Yeni Lokanta

About Yeni Lokanta

Yeni Lokanta sits on Kumbaracı Yokuşu, a steep side street off İstiklal Avenue in Beyoğlu, the most internationally minded quarter of Istanbul. Chef Civan Er opened it in 2014 and built it into one of the city's defining modern Turkish tables, giving traditional dishes a fresher, lighter and seasonal spin. It is listed in the MICHELIN Guide Istanbul and on The World's 50 Best Discovery.

For Istanbul's other modern tables, compare the Anatolian tasting menu at Neolokal, the meyhane cooking at Karaköy Lokantası or the rooftop dining at 360 Istanbul.

The Kitchen

Chef Civan Er cooks a seasonal, market-led menu that reworks Turkish classics with a lighter hand and a veteran wood-fired oven at its heart. His best-known move is the mantı — the dumplings traditionally filled with lamb are made instead with dried aubergine — alongside spicy Antep sucuk served over warm fava purée, olive-oil braised sea bass with courgette salad, hummus with mint, and carrot tarator. Dessert is the signature: a muhallebi milk pudding wrapped in strands of pastry, deep-fried and served with buffalo-milk ice cream and honey. The kitchen is committed to seasonality, so the carte shifts through the year; the cooking is precise but generous, and the menu favours small, shareable plates. Expect a multi-course dinner broadly in the upper-mid range for the city.

The Room

The room is a bright, relaxed Mediterranean-style space over two floors, with the open kitchen and wood oven anchoring the ground floor and a warmer, more intimate level above. Service is friendly and well-informed, comfortable steering diners through the shared plates and a thoughtful, largely Turkish wine list. It is less formal than a white-tablecloth fine-dining room while still serving fine-dining-level cooking, which makes it equally suited to a lively dinner with friends or a considered date.