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The choice came down to which one we instinctively liked and I favoured Pasha, as it seemed to have a decent seafood menu, so in we went. It also helped that the hawker at the front didn’t try to aggressively to get us to come in. He did of course give us the spiel as we hovered around ... Read review
Advantages: Excellent seafood, good value for money, good tourist location Disadvantages: I'm about 20km away from it
...instinctively liked and I favoured Pasha, as it seemed to have a decent seafood menu, so in we went. It also helped that the hawker at the front didn’t try to aggressively to get us to come in. He did of course give us the spiel as we hovered around the menu outside but I would have been shocked if he didn’t.
'''THE RESTAURANT'''
The restaurant had a pleasant if unspectacular interior; at first sight there was nothing ... ...opposed to something that could be anywhere in the world. Perhaps this was a good sign, as the food might be paramount in such a place. It didn’t take long though to note some local touches. A portrait of what appeared to be one of the Ottoman Empire sultans ordained the wall above a wine rack, with a portrait similar in style of a lady hung on the wall next to our table. Thanks to the large windows at the front there was plenty of light entering ... more
INTRODUCTION
On my business trip to Turkey, I get to go to Istanbul centre at the weekends if I’m lucky. There aren’t many decent restaurants where I am staying and so any chance to find one is very welcome. It was when walking around the tourist mainstay of Sultanahmet that myself and a colleague had to choose somewhere to eat, which was proving tricky, as the Lonely Planet recommendation for the area didn’t seem to exist any more. As this area is one of Istanbul’s main tourist traps, this threw me a bit. Restaurants in big city tourist areas to me guarantee several things; proximity to sights, high prices, outside tables, insistent restaurateurs and menus disappointingly tailored for tourists.
The choice came down to which one we instinctively liked and I favoured Pasha, as it seemed to have a decent seafood menu, so in we went. It also helped that the hawker at the front didn’t try to aggressively to get us to come in. He did of course give us the spiel as we hovered around the menu outside but I would have been shocked if he didn’t.
THE RESTAURANT
The restaurant had a pleasant if unspectacular interior; at first sight there was nothing really to distinguish it as an Istanbul tourist restaurant as opposed to something that could be anywhere in the world. Perhaps this was a good sign, as the food might be paramount in such a place. It didn’t take long though to note some local touches. A portrait of what appeared to be one of the Ottoman Empire sultans ordained the wall above a wine rack, with a portrait similar in style of a lady hung on the wall next to our table. Thanks to the large windows at the front there was plenty of light entering the building.
The lower floor of the restaurant was split level, with a small old fashioned looking bar on the lower level to the right of the entrance. This had some high stools around it as seating. Glasses hung from the top of it, and at the front was some flowered patterned smoked glass. To the left, 4 shelves of spirits housed a fair few tourist pleasers. On the right of the bar, 7 bottles of beer probably represented what varieties they had on offer. Above the bar was this blue image of an eye that I’ve seen a lot in the city. I keep on thinking of David Blaine and his evil eye, but I imagine it’s something else.
There were a couple of tables wedged against small tables in slightly enclosed booths either side of the front entrance door. These looked nice as they had red leather seats, and gave a perfect view of the passing tourists. In one of the corners was a small LCD TV hanging on the wall tuned to some sports channel showing tennis. On this level the floor was wooden beamed, covered with what were presumably local rugs. Outside, to the left of the main entrance, was a seating area, no doubt popular in the summer season but in mid March empty.
The upper level housed 4 or 5 wooden tables for 4, with either wooden chairs or red leather seated benches. The back wall housed a large LCD TV which was showing a Turkish football game. The floor was light tiled with more local rugs as adornment. As we waited for out food a couple of woven reed mats we laid as our placemats.
There was also an upstairs area which I saw some customers entering and leaving via stair at the back of the downstairs dining area, but I never ventured upstairs so I can’t comment on that. I did however note the obligatory portrait of the country’s founder, Attaturk at the bottom of the stairs. It's hard to overstate this man's significance in this country, but let's just say that he's universally venerated, being the founder of modern Turkey.
