Dear Steemit friends:
Despite being the historical and cultural centre of Turkey, Istanbul has a very diverse cityscape. Originally known as Constantinople, it is a city which serves as the bridge between the European and Asian continents, consequently the culture includes many aspects of European and Asian elements.
One example of it's diversity is it's popular food establishments. In our last Miss. Delicious post, we visited a traditional Turkish restaurant which has stayed true to it's cultural heritage, Gulhane Sark delighted us with it's unique Turkish Pottery kebabs, fresh Turkish Mezze starters and delicious Baklava desserts.
They say, if New York is a city that never sleeps, then Istanbul is a city that is always eating.
Today, we'll be venturing into the Beyoglu district and visiting a restaurant that has been making a strong name for itself since it first opened in 2005. Located a little more than half way along the infamous İstiklal Avenue, 360Istanbul takes traditional Turkish Mezze, and combines the tastes of Turkey with an international palette.
The İstiklal Avenue is one of the most famous streets in Istanbul. It is visited by up to 3 million people each day and remains busy till the early hours of the morning. Here you can expect to find restaurants, cafes, clubs, and many other shops. It even has theatres and cinemas. Most of the buildings here are from the late Ottoman era, and are designed in classical, gothic, and renaissance styles.
Just outside the ground level of the restaurant building, there is a wall dedicated to some very tasteful graffiti. Rihanna seems to be very popular here as this is not the first time I've seen her portrait graffiti'ed on the wall in Istanbul.
Her popularity was helped by her role in the movie "Valerian" which I had the pleasure of watching whilst in Istanbul!
360Istanbul is set in a 19th century apartment building. Offering full 360 degree panoramic views of the city, it's penthouse has been redesigned to be a very modern and chic place to not only eat, but also drink and even party. On the weekends, the restaurant has DJ's, singers, and even dancers performing in the bar and dance area.
From the ground entrance, it is almost impossible to know that the restaurant is located but take the lift up to the 6th floor, and you arrive at a new landing area which is guarded by an airport like security scan gate and beyond that, a dark but ambient staircase reminding me very much of the red light district. For a moment, I thought I was about to enter into a naughty club and be welcomed by some scantily clad girls.
Because the staircase winds to the right as you walk up, you don't get to see what the restaurant is really like until you reach the very top. All the way, I was feeling like I might have walked into the wrong establishment and was ready to turn around if it didn't look like a restaurant by the time I reach the top.
And.. Voila! After a little bit of hesitation, I landed on the dining level with a pleasant smile. I didn't go to the wrong place and was pleasantly surprised to find what looked like a modern and chic restaurant with some beautiful lighting fixtures and interesting choices of plant decoration.
The entire bar area seemed to be quite empty, but with the amount of space it has allocated to this area, I imagine it is usually a lot more full on the weekends when people come to enjoy the music and performances.
In the distance, you can see the outside dining area where most of the guests are currently sitting.
The choice of decor almost serves like works of art, the chandelier if it can even be called that, is like an armadillo with hard armoured scales. In every angle, you can see real bansai tree's that have been carefully trimmed to keep them petite and yet beautiful in form.
Even though there was no need to wait, I really liked the decorations and atmosphere of the waiting area, so I sat down to have a picture taken!
In the background, you can already see the vast city transitioning from evening to night time as the lights in the buildings all started to turn on.
This is one of the DJ areas which is like a dig out in the wall.
Apparently the owner of the restaurant likes bonsai trees and that is why they are placed absolutely everywhere. Anyone who has a bonsai tree of their own will know that they must be looked after very well. Regular trimmings as well as good amounts of nutrients are required to keep these trees alive and always growing vibrant tiny green leaves.
The main DJ table has a projected video behind it on the wall. It add's to the young buzzing culture here which I imagine shows a completely different character at the weekend.
Next up, let's take a look at the night time city skyline. By the time I was seated, the night was in full swing and the sky was pretty much all black. The only light source came from the lights of the buildings around us. In the distance, you can see the Hagia Sophia and the Blue Mosque which are both illuminated very well, even with few kilometres of distance separating them from us.
Up close, you can see the Church of St. Antoine, the largest Roman Catholic Church in Istanbul.
The restaurant is called 360Istanbul because the rooftop penthouse allows you to walk fully around it and see Istanbul from angles all around the top. However, only the "front" section offering views of the mosques and churches are used as dining areas. Everywhere else is used as a casual outside lounge area for enjoying the view over some drinks.
Istanbul has skyscrapers too which you can see in the distance. It's a classic example of a historical city which has a mix of ancient buildings intertwined with the new. In the bottom right corner, you can see part of the İstiklal Avenue which remains well illuminated. Even at this time, the street is full of people.
The night time sky is perfectly clear, in-fact, this was the case for almost all the nights I spent in Turkey. This made the moon stand out in the night sky. It wasn't a full moon but it was certainly shining very brightly, helping to add to the city's night skyline.
The Menu
The restaurant has a very complete menu with a large number of wines to choose from.
It was also interesting to see the restaurant offering a complete Sushi menu.
