Egg & Burger is a cozy, American-style diner that has become a favorite among locals, especially those living in Nişantaşı where the original branch is located. Recently, the diner has opened a branch in Etiler, very close to Akmerkez, to offer the same 50s style diner experience to those living and working around the area.

This new branch is small, much like its Nişantaşı counterpart, with two tables and a few bar stools inside. There are a couple of tables outside as well, but the heaters don’t suffice at the moment. A semi-closed area is in the works though, so if you’re craving for some tasty fast food, head to Egg & Burger in Etiler.

Their special Egg & Burger comes highly recommended – even if you’re a classic at heart, give this one a chance. The fried egg, the special sauce, the caramelized onions make the burger very flavorful. If going with a group, make sure to try the onion rings, too!

Egg & Burger; Nispetiye Caddesi, Yıldızçiçeği Sokak No. 2/E, Etiler; P: (0212) 265 09 99

Before merging in Beyoğlu, Peymane was located in Asmalımescit for ten years, whereas La Cucina used to be a boutique, homey Italian restaurant located in Kemerburgaz.

Now, Peymane – La Cucina is housed in a 5-storey historical building that includes an indoor-seating area, a garden, and a bar where DJ performances and stand-up shows will be held starting November. A VIP room is also available for those looking for a private area for their special occasion lunches and dinners.

There are two separate menus available at the restaurant. If you’re a meat fan, you can order from Peymane’s menu, which ranges from kebab dishes and mezes to salads and desserts, while your pasta-loving friend eats a classic pasta from La Cucina’s menu, which focuses on classic Italian dishes like pasta, risotto, and pizza.

Arşipel is a fish restaurant that made its initial entry to the restaurant scene in the southwestern city of Bodrum. It later opened a branch in Suada but has recently moved to a venue with a large terrace and indoor seating area in Kuruçeşme.

Arşipel’s menu includes a variety of fish and seafood, hot and cold appetizers, salads, pasta, risotto, and a few chicken and meat dishes. The highlights of the menu are the freshly caught fish. Some fish are caught from the Bosphorus; swordfish, lobster, and sea bass from the northwestern city of Çanakkale; sea bream from Bodrum; grouper and jumbo shrimp from the southern city of Karataş. The mezes include samphire, charcoaled eggplant, fried eggplant with tomato sauce, and cheese plate in addition to lots of seafood mezes, such as stuffed mussels, octopus, and salted bonito.

The team behind Da Mario, Zuma, Anjelique, and several other top-notch restaurants has recently opened Carlotta—a concept venue that encompasses a restaurant, deli, and cafe all in one. Located in the business district of Maslak, this weekday-only venue is the ideal place for a quick and healthy lunch for solo diners as well as small groups.

Spread over two floors and a small outside seating area, Carlotta can be summarized with three words: healthy, delicious, and reasonably-priced. They offer a variety of dishes to cater to a wide range of diners. The menu includes sandwiches, wraps, salads, tarts, desserts, and baked goods—including simit (Turkish version of bagel), croissants, muffins, and Turkish-style savory buns. They also sell jams, granola bars, biscotti, and Belgian chocolate. Their jams are made in the southern city of Bodrum, and include such flavors as mastic-apple, Bodrum mandarin, raspberry, and sour cherry. Their Belgian chocolate range also features interesting flavors, such as lavender.

As you enter Carlotta, you’ll see a deli-style display on your right where you can have a look at what’s on offer and pick what you like—which may turn out to be a difficult task as everything on display looks quite appetizing. You can either eat at the small, round tables by the left of the entrance, go upstairs for a more spacious setting (although the view is not much of a sight), and during warm days you can enjoy your food on the benches and tables outside.

The Guide Team has already been to Carlotta twice, and got to try most of what’s on the menu. From the salad section, we had Annemin Buğday Salatası (made with wheat; nuts; pomegranate seeds; and dried figs, apricot, and cranberry), Fidji (made with wild rice, almonds, capers, pomegranate seeds, and fresh oregano), Osaka (made with marinated chicken, Mexican beans, Edamame, almonds, walnuts, and cherry tomatoes), Izgara Sebze (mixed grilled vegetables with balsamic vinegar), and Akdenizli Orzo (made with orzo, dried tomatoes, and fresh basil). All salads were fresh and delicious. The BBQ Tavuk Pita (made with grilled chicken, pickle, tomato, greens, and BBQ sauce) was the healthy version of tavuk döner (roasted chicken sold at Turkish fast-food joints) and was very tasty. We suggest you finish off your meal with an apple crumble pie.

Carlotta offers delivery services in Maslak. But even if you’re not working in the Maslak area, Carlotta is well worth a car ride for either a sit-in or take-away lunch. For healthy dining at reasonable prices with great flavors, Carlotta is the way to go!

Located on a residential street in Levent, Harem is a recently-opened restaurant that offers a refuge from the hectic city life with its relaxing garden. Unlike the name suggests, Harem’s decoration is quite modern and the menu is a mix of Turkish and international fare without a focus on a particular cuisine. Set by the entrance of this one-story venue, the comfy corner on the left looks just like the patio of a friend’s house where you could spend hours chatting away, while the big round table on the right seems ideal for a get-together with the whole office. Even though the entire garden is nice and breezy, the tables in the back take advantage from the extra shade.

Despite the fact that the venue is so appealing due to its calm and quiet atmosphere as well as its excellent service, the food is not on par with the venue’s other features.Still, Harem would make for a great spot for a coffee break with a friend.

