Artiste Terasse

by Zeyda Üstün

As soon as we heard that our childhood musician friends are playing at a restaurant on French Street we took our mutual friend to Artiste Terasse.

Meral, Seda and I walked down the stairs leading to French Street. The venue is located on the terrace of the second building on the first street at the left. We climb some more steps to reach Artiste Terrase. The ceiling and the sides were covered with glass for winter however exhibits a splendid panorama from Galata Tower to Sarayburnu (the coast of Topkapı Palace).

We reached our scenic table and examined the menu. I ordered Cheese Plate to accompany my rakı. Meral and Seda chose to drink wine and ordered Café de Paris Steak and also Salmon Roses as the entrée. Salmon Roses is a nice plate composed of rose-shaped fumed salmon slices circled around the salad in the middle. The Cheese Plate is big enough for two servings and fresh and dried fruits accompany high quality cheese variations.

Our musician friends show up around 21:00 and when preparing their instruments they saw us. Most probably we were the reason of the delay in their program time. Zeynep and Murat distributed notebooks in which their wide repertoire is written, together with pens and papers and told us to write down the numbers of the songs we wish to listen. There are hundreds of songs from Nat King Cole to Sting, from John Leno to Charles Aznavour from Greek to Spanish songs. Zeynep and Murat begin the program with the songs they choose and continue with the desired songs. They give a break once through their performance. Zeynep is successful especially in French songs while Murat carries the banner in English songs. It is really interesting to listen to the songs such as Les Feuilles Mortes / Automn Leaves, Ne me quitte pas / If you go away in two different languages and voices. Zeynep and Murat Köseoğlu offer a rich repertoire with their acoustic guitars on Wednesday, Friday and Saturday nights. The best thing is the volume of the music. It is at a level allowing you hear each other, which is quite unusual in live performances.

Café de Paris steaks that arrived shortly after the music began were really delicious. I could say we neglected to eat our food because of the nice music, however I would be a lie since the food is as delightful as the music played. The couple sitting next table was celebrating their 35th wedding anniversary with their children. They wish to listen to old songs while the youngster asked for popular songs. When it was time for dessert Zeynep recommended us to try Crème Brulé. It was really delicious than the ones we had tried in most restaurants. Three of us gave "excellent" point to the cuisine of Artiste Terrase.

Ms. Tuba, the manager told us that they paid utmost attention to the kitchen, they used the best quality ingredients and they had very talented chefs. She also added that the view became more striking when the windowsills around the terrace were taken away in summer. Zeynep and Murat close the season in mid-May however they will return and continue performing in mid-November. Slow music will be played .

Artiste Terrase is crowded on Friday and Saturday nights and if you wish to enjoy live music I suggest you go there on Wednesdays. In any case reservation is required.

Artiste Terasse
Cezayir Çıkmazı, 4/9-10
Fransız Sokağı, Galatasaray-Istanbul
Tel: (212) 244 70 18 - 251 44 25

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