Where do we like to go:

Fotini - lovely ladies will serve you in 3 or 4 languages. EIT members reported to be found here on Wednesdays?
The menemen at Bahar is great
Great music at EyluIst
Try the Belediye restaurant in A.koy for fish if you are particularly skint
mini dondurma in bebek
kolaylar in a.koy great fruit and veg
bafra pide in a.koy delivers
jeffs boat taxis
la favorita in bebek

Good places to know of:

Meerkat, in A.koy is a great art/hobby supply shop that have all sorts of courses. they have very reasonable rates for framing.

Things that are better here:

Fresh air, Boshorus breeze
Strutting your stuff on the promenade between Kurucesme and Bebek, or watch others strut theirs.
You can actually own dogs and find some green areas to walk them
It is reported that you can find some others EIT members to run with in the early hours departing in front of Robert College
The Starbucks in Bebek must be the one with the best view in the world.
You can play basketball with EIT members on sundays:)
Famous beauties like Cagla Kubat resides here.
bebek park, great for those with babies

Places to avoid:
Lucca in Bebek - overrated. rude staff

[quote user="yakamoz" post="82809"]
It is reported that you can find some others EIT members to run with in the early hours departing in front of Robert College
[/quote]
yeah and i try and run them over and get accused of selling women.

A.koy.

Bebek Park is great for secret rendezvous -- meet you by the bench facing the fountain...

Aşk Cafe behind k.cesme makro is a pleasant breakfast/brunch place in warm weather
The Life Co spa (aka Chi'um) in k.cesme has some kick ass sensory deprivation tanks
Eftalya in A.koy, though feckin expensive, has some of the best fish in Istanbul, and excellent service
Mangerie in Bebek, also expensive, is a great place to meet for coffee. they have some interesting menu options, too like pancake breakfast and salmon burger, but i havent yet tried. nice atmosphere

there's also a fantastic yarn shop in bebek (as you're coming up bebek yokusu on right) with an incredible selection of unusual yarns. Owner also takes returns if your project took less yarn than you bought (must be above a certain amount, but i never had problems)

dislikes:
Divan Cafe (or whatver they call it these days)

This is a wonderful stretch of bosphorous coastline (and I should know as I run back and forth there ad nauseum). Great for a head freshening strut when you have a hangover and your perception of colour is heightened, and always good for people/dog/ship watching. We have been hooked by fisherman, rescued birds, watched dogs chase balls into the bosphorous and avoided film crews.

A (I am biased but it is still my favourite place in Istanbul)
*Adem Baba- still a great value fish supper, plus does take outs.
*Ali Baba- legendary kofte and white bean salad
*Aydin hairdresser- this man gave me a potted history of my hair and made nasty jokes about be going bald but he still does a might fine haircut for good value.
*Beydelere restrurant- very good value fish fare and up there with Adem Baba.
*Eftalya- yes good high end stuff and excellent mezzes.
*Fotini- is it possible to be eclectic and homely at the same time? Yes here. And the owners are in it for the love and not for the money which is refreshing.
*Good (if overpriced) fruit and cheese shops along the main street. Would be lovely if a Deli emerged.
*Robert College- it is worth going to basketball just to admire this beautiful building and its grounds.
*Negatives- if you want to be. Arnavutkoy still lacks a really good bar or place to sup coffee and play tavla.
*New durum place and bar- to be tried.
*View over the bosphorous to the radio masts near buyuk camlicar high on the Asian side. Priceless and wonderful in different seasons.
*Yasemin Alkat- if only istanbulstreetstyle.com had bothered to look here. Beautiful single item remakes of vintage clothing.

B (fun and fashionable with a couple of gems)
*Bebek Balakci- a favourite of Gilly and Jonathan, and a lovely old fashioned fish restaurant.
*Bookstore- 3 stories and just off the main street- paternalistically founded by the progeny of the Ulusoy's this is a wonderful, wonderful bookstore with a lovely children's section on the top floor and a great cafe and cocktail bar on the middle floor. Plus tree hugger David Simpson will be pleased to note that the Ulusoy's built the terrace around an old tree.
*Bosphorous University. Would have been a wonderful place to study. Lovely grounds and views.
*Bar at the Bebek Hotel. The epitome of comfort as confirmed by the great Gilles Peterson.
*Mangerie- my favourite place for brunch in Istanbul. If you are a foodie you will love what is on offer here: wonderful fruit juices, eggs benedict with great bacon, or my personal favourite spinach and blue cheese salad with poached and caremalised pear. Good coffee and comfy surrounding too. But don't trust me ask Griffin Growl for an objective view.
*Negatives (if you like that sort of stuff)- Lucca and a number of places which rely on price and cache rather than quality.
*Park- always teeming with life but beware of packs of dogs early in the morning.
*Vakko tie shop. Very expensive but wonderful quality ties.

