Arşipel has been welcoming its guest in Kuruçeşme since June 2011 with rich variety of fish and seafood as well as Turkish meze offerings. The true attraction here is that the fish are served raw or grilled in their natural flavours, without any sauces. If you’d like, you can even hand-pick your fish or lobster from the aquarium and watch the chefs prepare it through the open kitchen. In addition to fish brought daily from the Bosphorus, Arşipel offers swordfish and sea bass from Çanakkale, lobster from Bozcaada, dentex, Mediterranean horse mackerel, grouper and gilt-head bream from Adana and dusky grouper and jumbo shrimp from Karataş. Arşipel’s seafood meze dishes are also delectable, with tarama (fish roe spread), mussels on the half shell, stuffed calamari, octopus, salted and dried mackerel, ink fish, pickled bonito, swordfish pastrami, smoked bluefish and smoked tunny being the most popular. Other must-try meze include those made with Mediterranean greens and Aegean herbs such as island herb, cibez, chicory and endives as well as stuffed zucchini blossoms. Even if you’re not a fish fan, you’re sure to find something you like here, like the grilled chicken on a bed of creamy spinach, served with porcini mushrooms and morel sauce. Our favourite sweet treat at Arşipel is the pear tart served with almond cream, but we also recommend the wine-soaked strawberries served with olive oil and vanilla ice cream.
From the menu
Fish soup 10 TL
Ink fish with natural ink 14 TL
Smoked shrimp 14 TL
Sea bass 25 TL
Pear dessert 12 TL