Like its Beyoğlu counterpart, 360 East benefits from a truly spectacular panoramic view of the city, stretching from the Princes Islands on the Marmara Sea to the Bosphorus Strait. Designed by architect Ufuk Alparslan, 360 East is a modern and stylish club and restaurant where you can enjoy Turkish cuisine with an international twist or a poolside cocktail—yes, there’s a pool, and it’s not just for show!

Although 360 East carries almost the same concept as 360 Istanbul in Beyoğlu, there are some minimal changes to the menu, such as the Iceberg cocktail (made with Malibu, Batida Coco, Blue Curacao, and coconut milk) and Cranberry Royal (made with champagne, cranberry juice, and cranberry bits). Their new fruity additions sound fresh and tasty, but their classic signature cocktail called 360 is particularly good. As you sip this citrusy cocktail, you can truly taste the strawberry, cinnamon, and shavings of lemon and orange. We suggest you sample all, and maybe the Cucumber Margarita, too, if you don’t mind mixing it up.

With concerts and DJs lined up throughout the summer, 360 East is sure to quickly become one of the trendiest nightlife spots on the Asian side. Their first live performance is due to take place on July 15 with Natalie Peris, one of the most successful electronic vocalists of Croatia. After embarking on a musical journey as a lead singer in various jazz bands, Peris switched to electronic music, releasing songs like “Dance With You,” “Disco Belle,” and “Not Enough.”

Whether you live on the Asian Side or the European Side, we suggest you check out 360 East and see Istanbul from a completely different angle!

Peris will be at 360 East on July 15-16 and July 22-23. For a sneak peek, click here.

Known for their quality, beautiful packaging, and attention to detail, Café di Dolce gained a loyal clientele and eventually opened a second branch in the resort town of Bodrum. Now with the new Kandilli branch, residents of the city’s Asian side will no longer have to visit the European side to indulge in luxury sweets. Apart from home deliveries, a boat shuttle service between Kuruçeşme and Kandilli is also available.

The team behind the Otto restaurants has launched a new venue called Bloom. Located between the Ulus and Ortaköy neighborhoods, Bloom is a funky new restaurant/bar housed in the Lotus development. The menu features Italian, Mediterranean, and Turkish cuisines, with a wood-burning oven that allows Bloom to turn out tasty, thin-crust pizzas.

The menu also features pastas, burgers, salads, and light options, as well as a range of classic and exotic cocktails, while a special brunch menu is available on Sundays. Smokers will be happy to note that there is also a large terrace, with plenty of outdoor seating available. Bloom has the same cool vibe and colorful décor at its sister establishments, which makes it a great option for those who don’t want to travel to Beyoğlu, making this a very welcome addition to the area’s dining and nightlife scene.

Sadly, the experience does not live up to the hype. Money should certainly be no object for those who choose to dine at Cipriani. The prices of the meals are unreasonably high, at around 30-50 TL for starters and around 60-100 TL for mains. Yet even at these prices, what you get is rather unremarkable, lacking in flavor.

The wine list is very over-priced and was not even cooled properly on our visit. Turning to the décor, the feeling of the restaurant was very cramped and the furniture undersized, creating a stuffy atmosphere. The bright note was the service; the waiters were kind and attentive. It seems that Cipriani’s Istanbul branch has a long way to go before it can live up to its celebrated namesake.

Although the venue houses a Caffé Nero (a clear winner with caffeine-addicts), Blogger’s Base is not primarily a café. The Base is a truly unique enterprise as it offers a meeting point for ideas and serves as a creative forum. At Blogger’s Base, it is not all idle chat and artistic ego massaging—the place is clearly well on its way to becoming a magnet for any forward-thinking company looking to invest in young artists who have their finger on the pulse of what’s going on in Istanbul and who can reflect that in blog form.

Hidden in a side street of Galata like a well-kept secret, Blogger’s Base is quite extraordinary with its décor and reflects the eclectic taste and wide-ranging interests of its founder Mansur ‘riffmaister’ Forutan. Having worked as a writer and editor for FHM, a music producer, and a designer, Mansur has a finger in most blog-related pies at the venue.

Walking in Blogger’s Base, you are greeted by an entrance area filled with old LP records and walls overlaid with record covers from the 70s and 80s. Up some stairs lies the Nero outlet and beyond that, the Base itself—comfortable sofas and armchairs with a distinctly modern feel, a few laptops, tables covered in retro magazines, board games, and generally bizarre paraphernalia. Amongst the eclectic furniture and busy people blogging away, there is a small recording set in the corner, which functions as a mini studio for the rock band that has already established itself there. A chessboard shaped like Africa and featuring wooden African pieces (like a roughly hewn giraffe in place of a knight) was a particular favorite, along with a phallic pink telephone, an inexplicable Welsh flag, and a tic-tac-toe board. The bright young things tapping away at computers were for the most part intimidatingly well-dressed and aged in their 20s and early 30s, talking amongst themselves or engrossed in their blog, macchiato forgotten beside them.

Mansur is all in favor of people coming and going, exchanging ideas, and generally having a good time. He does not seem to have a detailed game plan, and that is part of the charm of the Base. The venue features an unfinished part downstairs, which is currently being converted into a stage for concerts and readings. This is exciting stuff, and probably one of many innovations that will take place over the coming months. Watch this blog.