There are many Mezze's to choose from, in-fact they are divided by hot and cold on the menu.
All around the edge of the rooftop is a protective glass "wall" and these tall thin triangular pyramid spikes.
Time to eat!
A strawberry virgin cocktail to start things off.
Instead of giving us many different kinds of bread to choose from, they made this one piece of bread with four different kinds of flavours.
It's always tempting to eat a lot of the complimentary bread so I believe the restaurant has given us little bitesize chunks of each to make sure we don't get too full before the rest of the food arrives.
In China, we like to begin the meal with a soup.
First, we have the Zen Beef Noodle Soup which was surprisingly not very beefy in flavour at all. It actually tasted more like a vegetable soup. The string beef added an extra bit of substance but didn't overwhelm the soup base which was tasted primarily of vegetables.
This is the Asparagus & Spinach mezze which is actually a cold dish. It's served with cheese and mushrooms. Definitely tasted like it was created for someone very health conscious. Quite plain in taste but rich in fibre.
Shellfish Ramen soup. This was actually a complete contrast to the other soup because the meats which consisted of prawn, squid and salmon were very strongly featured in the taste of the soup base. Unlike the Thai style coconut milk soup bases, the Turkish style only had a slight hint of coconut taste.
This is the Prawn Ceviche Salad which is served with a mix of avocado, lime and purslane. I almost couldn't taste the prawns because of how rich the taste of avocado and lime were. But, without the prawns to balance out the strong zesty taste of the green vegetables and lime, it would be difficult to eat it alone.
This is the Iskender Stylized Beef Fillet Escalopes. Firstly, I must say this dish has a very interesting presentation, I almost thought it was a work of art when it was served. The pepper was not the spicy kind, and I appreciated the light tempura batter. As for the beef, the fillet slices were very thin making it very accessible for people without strong teeth or week jaws that usually wouldn't be able to have the beef steaks.
This is perhaps one of the most interesting dishes I have ever come across featuring Prawns. It's called Potato Wrapped Prawn and as the name would suggest, has grilled prawns wrapped with very thin potato strips and then served on a bed of couscous, sour plum, pine nuts and bell pepper.
I've never eaten Prawns with Potato before because it doesn't seem like an obvious combination that would work. However, this dish made me question that because I found them to be perfectly complimentary of each other, where before I would be focusing on the freshness of the prawns alone, the fried potato allowed me to forget about that, and focus more of the taste of them together. It was like eating prawn tempura except with the batter tasting more like fries!
The dessert was a lovely mixture of Tiramisu, Caramel cake, and a warm berry sauce with Chocolate cake.
Out of the three, I liked the chocolate the most. The picture made it look like a burger, but I assure you it was most definitely chocolate!
After dinner, I thought i'd go take some more pictures of the restaurant.
This is the very large bar which becomes the focal point of business during the weekend.
The toilets are very clean and I love the little lights on and above the mirror.
Below, are the various awards given to this restaurant for being distinguished in the very crowded list of top restaurants in Istanbul.
Many people would assume that the 360 panoramic views are the main draw of the restaurant, but from the awards, you can see it has quite the reputation for it's food.
I certainly think this restaurant deserves top marks for it's food because they're presented extremely well, and are very well balanced.
Those looking for a mixture of cuisines will be spoilt for choice, and that is something I like very much.
Finally, I had the wonderful opportunity to meet the restaurant owner completely by accident.
Sashah kindly greeted me as I was on my way out, and was curious to know how I found the restaurant. Of course, I was extremely happy to report it was a delectable experience and one that I would be recommending to all my friends and followers.
Hearing this, Sashah was very happy and told me that he was actually one of the owners of the restaurant.
We talked for a while about how he got into the restaurant business, and even his early roots being born in London and growing up in Kensington.
It was so lovely to meet him because you could tell that he has put a lot of effort into making this restaurant a wonderful place to dine at and also a fun place to congregate and enjoy a beautiful view of the city over a drink!
I told him about Steemit and said that I would send him a link to my review of his restaurant when I post it.
I hope he finds it in good faith and enjoys the review!
And that concludes the Miss. Delicious visit to the 360Istanbul restaurant in Istanbul.
According to their website, they pride themselves for their Cuisine, Entertainment, Vibe and Ambience - truly a winning combination for connoisseurs and travellers alike.
I hope you enjoyed my post. If you did, please don't hesitate and upvote it, follow if you haven't already, and leave a comment to let me know what you think!
