Giritli Restaurant

I discovered Giritli too late. Its garden hidden in a Fatih/Cankurtaran side street bedazzled me from the first instance. A very pleasant, stone-built, grape vine-hanging, old taverna vibe dominates your experience with calm, lazy happiness. The food matches the quality of the service and ambiance. This place is my go-to summer meyhane recommendation.

What to order: The “tasting menu”. Meyhanes do not tend to have tasting menus, but Giritli has ingeniously chosen to cater to its culinarily curious clientele in a unique way. I believe the whole table is required to order the tasting menu to avoid chaos, but it is very much worth it in every sense of the word. The plates come to the table to be shared, classic meyhane style. Right off the bat the amuse-bouche of warm seafood orzo with dill amuses the bouche perfectly. The salmon pastirma is one of my favorites, along with the grape vine leaf wrapped grilled sardines.