Hi guys!!!!!
So I’ve been a bit quiet, and that’s because life has been doing what life does. This post was due last week, but I haven’t had the emotional bandwidth to deal with a lot of work stuff in the last 2 weeks, but that’s not why you’re here, so let’s get to the good stuff.
My girl, Nabila and I had been talking about a few places we wanted to go to here in the city, and top of the list was the 16 roof bar at Swiss Ötel, because I wanted to review somewhere nice that you could have drinks and enjoy a night out with friends.
As you’ve probably guessed I’m a bit of a recluse and introvert, so I don’t really know all the places to see, eat and go to. Nabila on the other hand knows everywhere there is to know in Istanbul, and she shares all that wonderful knowledge with me, as well as accompanies me on my blogging adventures.
I decided to head over to Nabila’s in Yenibosna first, so we could head to Nişantaşı where Swiss Ötel is located together. We took a taxi from Yenibosna for about 105TL.
You do have to call ahead to make a reservation, as it’s a little boujie, and it does get busy at night with good reason - the view of the city from here is magnificent. We did make a reservation at 6pm, for 8:30pm, but we were offered a slot for 9pm, and we gladly took it.
As its name suggests, 16 roof is the restaurant/bar atop Swiss Ötel, a 5 star hotel in Istanbul. We arrived at the hotel, and after standard security checks, we walked through the lobby to the elevator where we rode up to the 16th floor.
The lobby was beautiful, decorated all over with gorgeous fuchsia orchids, and bright yellow lights. It even had the most stunning, sleek grand piano I ever did see.
I also was pleasantly surprised to find a Van Cleef and Arpels outlet right there in the lobby. I believe you can also get a Patek Philippe watch somewhere in the lobby, as I did see something to advertise it on one of the pillars, but there wasn’t enough time to investigate as we were 15 minutes late to dinner already.
We were welcomed at the restaurant by a wonderful lady after going through the security check at the entrance, who led us in and left us in the care of a waiter who showed us the seats reserved for us and catered to our every whim afterwards.
The service at 16 roof is one of the best I’ve ever received in my life. Everyone was attentive, from the waiters, to the managers who came separately to ensure that all was going well, and then a third time to offer us a table at the bar which is at the very top after dinner, to the chef who sent us complimentary beef tartare which was nice, because we skipped on ordering appetizers.
The beef tartare was wonderful to say the least. It had something crunchy in it, I don’t know what it was, but I could see that whatever it was seemed breaded with panko crumbs. It also had some cream, that tasted like sour cream, and some sort of vegetable that had been spiralized. All of it combined in my mouth to give me something that was simply delightful to eat.
We were also served the mandatory bread rolls, and butter. The bread was soft and chewy on the inside with a texture very similar to cake, but hard on the outside and the butter was a creamy and good as it gets. I suspect that it was more likely kaymak which is similar to clotted cream, and something Turkish people sometimes use instead of butter.
For our entrees, I ordered the Arroz Frito Cantones which was described as Fried jasmine rice seafood, with citrus chili chutney and pickled daikon. Nabila ordered the Lomo Saltado which was described as Peruvian style beef stir fried, vegetables, rice and potatoes.
Looking at the menu now to write this blog post, it explains a bit for me what the daikon and the chutney were. You can laugh at me later when you watch the YouTube video of me trying to figure out what exactly I was eating. Lol.
Y’all my food was ahmayzinggggggggggg! Lol! I loved it so so much, but I think I really enjoyed it, because I generally like Asian food and Far East Cuisine. Ignore the name, this was basically a bed of vegetable fried rice, and a spicy seafood sauce mixed together as though you were making Nigerian Jollof rice under an omelette blanket.
The seafood was abundant, everything from prawns to clams to calamari, all perfectly cooked, nothing rubbery. I even think there was some octopus in there as well. There was a ton of soy sauce in this, and some ginger with a good amount of msg. The rice was perfectly cooked, it even had sweet corns in it as well as an abundance of other vegetables I couldn’t decipher in the dim light of night. I was a tad fascinated by the omelette, because I couldn’t understand why it was there, but I think it did aid plating and presentation. It was garnished with sesame seeds which gave it a crunch in some parts, and chives. All of which made this meal feel like an explosion of flavor in your mouth. It was great!
When I tried this with the chutney and daikon, it made me feel like I was eating sweet and sour Chinese sauce with fried rice, but better.
Nabila’s food tasted like well done steak stir fried in a bell pepper and onion sauce. The bell peppers gave it a sweet taste. The potatoes were interesting. They were wedges, but I couldn’t tell if they were air fried or roasted dry or something. They were dry, but it wasn’t bad at all, just different from any I’ve had.
For my drink, I ordered the Strawberry Crush which had Beefeater Gin, Strawberry, Lemon Sour, Basil and Balsamic reduction. So the first drink I was served was much sweeter in taste, it was also tart, and somewhat tasted like it had soda in it. I also couldn’t really taste the alcohol, however a fly landed in that drink and the waiters kindly agreed to change it for me. The second drink was much stronger, and I could definitely taste the alcohol. It also had a citrus taste which I guess came from the lemon sour. I liked both drinks, but I do think it was a forgettable drink.
Now to the star of the show for me. I do not normally order brownies and ice cream for dessert, in fact I don’t think I ever have, but when I saw this on the menu, I decided to try it out for the sake of love, and boy am I glad I did. It was a pecan brownie with salted caramel cream, bitter chocolate, and Madagascar vanilla ice cream. Boy, this was amazing.
The brownie was served cold, presumably because it was coated in chocolate and frozen to keep it from melting. The chocolate was some of the best quality chocolate I’ve had. It was dark and lovely, and the pecans gave it a nice crunch. Paired with the cream and salted caramel sauce, the brownie was delicious and the perfect balance of bitter and sweet, but the real treat was pairing all of that with the rich ice cream that wasn’t just your regular vanilla ice cream, but tasted a lot like vanilla bean ice cream. All of it paired together was like an orgasm in your mouth.
The brownie was large - too large for me to eat alone, as I was already full from my entree, so Nabila and I shared. Thinking of it now, the portions at 16 roof were quite large, because I had only eaten breakfast as I was saving tummy space for this, and was starving when I arrived, but I had to force myself to finish even one half of the brownie.
After dinner, the manager and waiter took us to the bar area as promised, and maybe it was still early, but everyone was sitting and enjoying conversation or just the ambience with their companions. It was quite late for me, as I still had to head home to Arnavutköy, so Nabila and I made a few videos, took a couple photos, and danced for a few minutes, and then we left.
All in all, this was an amazing experience, worth every penny spent. If you’re in town, and you have a large party, and you’re considering a night out, I’d definitely recommend this. You can opt for dinner and drinks, or just drinks, and dance the night away. It’ll be a fun experience. I recommend eating tho, the food is wonderful.
The view from the top is amazing, and you can even see the Bosphorus from here. I had a great time, and I hope you do too.
Love, Yoma
Details:
Arroz Frito Cantones - 135TL
Lomo Saltado - 155TL
Water - 30TL
Strawberry Crush - 109TL
Coca Cola - 35TL
Brownie Bites - 49TL
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