Yücetepe Kır Gazinosu Restaurants in Istanbul - Lonely Planet Travel Information

Address
Monastery of St George, Büyükada, Princes' Islands

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Lonely Planet review

What a shame this utterly fabulous eatery is so far out of the city! If it were closer, we'd be eating here morning, noon and night. At the very top of the hill where the Monastery of St George is located, its benches and chairs are set up on a terrace overlooking the sea and back to İstanbul.

Dishes are simple but really impressive - the köfte we enjoyed on our most recent visit was possibly the best we've ever eaten and meze such as the fried patlican (eggplant) with yogurt were nearly as good. You can enjoy a beer and will finish the end of your meal having only spent around YTL12 or so on the food. Fabulous.

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What would you do for food? Simple, tasty food. Nothing sophisticated. Oh and, wine. Yucetepe is all about how you get there, a journey of a day trip. On clear summer nights you can have the sun set on one side and watch the full moon rise immediately afterwards. Yet, the enchanting summer sunsets is not all you get for visiting. To the "kir gazinosu"(wilderness casino) one has to take the ferry and maybe have the ferry breakfast of tea and simit( bakery with sesame). No cars (except the police) are allowed in the islands, the only means of transport are bikes and nostalgic horse cart(fayton) rides. Walk or take the smelly horse cart among vacation houses, mostl white, by the most renowned architects of their times. After a point the only way is to walk a slope to the church isolated on a hilltop among forests , which can be tiring for the unfit. This way is marked with paths of string, and strips of cloth tied to trees, for wishes. Well, it is already afternoon, and all you ate today is the simit on the ferry. No food places on the way eh? This is probably why the food in Yucetepe always feels out of this world! The 200+ m altitude gain on foot, and all that fresh air brings out your most basic desire to eat more and more! The only restaurant on your destination supplies such pleasing authentic Turkish dishes, not fancy, but very tasty. the side dishes are home cooking-like and the main dishes of plain meat is all you could ever want after hungry hours. They serve the beloved Turkish sucuk(recommended), kofte, chicken and lamb, just grilled on a shish. Several side dishes available, especially from Aegean cuisine. The piyaz is a salad type, going well with the meat. And try some yaprak sarma. feels like a great place for raki, true, but the real treat is the unlabeled wine, uniquely of this specific restaurant. It is easy to drink, gets you drunk bad. And on your way back you can walk down with a tipsy lady cheerfully singing Greek songs.