NOH Radio Bar

NOH Radio is made of two floors, the upper one is the bar and bathrooms where a semi-organised queue of people wait for okay-at-best cocktails. The bottom floor is a small dancing area with a DJ set. They tend to have good lineups. The music is not loud enough to get the whole street going but it does make you vibe if you are close enough to the entrance.

Context: After the first summer of the pandemic, what used to be a normal street with a couple of bars became *the* spot for late-night hangouts. There was a time when bars had to close early to prevent people from socialising too much and spreading Covid. But people were allowed to be outside a bit longer. That led to street parties during the weekends, with no central location serving as a gathering point. The street where NOH Radio is on was one of the epicentres of this trend and the only one that remained an open-air gathering point. Now any day of the week, but especially on weekends, you can see hundreds of people standing outside the bars, sitting on the stairs across and leaning against the cars in the parking space.

What to order: Honestly, the cocktails here are pretty average. None of them would make you sad to be drinking, but if you are just there for the vibes and can handle a beer, just get one from a nearby tekel shop.

What to know: There are often street sellers who park around with their small mobile carts for late-night snacks. There is always a popcorn guy, Mehmet, who pops the corn on live coal fire and generously salts it, though it’s not the best. There is also another guy who pulls around his (what looks like) refrigerated mini truck and sells milk-based desserts like sütlaç, which has always perplexed me because it is definitely not the late-night snack of choice for Turkish people.