土耳其作为世界上唯一一个跨两个大陆的城市，它独特的地理位置，让这个国家得到多民族的多种文化融合，这种不同文化的冲击造就了土耳其及其丰富的美食文化。曾经听到这样一个说法，如果说纽约是一座从来不睡觉的城市，那么伊斯坦布尔则是一座从来没有停下吃的节奏的城市。在土耳其的大街上，各种小吃摊点，各种风味的餐厅，甜点铺，还有各种当地特色的香料，食材等等，完全可以把一个正常游客变身成看见食物，两眼发光的吃货一族。我就是这样活生生的例子呀，这一次我有幸在土耳其探索到了不少难忘级别的美味食物。独立大街上，各种不同风味的小吃甜点不断吸引，诱惑着我，我努力的尝试控制自己，但是失败了。今天就带大家探索一家在当地非常受欢迎的餐厅，360度餐厅。这家餐厅就位于最为热闹，最有人气的独立大街上。
我历经了千辛万苦，拒绝大街上的美食，来到了这家餐厅。早早就听说这家餐厅可以看到博斯普鲁斯海峡和圣安东尼区,还可以俯瞰贝约格鲁区的千家万户。可谓是拥有360度无敌海景的当红餐厅，在网络上的各种评论里，来自世界各地游客们都对于这家餐厅大加赞赏。因为害怕当天生意火爆，冒然去餐厅会抓瞎，所以提前一天，我就早早预定了位置。去的时候已经是傍晚，伊斯坦布尔迷人的夜色在整个城市的上空蔓延开来，餐厅的楼下有几副巨大的街头艺术涂蜡墙，内容就是最近刚刚上映的电影——星际特工：千星之城里的主演，也是当红歌手Rihanna，颜色特别鲜艳，我非常喜欢就上前合影了。360度伊斯坦布尔餐厅的门口，鲜艳的霓虹灯。没错，集餐厅和酒吧于一身，这家餐厅位于屋顶阁楼，四周为玻璃墙壁环绕，如果你围着室外露天阳台走，是可以走整整一圈的。
看见餐厅室内的装饰，我想你不会否认这家餐厅是整座城市最时尚潮流的地方之一，不仅有一个区域完全是像艺术展一样的展厅，放着餐厅老板收藏的各种艺术画作和艺术雕塑，头上这展如同菊花盛开的灯吸引了我，和我今天穿的裙子有着相同的元素，所以又忍不住过去和她合个影。整个餐厅最让我惊艳的就是这白色半透明的梦幻窗帘了，它们随着夜晚温柔的风，伴随着餐厅播放的轻松音乐，来回飘荡，给我非常舒心放松的感觉。餐厅的墙上，打着光，投影着老电影，非常有情调。听工作人员介绍，餐厅的老板非常喜欢盆景，所以整个餐厅都摆满了大大小小不同形态的艺术植物。不禁让我好奇，这个餐厅老板，一定是个有意思的人，痴迷于亚洲的文化，同时有不失现代艺术和时尚的品味。
这家餐厅的景色绝佳，不仅可以看到附近的圣安多尼圣殿，同时与蓝色清真寺，圣索菲亚大教堂隔河相望，河上亮着荧光灯的大小船只缓缓驶向远方，景色真的美不胜收。餐厅工作人员安排我们坐在最靠近圣殿的位置，景色最好，我非常喜欢。这家餐厅的菜单非常有意思，混合了各种不同风味菜系，有寿司，也有意大利面、宝莱坞风味的披萨，和融合当地风味的创意美食。我点了一个草莓味道的鸡尾酒，在夜色下格外迷人。面包，饼干配橄榄油作为餐厅赠送的部分第一个送到桌上，体现了餐厅对我们的到来热情的欢迎。面包是四种不同口味制作在一起的，好有创意。
牛肉丝汤也极具创意，加了紫菜片，让我想到了日本拉面，味道特别鲜美。一大盘新鲜的芦笋在国外的餐厅很少看到，上面放了先奶酪片，味道好极了。接下来这个汤融合了虾，鱿鱼，三文鱼和椰汁奶，听上去就很有创意的组合，吃起来更是非常的香，酸酸的味道非常开胃。虾肉的沙拉，加了柠檬和鳄梨，好吃的停不下来。土耳其特色的牛肉饼，边上还有土豆片和西红柿，作为主菜真的让人吃的好饱。这个虾是我今晚最喜欢的菜了，让我非常惊讶的是，虾肉的外面包了一层炸土豆丝，土耳其的菜肴里，经常出现炸土豆丝，非常好吃。最后我选择了拼盘式的甜点，让我能够尽可能尝到不同种类的甜品。有以巧克力为主的蛋糕，还有类似提拉米苏的甜心，和草莓芒果的慕斯蛋糕，简直不能更享受了。
享受完美食，还参观了一下这家餐厅的历史墙，和这些年所获得的各种奖牌，真的是一家及美貌和美食于一体的餐厅呢。没想到去完洗手间之后，碰见了餐厅老板，他很感兴趣于我作旅游博客的故事，连忙问我要名片，可惜我还没能做出Steemit的名片。我们聊了狠多，热情好客的他还请我留下来继续喝酒吃甜品，可惜自己吃的太饱。最后我们合了影，记录下了美好的一刻。我真心的希望以后可以邀请更多感兴趣于旅游，美食和时尚的博主来到Steemit，让这个平台拥有更多丰富多彩的文章。今天的美食之旅就到这里吧，希望大家喜欢这个美景美食应有尽有的360度餐厅，之后还会有更多好吃的餐厅要和大家分享。