly owner did that.
The menu here is handmade and written by hand.
We were told which the options of Turkish coffee are and we tasted it for the first time. It appeared to be very tasty.
A cat in 3D.
This café is not our style, but very sweet and special, with a friendly owner, lovely cats and plenty of old trinkets. Rostyk looks nice with this puppet cup 🙂
The owner even has a cat decoration in her hair.
You can feel that it’s heartwarming here.
Oh, and this is a place where nothing has changed for decades 🙂 It’s called VEFA BOZACIZI. It is located near the Main University of Istanbul.
Here you can buy a traditional cocktail for 3 lira per piece.
Interesting taste, it’s worth trying. One for two was enough for us, because it’s too sweet – you won’t be able to eat (drink) much.
The floor has experienced a long history and you can see that people enjoy the drink.
The final place in the same industrial area is called UNTER.
We ordered Kokoreç – a Turkish dish made from intestine, ingluvies, hearts, kidneys and the like. All these are roasted and vegetables are added. It’s served in roasted bun. The taste – dry and tasteless 🙂 i.e. for those who like such staff.
American pancakes are much tastier.
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Cool design!
And the street is very cozy.
In general, you can find such modern establishments in any European town and even in Lviv. We simply arranged a feast for ourselves in the event of the birthday and were looking for nice places to take photos. If you walk by, you will have a clue what’s there and how 🙂
With love, RH.
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