Istanbul's restaurants range from the informal lokanta and kebab house, which are found on almost every street corner, to the gourmet restaurants (restoran) of large hotels. There are also many international restaurants in the city offering a choice of almost every other kind of cuisine, from French to Japanese.

WHERE TO LOOK

Istanbul's smartest and most expensive restaurants are concentrated in the European parts of the city: in and around Taksim; in the chic shopping districts of Nişantaşı, Maçka and Teşvikiye; and in the modern residential suburbs of Levent and Etiler, west of the Bosphorus. The best gourmet restaurants for both Western and Turkish food are usually in five-star hotels.
Beyoğlu district has the trendiest restaurants, cafes and fast-food eateries, particularly around İstiklal Caddesi , which cater for a young and lively crowd.
Sultanahmet, and the neighbouring districts of Sirkeci, Eminönü and Beyazıt, are full of cheap restaurants serving the local population. In recent years, however, some stylish restaurants with modern decor have opened in these areas.
Further a field, in areas such as Fatih, Fener, Balat and Eyüp, there are plenty of cheap restaurants, cafés and pudding shops.

TYPES OF RESTAURANT

The most common type of restaurant is the traditional lokanta. This is an ordinary restaurant offering a variety of dishes, often listed by the entrance. Home-made dishes comprise hot meat and vegetable dishes displayed in steel containers. Other dishes on the menu may be sulu yemek (a broth or stew) and el (meat - meaning grilled meat and kebabs).
Equally ubiquitous is the Turkish kebab house (kebapçı or ocakhaşı). As well as grilled meats, almost every kebab house serves lahmacun, a very thin dough base with minced meat, onions and tomato sauce on top . Cheaper restaurants and kebab houses also serve pide, a flattened bread base, served with various toppings such as eggs, cheese or lamb. There are also a few specialist pide restaurants.
If you have had too much to drink you may welcome a tripe soup (işkembe), a Turkish cure for a hangover, before going to bed. İşkembe restaurants stay open until the early hours of the morning.
The atmosphere is always informal and lively in Istanbul's innumerable fish restaurants (balıklokantası). The best of these are located on the shores of the Bosphoms and in Kumkapi. on the Sea of Marmara, which is like one large open-air restaurant in summer. A typical fish restaurant will offer a large-variety of mezes before you order your main course from the day's catch. Baby tuna (palamut), fresh sardines (sardalya) and sea bass (levrek) are the most popular fish. Also popular are Black Sea hamsi (a kind of anchovy), istarrit (bluefin) and tnezgil (whiting). However, as fish are becoming scarcer and more expensive, farmed fish has become more widely accepted, particularly alabalik (trout) and a type of bream known as cipura. Fish is served fried or grilled and often accompanied by a large plate of salad and a bottle of raki . The majority of fish restaurants in these busy and popular areas will not accept reservations. However, if you cannot find a table at one restaurant, you will probably find one at another nearby.
International culinary experiences are encouraging local chefs to be adventurous and innovative. Many restaurants are known for superb, original food in a beautiful ambience. Turks frequent the many foreign restaurants found all over Istanbul, while global icons such as Starbucks and Gloria Jean's are part of everyday life. A meybane is more like a tavern, serving alcohol and a large choice of mezes. They are usually more casual than some of the traditional restaurants and often attract a younger crowd. The accent is mostly on drinking and there is almost always fasil music and musicians who play atmospheric tunes on a zither or drum.
Kebab Lokantasi or Kebabci (keh-bahp-chuh) is a restaurant that serves the traditional Turkish meat dish: the kebab (described earlier in this chapter). Kebab restaurants usually start serving around 11:00, and stay open until about 23:00.
Meyhane (mehy-hah-neh) is a tavern-style restaurant. While they may be open during the day, these places do most of their business in the evenings, during dinner and later. People usually go to a meyhane to enjoy raki and mezes. A meyhane is judged not by its main courses, but by the quality and the variety of mezes it serves. Meyhanes usually offer live music for entertainment.
Balık Lokantası or Balıkçı (bah-luhk-chuh) is a fiss, Cankur-food restaurant, often also offering a variety of mezes ana Most of their mezes are made with seafood, such as calamari, cBlue pus, shrimp, mussels, or seaweed. Waiters usually bring out a tn._a of cold mezes to choose from. Rakı (the local firewater) is a common beverage with seafood, but almost all seafood restaurants also sell wine and soft drinks. When selecting a fish dish, ask how big the portions are: It may be enough for two or three eaters to share. Often fish is priced daily and by weight. (This means you might pay two different prices for the same fish in the same restaurant on two different nights.) Ask your server to explain the pricing if it's not outlined in the menu.

OPENING HOURS

Turks eat lunch between 12:30 and 2pm and have dinner around 8pm. Ordinary-restaurants and kebab houses are open from about 11am to 11pm, while fish restaurants serve all day but stay open later. International restaurants have strict opening hours, usually from noon to 3:30pm and 7:30pm to midnight. Meyhanes will be open from 7pm until well after midnight. Most restaurants are open seven days a week, but some are closed on either Sunday or Monday. During Ramazan . when Muslims fast from sunrise to sunset, many restaurants are closed. Some only-shut during daylight sold on   hours and then serve special Ramazan meals, while others, especially in religious areas such as Fatih and Eytip, will close altogether for the whole month. In sightseeing areas, however, you will always find somewhere open.

WHAT TO EXPECT

Most restaurants in Istanbul cater for special requirements such as high chairs for children. Also, it is increasingly common for there to be a smoke-free area, but there are no hard-and-fast Riles.
When choosing a place to eat, bear in mind that some cheaper restaurants and kebab houses do not serve alcoholic-drinks. Many restaurants in the city are equipped for wheelchairs but most are on the ground floor making easy access possible. Most restaurants also cater for vegetarians and designer vegetarian restaurants seem to be causing much interest.
In local Turkish restaurants outside Istanbul, such as in Edirne and Bursa, women should look for the aile salonu sign. Turks are proud of their hospitality and service. Good service is always found in the upmarket restaurants which can afford well-trained staff. You may find that the same standards do not always apply to the cheaper places.

SERVICE AND PAYING

The major credit cards are widely accepted, except in the cheaper restaurants, kebab houses, local bufes (snack kiosks) and some lokantas. Restaurants usually display the credit card sign -or symbol at the entrance if they accept this form of payment. Value-added tax (KDV in Turkish) is always included. Some places add 10 per cent for service while others leave it to the discretion of the customer. (s1)