A mezze flight, paired with rakı
Asmalı Cavit, an Istanbul meyhane
Asmalı Cavit has been a meyhane - a Turkish tavern - on Asmalımescit Sokak in Beyoğlu since 1968. The format has not significantly changed in nearly six decades: small tables crowded together under fluorescent strip lighting, paper tablecloths, a single waiter who knows the menu by heart, and a parade of small cold and hot mezze brought to the table in the order they are ready. The drink is rakı, the anise-flavoured Turkish national spirit, taken with water and ice. The meal is the experience. A proper Asmalı Cavit visit moves through eight small plates and two rakı pours. Here is the flight.
01
Beyaz Peynir & Karpuzcold · opening
White cheese and watermelon, served in summer. In winter the cheese comes with walnuts and honey. The simplest cold mezze and the standard opening at any meyhane.
Rakı, glass 1Pour a quarter-glass over ice; add room-temperature water until milky. Drink it slowly across the next two courses.
02
Çoban Salatası & Patlıcan Salatasıcold · salads
Shepherd's salad — diced tomato, cucumber, onion, olive oil, parsley — and aubergine salad with garlic and yoghurt. Both come in small clay bowls. Eat together.
Continue glass 1The water in the rakı softens with the salad acidity. The classic Turkish argument that rakı is a food drink, not a sipping spirit.
03
Lakerdacold · cured bonito
Salted bonito, sliced thin, served with red onion and dill. The bar makes its own; the texture is the lesson. Lakerda is the most-quoted mezze in Istanbul food writing for good reason.
Refill glass 1Add more rakı, more water. The drink stays milky.
04
Topikcold · Armenian-Istanbul classic
A cold mezze of mashed chickpea, currants, pine nuts, cinnamon, and olive oil, served on a leaf of romaine. Originally Armenian; long since standard Istanbul. The course that signals the meyhane takes its history seriously.
Glass 1 finishesPour your second glass before the hot courses arrive.
05
Arnavut Ciğerihot · spiced liver
"Albanian liver" — cubed lamb liver, dusted with flour and paprika, deep-fried, served with sliced raw onion. The transition between cold and hot courses; the bar serves it sizzling.
Glass 2, first quarterHot food, cold drink, repeated for the rest of the meal.
06
Karides Güveçhot · prawn casserole
Prawns baked in a clay pot with tomato, garlic, parsley, kaşar cheese melted on top. The most-ordered hot mezze in the meyhane. Eat with bread; the sauce is the point.
Continue glass 2
07
Izgara Levrekhot · grilled sea bass
Whole grilled sea bass, head on, lemon, olive oil, parsley. The fish course. Asmalı Cavit's version is properly cooked - flesh just separating from the bone, skin crisp.
Glass 2 finishes
08
Karpuz / Kavuncold · closing fruit
A small plate of watermelon and honeydew melon, room-temperature, ends the meal. Turkish black tea (çay) arrives shortly after. The visit closes.
Optional glass 3The first two glasses are the visit; the third is the late evening. The meyhane will not push you to leave.
A full visit at Asmalı Cavit runs around three hours and costs roughly 1,500-2,000 lira per person depending on the fish and the number of rakı pours. Reservations are essential on weekends; the bar takes walk-ins early in the week. Closed Sundays.
