Basta!: Street Food Goes Gourmet

Basta! street food bar in Kadikoy

If you want to eat a Parisian-ish éclair in Istanbul, skip fancy patisseries and head to Basta! in Kadıköy, a street food bar opened by Nicole’s former chef Kaan Sakarya and Derin Arıbaş.

At Basta!, you can have delicious and refined street food prepared by experienced chefs (Sakarya and Arıbaş have worked at Michelin-starred restaurants before) at a reasonable price (every dish is under 20 TL). The compact menu includes a choice of one of five wraps, hummus, a daily-changing salad and two desserts. If you are lucky, they may be cooking a seasonal dish on the day you visit, such as rice with goat meat or poached eggs with chanterelle mushrooms.

Our favorite from the menu is their praline filled Paris Brest, a savor not-to-miss that stands for the years Sakarya and Arıbaş spent in France. We are glad that these two experienced and talented chefs now reach a wider crowd.

Basta! street food foto1 Basta! street food foto2