Sumahan on the Water, one of Istanbul’s best-loved luxury boutique hotels, has launched its new Bosphorus-front contemporary styled restaurant ‘Tapasuma’ – and we love it!
The contemporary designed Turkish restaurant offers a subtle palette of relaxed whites, earthy greys and pale greens. Through large windows that face the Bosphorous, light streams into the dining room. The vaulted ceilings, steel columns and original stone and brick walls are a reminder of Tapasuma’s industrial origins as an Ottoman era alcohol factory.
The entrance, by way of a marble staircase, is defined by a modern white fireplace surrounded by a mixture of custom designed divans, contemporary kilims and low tables. This relaxed lounge sits higher than the rest of the space, which creates a gentle division between itself and the dining area.
Just below the entrance stands the main design element of the space – an eight meter marble bar upon which are displayed a dizzying array of small dishes. The marble is a soft white with deep green veins that are reminiscent of the seaweed of the Bosphorous that is framed by every window in the restaurant. The bright colours of the food contrast with the serenity of the water. Wire frame globes hung above the bar resemble circular constellations, emitting a warm glow.
The contemporary Turkish restaurants dining area, which parallels the shore of the Bosphorous, evokes a sense of being in an oasis. The natural elements used throughout the space, like the cork flooring, white wood tables, cherry wine cellar and the bleached oak cabinets, lend a tactile quality to the space that never drifts too far from a subtle sense of natural modernism.
With its name chosen to reflect the award-winning hotels‘ beginnings as a 19th-century Ottoman distillery (‘tapa’ means cork while ‘suma’ is the first distillation when producing raki, Turkey’s traditional aniseed-flavoured spirit), the restaurant is sure to be a hit with the bourgeois chic of Istanbul. We can’t wait to visit when we are next in Turkey.
Kuleli Caddesi No.43 Çengelköy, İstanbul, Turkey, +90 216 401 1333, tapasuma.com
