I came here twice, once for cocktails, once for coffee…read more
Let's start with the cocktails.
I'm a fan of a really good cocktail. In every city I go to I try and find a really good cocktail place, the kind of place they is doing their own recipes and is doing them well, or the place that does classics really well. I think we should aspire to get the best cocktails we can in life, and that relies largely on the bartenders being great at what they do.
I skimmed the menu for cocktails and boy was I disappointed. There wasn't anything on the menu that piqued my interest. Some classics, some semi original, but nothing too creative. Most of the drinks looked like a combination of a few liqueurs, but no syrups or other potential flavor profiles. After skimming the menu, I asked if they had mescal or could make me a mescal drink, and they didn't have it. I ended up going for a drink with whiskey and bitters and a few other ingredients. I was not expecting much, and what I got tasted like it was whiskey with some bitters for $15. My friend got a rose flavored gin drink and it was quite sweet and nothing that was good enough for me to remember the ingredients. In general the menu felt like combinations of liqueurs and not like a cocktail menu.
Our one drink was up and, given that the menu didn't excite me or my guest, we departed after paying nearly 30 lira a drink. If I compare this experience to an experience I had A few weeks earlier at a cocktail bar in Copenhagen where I got a completely original mescal drink from an inspired bartender, I cannot put them in the same ballpark. The Copenhagen cocktail was miles ahead of this one.
Round 2, we return during the day for coffee.
A semi sunny winter day in Istanbul, my friend and I are in need of a good cappuccino to start our day off right. We decide to try the place with the slightly disappointing cocktails and see if their coffee is as good as what the reviews say. We walk in, order 2 cappuccinos and 2 croissants.
The cappuccinos are served at an absurdly high temperature, much closer to 95°C than 75°C. They are hot enough to completely burn your mouth with a sip. I was rather astounded by this, as the temperature of the milk was clearly much too hot. Anyone who had served that should have known the milk had been over steamed and started over. The milk temperature being as high as it was meant the texture of the milk had been abused at this point as well, and that left a sort of buttery consistency in the mouth. All together not a pleasing cup to drink, and violating a lot of my understanding of a quality cappuccino. The espresso might have been interesting, but the cappuccino's temperature and texture completely masked that.
We finished our drinks, paid more than we would have at kronotrop down the street for a better prepared cappuccino, and left.
I resolved to write the review because my experiences don't match the other reviewers here. Give this place a try if you'd like but my experience was less than stellar for both cocktails and coffee, and I would not recommend it to friends.
