Soho House Istanbul

The Soho House Istanbul is especially cool because it used to be an old Venetian villa, the Palazzo Corpi. Every detail in the house is beautiful, the high ceilings, worn-effect wallpapers, the Soho House vintage midcentury furniture. During the day it’s a great working or casual meeting spot. At night the bar gives out decent and consistent cocktails. During spring and summer months the terrace is open and hosts one of the best views of the Old Town and Haliç (Golden Horn). Perfect for sunsets as well as live music events.

Context:
This is a members club, so you either have to be a member or visit with a member as one of three guests. Find a friend who has a vaguely creative job or just has money lying around and can afford a membership. Honestly if you use the gym it does make sense, otherwise you need a whole lot of attending events to find a price to value ratio. This is not the case in the UK or in some other countries as Soho Houses there have been flooded with finance bros and consultant lassies. In Istanbul it’s still a relatively okay crowd of creatives, tech yuppies and the odd inheritance kiddo.

What to order:
The spicy margarita called Picante is a members’ favourite. The bar will also do classic cocktails. When it comes to food, Soho House used be a great spot for a power lunch and its restaurant Nava used to have some tasty dishes with flair. In the recent years the quality of the ingredients has gone down but appetizers still hold enough flavor to sate the appetite between picantes.

What to know:
The entrance is misleading. Looking at two buildings the one on the right is the hotel section, more on that here (LINK). The marble building on the right is what you are looking for, the door is on the left. There is a weakly enforced rule to not take photos inside, especially of others.