Entertainment in Istanbul
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Café Meşale
Meşale, located in a sunken courtyard behind the Blue Mosque, is a tourist trap par excellence, but we still love it. Generations of backpackers have joined locals in claiming one of its cushioned benches under coloured lights and enjoying a tea and nargileh. There’s sporadic live Turkish music in the evening and a dervish performance at 7.30pm and 9.30pm.
reviewed
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Love Dance Point
Going into its second decade, Love DP is easily the most Europhile of the local gay venues, hosting gay musical icons and international circuit parties. Hard-cutting techno is thrown in with gay anthems and Turkish pop. This place attracts the well-travelled and the un-impressionable, as well as some straight hipsters from nearby Nişantaşı.
reviewed
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Araf
Grungy English teachers, Erasmus exchange students and Turkish language students have long claimed this as their favoured destination, shaking their booties to the in-house gypsy band and swilling the cheapest club beer around (a mere TL5). To avoid the locals’ weekend mating madness and capacity crowds, go on Tuesday or Wednesday.
reviewed
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Türk Ocağı Kültür Ve Sanat Merkezı Iktisadi Işletmesı Çay Bahçesi
Tucked into the rear right-hand corner of a shady courtyard filled with Ottoman tombs, this enormously popular tea garden is a perfect place to escape the crowds and relax over a çay and nargileh. You can even score a cheap and tasty gözleme (Turkish crepe filled with cheese, spinach or potato) here.
reviewed
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Leb-I Derya Richmond
This sleek younger sister of perennial favourite Leb-i Derya is more restrained and decidedly more chic than her big sis. Fortunately there’s no threat of sibling rivalry as the crowd here is older and more cashed-up. The views from the huge windows are just as fab.
reviewed
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Bigudi Cafe Lesbian Pub/Club
The pub admits gay men, but the arty terrace club is mainly frequented by lipstick lesbians and is resolutely off-limits to non-females. The rationale for the barrier is self-defence, which hints at this country’s lesbian state of affairs: invisible, often not by choice.
reviewed
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Mavra
Serdar-ı Ekrem Caddesi is one of the most interesting streets in Galata, full of ornate 19th-century apartment blocks, avant-garde boutiques and laid-back cafes and bars. Mavra is a bit of everything – during the day it functions as a cafe, serving excellent sandwiches and pastries (the poğaca are excellent); at night, it reinvents itself as a hip bar that has been wholeheartedly embraced by artists, journalists and others in the creative industries. Its decor is thrift-shop chic and its shelves are full of locally designed ceramics and craft that are for sale. Nearby Building Food Lab & Apparel offers more of the same, albeit with a hard-edged minimalist aesthetic.
reviewed
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Xlarge
This straight-friendly gay venue melds glitz with size. Occupying a converted art deco–era cinema that Atatürk was said to have habituated, it draws in both gay and straight partyphiles, who come to be dazzled by a humungous ballroom chandelier, preserved old architectural details and possibly the longest bar (under the stage) in any local venue. On the mezzanine, two supersized beds for group cavorting flank a full-service bar; one overlooks the hunky dancers or drag artists on stage. Vodka-shot (TL5) counters have been conveniently placed near people for easy refuelling.
reviewed
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Ghetto
Decor-wise, this three-storey club behind the Flower Passage (Çiçek Pasaji) combines Renaissance-style painted high ceilings with modernist touches including a long, back-illuminated bar with bottles that seem to glow in the dark. The musical program is equally interesting, comprising creative foreign or local live acts. In summer, it hosts Peymane @ Ghetto Teras (reached via a back staircase), an open-air restaurant-cum-music lounge that ‘doesn’t close until the sun is up’. Check the website for schedules and cover charges.
reviewed
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Vefa Bozacisi
This famous boza bar was established in 1875 and locals still flock here to drink the viscous tonic, which is made from water, sugar and fermented grain. The mucous-coloured beverage has a reputation for building up strength and virility – it won’t be to everyone’s taste, but the bar itself, with its blue tiles, mirrored columns, marble tables and wooden bar, is worth a visit in its own right. If the boza is too confrontational for you, the bar also serves şıra, a fermented grape juice.
reviewed
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Set Üstü Çay Bahçesi
Those who appreciate the ceremony of proper tea service will love this terraced tea garden overlooking Seraglio Point. Here, you can watch the ferries plying the route from Europe to Asia, while at the same time enjoying an excellent cup of tea served in a teapot and accompanied by hot water (such a relief after the fiendishly strong brews that are common in Turkey). It’s so pleasant that you may decide to stay for a lunch of a cheap köfte ekmek (meatball sandwich) or a tost (toasted cheese jaffle).
reviewed
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Demeti
Located in a Cihangir hillside apartment with street-level entrance, this recently opened meyhane has a friendly feel and stylish decor. A display case of meze and desserts greets you as you enter and the kitchen is open, meaning that you can check out the dinner choices as you are led to your table. Reservations are a must if you want one of four tables on the terrace, which have an unimpeded Bosphorus view. Set menus are only offered for groups of six or more. There’s a live singer midweek.
