Istanbul (4) - Park Samdan, Reina

Our dinner post Kanaat at Reina was less exciting. Reina is one of those places that it is good to see and be seen. Its in Ortakoy part of an upmarket strip of nightclubs and restaurants near the first bridge. The Boyfriend, his friends and guidebooks all seem to have a similar opinion on Reina – they love to hate it. They hate the occassionaly chavvy and over the top-ness of the place, the pretentiousness , overpriced drinks and service, and the crowds, the mix of gold-diggers, too old businessmen and tourists, and yet people, including The Boyfriend and his friends go there a lot... We visited on both a Monday and a Thursday and on both times the place was packed.

Pollen Street Social

This is approximately the third time, I've written down my feelings about Pollen Street Social. The first time, my blackberry deleted what I wrote and the second time blogger did. Clearly, this is a sign from God telling me I should not be writing about my wonderful experience. Oh well, as long as the next sign isn't in the form of being smashed by a bus, I'm going to give it a go anyway and avoid any bus routes for the next week or so.

Sumosan -

About a month ago, I went through a stage where I failed to book any restaurants due to not knowing where The Boyfriend or I were going to be. Now we are paying for it.That is how we ended up at Sumosan, the only sushi restaurant we wanted to try that had availability last minute on a Friday night.


I had heard about Sumosan via A Small World, so assumed it would be another Zuma/Nobu carbon copy. It certainly didn't look it. The décor was pretty boring. The bare purple walls and tables that clash with the chairs didn't really do it for me. It was like they hadn't quite finished decorating yet. If it wasn't for the Balenciaga to the left of me and the Celine to the right, it wouldn't have been obvious that this was an upmarket restaurant.

Dinner - Lunch.

I may just be the luckiest person in the whole world and I mean the whole world. Not only, was I lucky enough to go to dinner at Dinner at the start of March. I was even luckier to return, for lunch at the end of March.



Knowing how good the food was, I decided to forgo breakfast in order to make sure I could fully appreciate the experience.

Le Caprice -

Like my Amaranto review, I went to Le Caprice sometime in mid-February, but didnt finish writing till now. Most of the details, like names I got right here though  - 

Le Caprice is one of the most popular restaurants in London and yet, I found I didn’t truly love any part of it. The Boyfriend and I left thinking “ we just don’t get it”.

Roka Canary Wharf - Third Time's A Charm

I've had bad experiences every time I've been to Roka. Nothing to do with the food, mind. Just for some reason every time I go it immediately triggers a crisis at The Boyfriend's work. The first time we went he was 2 hours late for dinner, which meant that I actually ate alone. The second time, I had to sit and watch him talk on, not one, but two conference calls at the same time, (a phone at each ear) throughout our lunch. Surprisingly, each time I stil enjoyed myself because the food is so good I don't think I would even have been capable of talking. I'm pretty sure anything could happen in the restaurant around me and I would still be a supremely happy bunny. Which is why I will jump at any chance to go. My only real problem with Roka, (bar the Bank world collapsing every time I go) is that its too popular for its own good. It takes at least a week to get a table, and inside they've tried to squeeze too many people in, which also has consequences on the service, which suffers as a result.

Bar Boulud -

Daniel Boulud is America's equivalent of Gordon Ramsey except he's not American, or bankrupt or having a public fight with his mistress/father in law/mother in-law and wife but you get my point - incredibly successful with numerous restaurants and Michelin stars . Despite being from Lyon, Bar Boulud at the Mandarin Oriental is his first venture in Europe and when it first opened in May it received a lot of acclaim. In fact it took about 2 weeks before it became tough to get a table less than a week in advance. So finding a table on a Wednesday, for that very evening made me a very happy camper indeed.