The background music was at first some kind of funky easy listening groove, which morphed into latin music, so no local influence was in evidence there. As ashtrays were on all tables I presume that you can smoke anywhere, although thankfully no one did. The restaurant was about the right temperature, which was nice as it wasn’t too clever outside at the time.
THE MENU
There’s certainly enough variety on the menu to keep most people happy. Starters include soup, a vegetarian meze with humus, aubergine salad, potato salad cheese and other goodies, cold fish plate, shrimp casserole, calamari, and Imam Bayildi, a particularly noteworthy aubergine dish, not least for it’s translation “The Imam Fainted”. Turkish cuisine includes chicken topkaki (chicken with mushroom, cheese and vegetables Sultan’s lamb (spicy lamb with celery and carrots), chicken with artichoke, grilled meatballs and shish kebab. International cuisine includes filet Mignon, beef stogonoff, chicken crurry (sic), Chinese style chicken, mushroom casserole and grilled vegetables.
Seafood specialities include seabass in garlic and wine, seafood casserole, swordfish, salmon, grilled bream and grilled seabass. Pastas include spaghetti bolognaise, vegetable tptellini (sic – really, their website needs checking) and ravioli. Salads include tuna salad, vegetarian salad, Mediterranean salad and caesar salad. You can also choose omelettes from cheese, egg (which, rather contrarily, has meat in it) and vegetable. Pizzas include margarita, vegetarian and tuna. A range of sandwiches includes cheese, ham (which is actually veal), chicken, tuna and vegetarian. Crepes include chicken, lamb, seafood and vegetarian. Finally the normally heavy Turkish desserts include rice pudding, the unbelievably sweet baklava, banana crepe, apple tart and ice cream.
THE MEAL
We arrived about 4pm on a Saturday and the restaurant wasn’t too crowded but had enough people dining to create a relaxing, convivial atmosphere.
The first part of my order was an orange juice, and I was asked if I wanted fresh or from a can, so I opted for fresh. And indeed it was freshly squeezed with some bits in it, not too sweet or bitter. A basket of 7 slices of crusty white bread then arrived, which was OK but not soft enough for my tastes. There was plenty of it though.
I was (as always) keen to try the fish and deliberated some time over whether I’d go for the near identically priced grilled bream or seabass. Incidentally, Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall is always going on about how bream is under-rated and priced compared to seabass but that hasn’t been the case whenever I’ve seen them both on any menu anywhere. But I digress, and I plumped for the bream, swayed by the waiter informing me that was the day’s special. A fish knife soon arrived, something I don’t see to often so I was pretty impressed by that.
I was quite frankly astonished when my bream arrived. I had expected a fillet but a sizeable whole grilled bream arrived, with crispy skin, complete with head and tail. This was accompanied by some roast potatoes, lettuce, spinach, a couple of raw onion rings and a half lemon wedge. I have to say the bream was superlative. It was well cooked and retained its moisture and texture, as it flaked pleasantly from the bone, cooked to perfection throughout. The taste was just as good, and I was informed by the waiter that they get fish in fresh every day; 2 days old fish isn’t used. The potatoes were also excellent; well seasoned and crispy on the outside, soft, fluffy and full of flavour on the inside, they kind of hit you in the tastebuds as you crunched into the middle. The lettuce leaves were nice and crisp and the poor spinach suffered as I barely noticed it with everything else that was going on on the plate.
My colleague ordered a mixed grill, which consisted of lamb, chicken, meatballs, rice and potatoes. This was a slightly smaller portion than mine but still good value, and I am informed this was nice too.
THE SERVICE
Several waiters buzzed around the place, and the service was pretty good, as friendly as I’ve come to expect in this city. They all seemed to speak English to an acceptable standard and so communication wasn’t an issue.
One slight problem was well dealt with, when my colleague had a side door behind him leading to the outside seating area that the waiters used to leave and enter, which wasn’t great thanks to the wind. The head waiter locked it and it stayed locked, even when one of the waiters again tried to use it, so full marks there.
CONCLUSION
This was easily the best meal I’d had in the country since I’d arrived and I informed the waiter of this, something he was understandably very pleased about. I can highly recommend this tourist eatery for it’s fantastic fish. At 25 TL for the dish, it’s perhaps a little expensive for this country but you certainly get what you pay for, and you can’t always say that in tourist areas.
