Istanbul’s new mega cruise port, Galataport is located in the heart of Istanbul at the waterfront neighborhood of Karaköy.
However, Galataport is more than just a cruise port! The mega project brings together all fields of life, from tourism to dining, to shopping and to entertainment.
This large scale urban redevelopment of a decayed port area, has transformed 40,000 square metres of land into a place to be and be seen!
The equivalent to 53 football fields, Galataport is expected to attract around 1.5 million cruise passengers and 25 million visitors per year.
Nearly half of Galataport’s leasable space has been rented out to dining establishments, turning it into “Istanbul’s new gastronomy neighborhood”.
At Parla we were thrilled when we were asked to take on a variety of projects in the Restaurants area, some of which are repeat customers; and the new customers we have attracted, we hope will become repeats in the future.
Having had the pleasure to taste the cuisine of each restaurant we have fitted out, we are proud to share our experiences with you:
POPULIST – a modern gastropub boasting a varied menu, with some additional Turkish style dishes such as Kokorec Balls and Rocket Salad sprinkled into the menu in this industrial chic environment.
MONOCHROME – if what you are seeking is a contemporary brasserie atmosphere that presents you with food, beverages and amazing coffee from breakfast till late at night this is the right spot.
ROKA – bringing its award winning delicious Japanese robatayaki cuisine to Istanbul, it wows its patrons with a large terrace that wraps around the restaurant offering unobstructed views of the Bosphorus.
LIMAN – A classic favourite of Istanbul, this is a restaurant with a history going back to the 1940s now updated to not only give us hints of its glamorous past, but to also offer an elegant space to wine and dine. With a varied menu of traditional Turkish dishes and some European, it is where you could indulge in the local ‘raki – balik’ style of dining, as well as eat like aristocrats from Central Europe in the 1940s.
GUNAYDIN – the pioneer of steakhouse dining in Turkey, this butcher shop turned chain restaurant is doing what it does best, serving up meat in all its different forms with all the traditional Turkish options included.
SALTBAE – not only famous for its steaks, Nusret’s Burger joint Slatbae offers amazing tastes in a contemporary and uplifting atmosphere.
At each restaurant we worked in close collaboration with the proprieters, designers and architects to bring alive the vision they had for their Galataport branches; the pieces had to work with their brand, but also have certain new detailing to make the spaces sparkle and live up to the glamour of this new neighbourhood.
As already mentioned, this has been a thrilling journey for us, to be part of the birth of this new international destination in so many of its establishments is no easy feat.
We are hoping that these projects will allow us to become a source of manufacturing inspiration for other F&B brands as well!
