Istanbul Travel ideas | Lunch Magazine

Istanbul – where eats meet waist

Megan orders tea in perfect Turkish and we sit down on stools where I learn that Turkish tea is the perfect thing to wash down halvah. I forget about everything else I’ve tasted, and relish the moment. After some quiet time absorbing the history of the courtyard, and licking my lips of the halvah, we head up to the residential Fatih neighbourhood to try Boza, a fermented millet drink at a cafe with original tile floors dating back to 1876, and art deco mirrors. The place has been kept intact.

Bosphorus hotel strictly off the straight and narrow

At the edge of the Bosphorus, on the Asian side of Istanbul sits the Sumahan on the Water Hotel. This is a place for those in the know, literally. It’s bad enough most Istanbul cab drivers make fake promises of knowing their way around, but read out the Sumahan’s address, just outside the Cengelkoy neighbourhood and you’ll be surprised just how many times they stop to ask directions.