Amazing Dinner with Views at Ulus 29 Restaurant (Istanbul, Turkey)

Ulus 29 could easily end up in any shortlist of “Istanbul’s Most Amazing Restaurants With a View”. Located on lush slopes of a city park in the upscale Ulus neighborhood. This restaurant has been the first choice of the city’s movers and shakers for a power lunch or business dinner, as well as for impressing their visiting foreign friends, as I’ve observed while dining there for several hours with two friends. It was a mild, clear early November evening and this restaurant has a huge terrace looking to the city, so of course we had a table out there.

Besides the stunning atmosphere of this large, upscale restaurant, the food is delicious. We each started off with a great cocktail and a smattering of their crisp flatbreads and breadsticks to dip into the dish of fruity Turkish olive oil. Shortly, our seafood tower decked out with King crab legs, smoked salmon, sashimi of lean tuna (akami), salmon, seabass sashimi, and French Gillardeau oysters were super fresh and sublime.

What we didn’t realize that we ordered very similar lamb dishes – their lamb kebab and the köfte. While both were very tasty, nicely cooked and wonderfully spiced but it tasted a little monotonous with the exception of the kebab having the tangy yogurt sauce. If I had to choose between the two lamb dishes, I’d opt for the lamb kebab since there’s more to the dish than just the lamb meatballs.

Lamb kebab (top); Köfte (bottom)

The centerpiece of this entire dinner was the “low and slow beef ribs”. Besides the huge serving that can easily serve four people without any appetizers or side dishes, what astonished all of us was the fact the kitchen managed to get the Korean flavors for the ribs pretty darn close and the ribs were perfectly tender. The globally influenced accoutrements like the tissue thin Chinese pancakes, pickled chilies, and truffle mayonnaise actually work together. (Just an understanding about cost, this huge platter of beef was 3500 Turkish Lira or approximately $110 USD.)

Admittedly, we are full but we made the effort to at least have some dessert to cap off the night. First off, their Turkish tea and Turkish style coffee were the best we’ve drank while in Istanbul. Both were strong and bold flavored beverages (as it should be) but there’s a pleasant astringency for the tea that made quaffable. We split a few scoops of their wonderfully flavorful, dense and creamy ice creams – pistachio and coffee and stuck with a classic Turkish dessert, Antep pistachios kataifi. While the desserts are generally a bit sweet, the strong and bitter tea and coffee we had balanced the dessert course perfectly.

Overall, it’s an excellent meal at Ulus 29. The service was superb, professional yet friendly. The waitstaff would happily oblige to photograph you and/or your table with the amazing view. The staff are knowledgeable speaking and understand English. The food as I’ve been stating all along, ranged from very good to excellent.

If you are planning to head to 29 for a meal, make a reservation for their terrace especially if it’s a weekend. I was there on a Monday night and it was surprisingly popping (as in, very busy).