Pera Thai

November 01st, 2006  | Category: Restaurants

I am mad about Thai food. Unfortunately, there are not that many Thai restaurants in Istanbul. In fact, there are not that many restaurants representing other countries’ food in Istanbul. I am pretty sure some Turkish people will disagree, but my bar is high. I am not counting some street corner/all touristic Thai or Indian restaurant located in Sultanahmet area with distasteful shop sign boards. And I am not counting world renowned chefs visiting five star hotels for a limited period of time. I demand authenticity coupled with fresh ingredients, pleasant decor and consistency. I demand an abundant number of restaurants for each cuisine. Hell, I also demand cheap (but still tasteful) versions for take out. But who’s listening?

Pera Thai entrance

Pera Thai is the best (and possibly the only decent) Thai restaurant in Ä°stanbul. It is located in BeyoÄŸlu adjacent to the old US Consulate. The restaurant is almost always packed during dinner time. Back in the old days, when the US Consulate was operating in the next building, it was also packed during lunch hours.

I visited this place many times in the past, but to tell the truth, I was never hooked. I recall some of the dishes being very good, some OK and some - well - mediocre. But my last visit definitely got me hooked. The day we visited the restaurant was a national holiday and it was 4 pm. So me and my friends were the only table to be served… Nice!

Chicken Satay

The choice for appetizer was quite obvious for me: Chicken Satay with peanut sauce. The peanut sauce was too crunchy for my taste but other than that the dish was wonderful. Then came their killer pad thai followed by chicken in yellow curry and beef in red curry with kaffir lime leaves. We finished it off with fried banana and ice cream. Even though I experienced some consistency problems in the past, I can not recommend this restaurant more. It is clean, modern with wonderful attentive staff. Just try to avoid the 9 pm crowd and have your dinner early on.

Pera Thai

For more information, you can visit their website.

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Comments

  1. Zeynep Seda on November 1st, 2006

    Cenk you are so right about this subject! I adore Chinese food and don’t know where to find delicious Chinese when we move back to Turkey :( We are always talking about opening an Oriental restaurant with decent prices and delicious food but owning a restaurant is quite hard job! Maybe we will one day…

  2. Cenk on November 1st, 2006

    Hi Seda - Speaking of Chinese food, the best take out I had in Istanbul so far is called Little China located in Bebek. If you ever visit in the near future, I definitely recommend it.

  3. Burcu on November 2nd, 2006

    Cenk, this is excellent news! I am crazy about Thai food, too. Thanks for the post. Next time I’m Turkey, I’ll check that out.

  4. Basak on November 7th, 2006

    Are you sure with Asian food? Of course I am kidding but..

    In Turkey you have got the best cuisine in the World. You won`t even need that.
    I was in Paris last two months and if you know Paris you may imagine how many Asian restaurants are there. I find more JAP-CHI-THAI restaurants each time I go there… And instead of eating escargots what you can eat? Ok, this may also be exagerated : )

    At the end, as usual, I miss Mediterranean food..

    ps: Found a new Corsica Restaurant where you can eat BROCCIU!!! Remember that?

  5. Cenk on November 7th, 2006

    Hi Basak - How can I forget? See, you can find even a Corsica restaurant over there (let alone a decent Thai restaurant). I am very fond of our own cuisine but I also crave Asian and Indian food a lot. There are a few good Japanese restaurants here, but this city definitely lacks Chinese and Thai restaurants. Or maybe it is me.. I see people quite happy with modernized chinese cuisine for instance at Chinese in Town, but having tasted dim sum at a restaurant like Ton Kiang (San Francisco) it is a bit harder to fool me.

  6. Zeynep on November 14th, 2006

    Thanks for this tip… hmmm… lemongrass… hindistancevizi… peanut… ama bu ÅŸehirde bir yerden bir yere gitmek, her ne kadar lezzetli bir nedeniniz olsa da, tam bir eziyet… o yüzden, özellikle de Anadolu yakasında çalışan ve oturan bizler CiT ile avunuyoruz :)

  7. Jochen on April 21st, 2008

    Ohh I have been to this restaurant and the food is very yummy there. They also have a Thai cook thats why the food just taste soo good.
    I been there last year with my Thai mom and her Thai friend and we enjoyed it very much =)

  8. BK on May 27th, 2008

    try CokCok thai restaurant in istanbul…

    really is a fantastic restaurant.. highly recommended..

    http://www.cokcok.com.tr

  9. Cenk on May 27th, 2008

    BK - Thanks for the suggestion, but I’ve already been to ÇokÇok and the experience was nowhere close to fantastic.

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