Soho House Istanbul: run-down, urban, arty and techie in equal measure

Andrew Barker soaks up the history (and hipster scene) at Nick Jones’ new Istanbul outpost
Soho House Instanbul: A terrace with a view
(Picture: Engin Ayade
Andrew Barker14 August 2015

I had a good idea of what to expect from Istanbul: a hectic, multicultural mash-up of a city, the major trading hub on the Silk Road ruled by Roman emperors and scimitar-happy sultans until Turkey became a republic nearly 100 years ago. But I didn’t expect such a lively modern city.

Sitting on Soho House’s Mandolin Terrace, a G&T in hand, and small plates of calamari and grilled sea bass on the table, my boyfriend Javier and I watched the sun set over the Bosphorus alongside the city’s actors, artists and media types, plus a few familiar faces — one table away were Daisy Lowe and her family.

Based in Beyoglu on the city’s European side, the House has taken over all five floors of the former American consulate, a 19th-century palazzo built by a Genoese merchant. Nick Jones and his team have repainted its frescos and restored its Corinthian columns, and it joins the banks and galleries, bars and bakeries in the city’s swankiest district. There is a glass and concrete hotel, with baths with a view; a rooftop pool; a Cowshed spa and a branch of Cecconi’s on site.

Over breakfast of avocado and poached eggs in the sun-drenched courtyard, we planned our long weekend: first up, a spot of light shopping. A dangerously short ten-minute walk from the House, past the Galata Tower, is Serdar-i Ekrem, the city’s answer to Shoreditch’s Redchurch Street, with so much more than carpets on offer. Concept stores including the cavernous Atelier 55 stock European labels such as APC alongside local T-shirt brand Les Benjamins, not to mention reasonably priced jewellery and homeware from the kitsch to the mid-century classic.

No trip here is complete without a visit to a Turkish bath. We went to Kilic Ali Pasa, whose steamy domes were designed by the architect to Sultan Suleyman the Magnificent in the 16th century and restored two years ago. We lay on marble slabs in towels before being unceremoniously slapped, scrubbed and slopped with icy water for half an hour by merciless men in flip-flops. Then they sent us to relax over a glass of yoghurt.

Blue Mosque from Hagia Sophia
(Picture: Alamy)

The hammam is in Karakoy, a grid of restaurants, galleries and cafés, just behind the docks, where you can while away a whole day as you hop from coffee house to watering hole. The vibe is pure Shoreditch: run-down, urban, arty and techie in equal measure. After watching some fishermen reel in their supper straight from the Golden Horn, we had a cold beer in Unter, a bar where the crowd spills on to the street and DJs play on well past midnight.

But the hammam had left us hungry. I had it on good authority that the top restaurant in this part of town had nothing to do with tasting menus. Karakoy Lokantasi (meaning canteen) was reasonably priced, the look was wall-to-wall turquoise tiles and the food was as authentic as it gets. Highlights included lamb chops, grilled octopus and baked aubergine. Another favourite was Yeni Lokanta where the manti — dumplings stuffed with aubergine — and the ricotta butter on fresh sourdough had us begging for seconds.

That left only one day to do the sights. TripAdvisor’s Travelers’ Choice Destinations 2014 report saw Istanbul topple Paris as the world’s most popular destination. More than ten million flew in last year to gawp at the Blue Mosque, the Hagia Sophia and the Topkapi Palace, where sultans ruled for 500 years and queues snake around both its perimeter and inner cloisters to see the collection of relics, jewels and armour. We were advised to save all of it for the Monday to avoid the crush. We met our guide Sinan, a Soho House member who specialises in walking tours, and packed all of the above, plus a lunch of grilled fish and a whizz through the Grand Bazaar and Spice Bazaar, and the underwater cathedral that is the Basilica Cistern, into a five-hour tour before catching our evening flight. On the way home we assessed the trip. Hectic? Yes. Historic? Yes. Hipster? Ish. It’ll be on the map for years.

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