Leb-i Derya
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Leb-i Derya with its minimalist decoration, attentive service and magnificent view of the Bosphorus is the perfect place if you wish to go to distant locations without getting away from the city. It is located on the terrace floor of the Richmond Hotel, which is on the left side of the road when you walk from Taksim to Tunel, 300 meters after passing Galatasaray High school.
Leb-i Derya is one of a new breed of hip Istanbul restaurants that attracts a young, wealthy crowd. Its location on the top floor gives it a tiny terrace, so reserve an outdoor table for a cocktail. Traditional Ottoman cuisine is brought bang up to date, and it's a great place to check out the view and enjoy people-watching.
A chic, glassless greenhouse stands in the middle of this hip but unpretentious rooftop place, with a bar counter lined with slatted white wood chairs round the roof perimeter. Though the point of the place is the setting, food is international, meaning that all-Turkish dishes mix it up with all-not-Turkish dishes. In the appetizer/meze region, the latter include potato skins and spiced fries, nachos, and Cajun chicken (in case anyone's homesick for the sports bar). At dinner, steak of all kinds -- spiced and grilled; with eggplant and Tulum cheese -- dominates alongside entrée salads and a few uninteresting pastas. Consider coming for Sunday breakfast with simit (a kind of croissant with sesame), eggs, börek, kashar cheese, and homemade bread -- and the fab Bosphorus views in daylight. The same owners recently opened Leb-i Derya Richmond, a similar concept on the top floor of a hotel Kumbaracı Yokuşu.
115/7 Kumbaracı İş Hanı. Tünel-Beyoğlu/İstanbul
Phone: 0212 293 49 89
www.lebiderya.com
Branch /Leb-i Derya Richmond
Phone: + 90 212 243 4376 // +90 (0) 212 243 4387