K
*Ask Cafe- my second favourite place for brunch in Istanbul. Magical in summer.
*Eye candy for the materialist- if you like gazing at expensive cars or furniture, this is the place.
*Galatasaary Island- for a day of luxury drinking cocktails and swimming in purufied bosphorous water, this is the place to come. Gentle swimming when pissed in the evening of a beltingly hot day is one of life's pleasures.
*Macrocentre- expensive but has very good meat, fish and cheese counters.
*Musulko and Lucy's house- great parties, great view, great skylight...

poseidon fish rest - bebek
mavi balık - kurucesme (lovely view)
assk cafe - kurucesme
lucca - bebek
mangerie-bebek
mini dondurma-bebek
starbucks-bebek (when it's not full!!! which is never!!!)
adem baba-arnavutkoy
muzeyyen meyhane - arnavutkoy

Bebek:
Lucca - Not a favourite ,but their VODKA-SATSUMA is superb.
Starbucks- I agree that it is the best starbucks in the world..
Favorita- Lovely trattoria ,moderate food and prices.
Paul- Great breads.(trabzon )
Mini dondurma- Try sakızlı (mastika? )
Mangerie-Rana's favorite..best to sit in the balcony in summer nights.
Dislike
Divan
Groceries..(the most expensive in the world)

Arnavutkoy:
Adem Baba- Heaven

Avoid Garga.. Pretty building , terrible service and suprisingly expensive.

Ortakoy
Askkafe - The best breakfast..
House Cafe- Regular hangout in summer,spring..Good food.

I hope you don´t mind me writing for the 100th time that Adem Baba is the place to eat fish (Arnavutköy). They have at least two branches: The main-street one and one up-stairs which is bigger and easy aswell. Fotini - for being my 2nd living room at times (need I say more). The butcher in A.köy next to the main entrance of the Orthodox church, excellent. Sadly, no outstanding bakery around any more. Groceries: the guy selling it off his car, next to the butcher.
There is a new place, a pub. On the corner main-street/Levent Cad., close to the police station. Same owner as Karga (Kadiköy) which I like a lot. Been there once, before they opened. Beautiful old building, spacious.
Oh, @ Bosnia: You are so right. Garga for me became a no-go. They changed the owner one year ago (maalesef). Went there two, three times though. Last time I just wanted an Espresso on the top-floor balcony. The entire place was totally empty, but the owner came and told me that the balcony was for food-ordering customers only. Good-bye.

Bebek: Mangerie is gorgeous. I like the lemonade with half a meadow in it (supposedly mint). They sell toast with sweet cream inside. Not my cup of coffee. Coffee: The little cafe behind McD and next to the mosque in Bebek park can be very relaxing. Stay away from the chocolate cake if you like your teeth though. Yes, the Starbucks must be one of the nicest I have seen so far.

[quote user="yakamoz" post="82809"]

You can actually own dogs and find some green areas to walk them

bebek park, great for those with babies
[/quote]

Contradiction?

Arnavutkoy:
antique and curio shops
Adem Baba (fresh, good fish although calamari seems to be of the frozen variety)
Galatasaray Is. (I still remember Armin Van Buuren's gig in summer 2004 well)
Greek Orthrodox church (beautiful interior)
great views from high above the hills
Kolaylar (thanks Lucy!)
Candle shop (I don't know the name of it but it's on a corner going up the hill)
Fotini (I was only there once with EiT for World Cup watching)
A decent coffee shop on Mualim Caddesi (please help me remember the name of this one Monsta)
fishmonger (I didn't buy any fish but admired the way they were arranged on a marble slab)

Bebek:
Badem (the famous almond shop)
Bebek Hotel's outdoor veranda facing the Bos
Iskele seafood restaurant (or is this in A.koy?)
Ice Cream shop (the name escapes me)
Starbucks for its wonderful vistas (I don't like the fact that the flavored drinks are always blended too sweet and that the smoking area is the one that immediately faces the Bos)

Kurucesme:
a small park by the water for a nice, quiet walk in the mornings on the way to the gym
Ask Cafe (had a good lunch there with two uber cool EiT guys last summer)
Planet (trainers are highly competent and good Pilates machines, Balinese massage is good too)
Italian restaurant next to Ask Cafe (I forgot the name of it) for evening drinks
Macro (spacious and convenient)
New Yorker (when it had Nublu)

where is mangerie exactly?

[quote user="yakamoz" post="82914"]where is mangerie exactly?[/quote]

on the top floor of a building across gloria jean's...

Does anyone know if Nublu East in Kurucesme will resurrect this coming summer? I heard from a good source that Ilhan Ersahin is back in Turkey. Do you know about this Charly?

He's got a new place called Ghetto next to the British Consulate.
http://www.ghettoist.net/index2.htm