Donuz

Photos via LondonEater

For a long time, between 1995 and 2003, the Italian scene in Istanbul has been limited to Mezzaluna Restaurant. Mezzaluna lost some of its appeal in the interim and has diversified its scope and services by opening its fast-food branch, the Mezzaluna Express –delivery of express Italian meals for those in a hurry. That said, Mezzaluna continues to hold the quality of its service and meals, ceased, nevertheless a long time ago, being the first-date restaurant of the city. Now just a good choice for an informal meal, found in a corner in every shopping mall.

Da Mario of the Doors Entertainment Group, received the flag from Mezzaluna; and proved itself to be an upscale, romantic Italian Restaurant on the hills of Etiler. The menu, too, is designed to offer plenty of Italian tastes, including the Osso Buco, as well as oven-baked pizzas and good Italian wine. Criticism remains to be made still for the heavy spices used in the pasta sauces, which has turned my stomach upside down more than a few times. Some also comment that, “it used to be a cool place”; now frequented by business people for business lunches and by families or mid-aged couples on weekends. Still a possibility on the list of date, business, romantic and serious dinner restaurants and has been chosen once the “Best Restaurant in Istanbul” by the Financial Times in its special Turkey additional copy –year unknown and unannounced…

Another enterprise of the Doors Entertainment Group, A’jia Hotel Restaurant also offers very good Italian cuisine samples –for which I have no criticism to offer: A flawless service, unbeatable location on the Bosphorus, bewildering delicacies. I had fresh pasta with minced meat sauce, while my companion went for the seafood pasta –and was harassed by me the entire time, because I kept diving into his plate with my fork. The food was that good indeed. The prices were naturally higher –also higher than other “A” class restaurants in Istanbul- but the food was worth it.

Can’t stop giving away this tip: In winter, the best table is number 30, a corner table inside. In summer go for any table on the river terrace.

Ristorante Il Padrino is one of the oldest Italian restaurants in Istanbul. The first of its branches, which at the time was also the first Italian Restaurant in the city, was opened in 1990 in Caddebostan on the Asian side, on the Bagdat Street. A new branch has been opened later in Atasehir, followed by a kebab restaurant –also in Istanbul- and then a fish restaurant in Cesme / Izmir. Il Padrino was often talked for its ravishing pizzas. It has, nevertheless, lost some of its popularity in the modern day.

The Doors Group dominates the Italian food market in Istanbul with its mid-size Italian Café Restaurants, such as the Mama and the Gina. Unless you are a resident, avoid these places. They are not bad, but there are much more interesting places to see and food to taste in limited time.

There is also the pearl of Kurucesme, Mia Mensa Restaurant. Mia Mensa has also opened its second branch in Suadiye Park on the Asian side. Whilst, a nice, elegant place, Mia Mensa lacks the atmosphere of a true Italian Restaurant, and its Kurucesme branch remains to be a favorite hang-around place by young adolescents. Service also tends to get sloppy and rude from time to time…

My latest discovery for Italian food in Istanbul is Da Vittorio. Have been hearing about this place for a long time… I had also been passing by it a few times, and I was more than curious about its food. So must everyone else be, since I was turned down twice for reservations –the restaurant was full two for two successive weekends! Nevertheless, I did finally make it. Once inside, I felt as if I was back in Milano: “Ciao, Buena sera” and we were seated amidst Italian welcoming words… Menu simple: a few antipasti, few primi piattis –pasta basically- followed by meat or fish. Aside from what was on the menu, there were also a few other daily meals, including very unique dishes like the grilled artichokes. We shared two antipasti: the grilled artichoke with green salad and assorted sardine platter. Both were delicious, I cannot say that the sardines were to die for, but they were nice. As main course, I ordered the “Paccheri Amitriciana” –fresh pasta with tomato and goat cheese. It was very very nice, much better than some pasta I have had while back in Milan. My companion had the seafood risotto with tomato sauce, which was also delicious, but again, I am not a fan of seafood in pasta and tomato… As for dessert, there was no Tiramisu, which I found interesting at first, but there might be a plausible explanation… We had the mixed berry crumble, a to-die-for selection…

The restaurant owner, Vittorio, is a Sicilian and I doubt that Tiramisu is Sicilian. In fact, Tiramisu is noted to have originated either from Treviso or Siena… I would have expected to see cannolis on the menu –traditional Sicilian dessert, also appears in God Father Movie- but there was none of that either. In either case, the food was delicious and the menu was compact. The place was typically Italian and the clients were mostly quite elegant people. Vittorio is noted to have worked at Bice, Papermoon and W Restaurants before opening his own place: Da Vittorio… Ansen Suit Hotel, Meşrutiyet Caddesi No:130, Beyoglu

Last, but not the least is Trattoria da Rosario, still on my waiting list of new discoveries. Please comment if you by any chance have already been there.

This entry was posted on Thursday, January 28th, 2010 at 10:18 pm and is filed under Food, Istanbul. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.