reviewed
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Şark Kahvesi
The Şark’s arched ceiling betrays its former existence as part of a bazaar street; years ago some enterprising kahveci (coffee-house owner) walled up several sides and turned it into a cafe. The nicotine colour on the walls is testament to its long pedigree as a popular tea and cigarette spot for the bazaar’s stallholders. These days they have to fight for space with tourists, who love the quirky ‘flying dervish’ murals, the old photographs on the walls, and the cheap tea and coffee.
reviewed
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Nardis Jazz Club
Just down the hill from the Galata Tower, this venue, named after a Miles Davis track, is where the real aficionados go. Run by jazz guitarist Önder Focan and his wife Zuhal, Nardis is small but big in atmosphere. Its line-up of performers is exceptionally good; some come from the winners’ ranks of its yearly amateur contest and others are visiting international artists. Different daily performers make every visit fresh and serendipitous – book ahead.
reviewed
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Sultan Pub
Sultanahmet’s version of Ye Olde English Pub, the Sultan has been around for years and continues to attract the crowds due to its peerless position close to Aya Sofya, the Blue Mosque and the Basilica Cistern (Yerebatan Sarnıçı). The pub grub is what you’d expect from a place like this (ie stodge), but the outdoor tables are a great spot to watch the world go by and the beer is served in iced glasses, just the way it should be.
reviewed
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Yeşil Ev Garden Bar/Café
Most of the bars in Cankurtaran are rowdy backpacker establishments, so the elegant rear courtyard of this historic hotel is a real oasis for those wanting a quiet drink. In spring flowers and blossom fill every corner; in summer the fountain and shady trees keep the temperature down; and in the cooler months a flower-filled conservatory provides shelter. The drinks are expensive, but as the old adage says, quality doesn’t come cheaply.
reviewed
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Babylon
This venue for live performances is a city institution. Its eclectic program often features big-name international music acts, particularly during the festival season. Most of the action occurs in the concert hall but it also runs an eponymous restaurant/lounge with a DJ spinning right behind the hall. Cover charges and performance times vary; book at Biletix or at the box office (open 10am to 6pm, longer on days of performance).
reviewed
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Lale Bahçesi
In a sunken courtyard that was once part of the Süleymaniye külliye (mosque complex), this charming outdoor teahouse is always full of students from the nearby theological college and İstanbul University, who come here to sit on cushioned seats under trees and relax while watching the pretty fountain play. It’s one of the cheapest places in the area to enjoy a çay and nargileh.
reviewed
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Fes Café
After an afternoon spent trading repartee with the bazaar’s touts, you’ll be in need of a drink. Fortunately, this stylish cafe just outside the Nuruosmaniye Gate is a wonderful place to relax over a good-quality coffee, a beer or a glass of wine. It’s also home to a branch of Abdulla Natural Products. There’s another branch of the cafe inside the Grand Bazaar.
reviewed
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Il Porto
There are a number of ways to observe the glam Bebek set at play: you can dine at the mega-pricey Poseidon, have a coffee on the terrace at Starbucks or enjoy a casual summer lunch on the terrace here at Il Porto. Built right over the water, this is a good spot to see and be seen - the food is perfectly acceptable, but that's not why the crowds are here. Wear casual designer togs and have a botox shot before you go.
reviewed
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Yeni Marmara
This is the genuine article: a neighbourhood teahouse packed to the rafters with backgammon-playing locals, who play while sipping tea and puffing on nargilehs. The place has bucketloads of character, featuring rugs, wall hangings, low brass tables and fasıl music on the CD player. In winter a wood stove keeps the place cosy; in summer patrons sit on the rear terrace and look out over the Sea of Marmara.
reviewed
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Jazz Café
Established by Mete Gurman and Cengiz Sanlı in 1982, this mellow two-storey place is one of the city’s original jazz joints and is bathed in mood lighting. Great local jazz musicians such as Bülent Ortaçgil come here to perform to 30-something jazzheads, and musicians from other genres also feature – funk/acid or blues are played Tuesday to Thursday, for instance. In summer, the club decamps to Bodrum.
reviewed
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Haco Pulo
There aren’t nearly as many traditional teahouses in Beyoğlu as there are in atmospheric Old İstanbul, so this one is treasured by the locals. Set in a delightfully picturesque cobbled courtyard, it’s stool-to-stool 20- to 30-somethings on summer evenings. Walking from İstiklal Caddesi through the skinny arcade crowded with offbeat shops adds to the experience.
reviewed
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Ilesam Lokalı
This club in the courtyard of the Koca Sinan Paşa Medrese was formed by the enigmatically named Professional Union of Owners of the Works of Science & Literature. Fortunately, members seem happy for strangers to infiltrate their ranks. After entering the gate to Koca Sinan Paşa’s tomb, go past the cemetery – it’s the second teahouse to the right.
reviewed
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Kahve Dünyasi
The name means coffee world, and this new coffee chain has the local world at its feet. The secret of its success lies with the huge coffee menu, reasonable prices, delicious chocolate spoons (yes, you read that correctly), comfortable seating and free wi-fi. The filter coffee is better than its espresso-based alternatives. There’s another branch just near the tram stop at Kabataş.
reviewed
