Leb-i Derya — Restaurant in Beyoğlu

LEB-I DERYA GOING ON FIFTEEN YEARS, LOOKING FORWARD TO FIFTEEN MORE. We’re in Istanbul, we’re surrounded by the sea; we’re at Leb-i Derya. There’s blue all around us. The hallmark of this ancient city, the sea is here; with stones built one thousand seven hundred years ago, the city’s heart is this historic peninsula; there are the modern skyscrapers glowing with light; we have abandoned buildings right beside us. Istanbul is good, bad, pretty and ugly; it’s before our very eyes with all of its faces; because Leb-i Derya is an Istanbul restaurant. In this city that constantly renews itself, we’ve managed to stay alive and keep up, embracing all that Istanbul has to offer, loving it from the bottom of our hearts. When Istiklal Street was going through a radical change, when Karaköy right below was transforming into something else and when Tophane was being rediscovered… Leb-i Derya has always been here. Quietly perched on the hill, it watched the city’s movements and adapted to this transformation without losing its identity.

Leb-i Derya combines all that this vast metropolis keeps inside: The Captain’s Quarters on top is unconformable, refined and small but bears a strong personality. The dining hall right below is characteristic, the venue where Istanbul makes its magnificent appearance, generously exposing its beauty. The pocket meyhane below invites you to steep yourself in nostalgia over an evening of drinks.

These three separate worlds with three different stories come together in one common ground: a gastronomical experience that can be both strong and elegant at the same time.

Leb-i Derya’s kitchen inherits Anatolian and Rumelian palates, gently adapts them to our day, prepares everything with the same meticulousness each day as if it were the first, and serves it every night with the same excitement. What makes a restaurant respected, as we all know, is that it shows respect to what comes out of its kitchen: Leb-i Derya’s team is also aware of this, so they prepare the fresh mezes and delicious dishes with an almost reverential respect. The grace with which the dishes are prepared spreads from the kitchen to service and to customers. Of course they also don’t forget the starters, fresh fish and...

Lebi derya?…Endam? Who’s to know? We finished our amazing holiday here for a last dinner together before heading home. We had been recommended this restaurant some years back when I’m assuming it was the real deal! Unassuming entrance but once up top lovely views. Menu was very hard to understand but the female waitress did her best to explain. Unfortunately our Turkish and their English were somewhat lost in translation but hoping to be looked after for the evening by our restaurant hosts (done elsewhere very successfully in Istanbul) our food and an overpriced bottle of barley drinkable wine came out. Who’s to say how much the food bill actually was but when it came to pay it was an outrageous amount for the quality and service we had received. Nonetheless, wanting to take back good feelings of our trip we paid the fee, albeit trouble with the Wi-Fi machine as we had to make multiple ‘small’ payments. This should have been another red flag! We left feeling unsatisfied however happy that we had had a fantastic time in Istanbul. The next couple of days flying back to Australia and the entire following week all 6 of us came down with the worst diarrhoea, stomach cramps and vomiting we have ever had!! Having traced back the one common denominator it was clear We could only attribute this sickness to being from Lebi derya or Endam or whatever it calls itself!! There are plenty of great restaurants with amazing views of the Bosphorous that provide a quality, clean and honest dining experience! This is not one of them! Avoid!...

Very poor experience! I highly advise against it. We went there for New Year's, and we paid 100€/ adult and 75€/ child, including a 5 years old. The menu promised included 4 courses: an appetiser, shrimps with some sauce, a pastry and a main course + New Year's special dessert, and unlimited soft and alcoholic drinks. We got an appetiser with 5 spoons of different dishes, one pastry they put with a claw on each plate, the shrimps were half of baby shrimp for each person and the main course which was a piece of overcooked meat with some bad sauce and a lot of rice. The special desert was a small pastry filled with halva. The unlimited drinks were wine, vodka tonic, gin tonic, still and sparkling water, lipton ice tea, and Sprite. They ran out of tonic, wine, and sparkling water by 11:00 PM and tried to charge us for extra wine and sparkling water. At midnight, they gave us a bottle of proseco for 15 people and tried to charge us 300€ for it, even if it was included. All though there were plenty of English speaking waiters, we got one that couldn't understand one word of English. We gave him a tip of 100 €, and at the end, another waiter who was drunk and had nothing to do with our table came begging for money and cigarettes. For entertainment, there was a belly dancer who wouldn't leave until all the...