Istanbul's best places for ice-cream

The ice creams are produced using natural and local ingredients, with seasonal flavours as well as year-round offerings such as lemon and chocolate ice cream. Each week, a new ice cream flavour enters the shop. At Mua Gelatieri D’Italia, you can watch the ice cream being produced through a glass pane. The ice cream is rendered as smooth as you’d like it to be right before being served, thanks to a method called ‘rimantecare’. Mua Gelatieri D’Italia also offers a variety of coffee.

This Italian classic is one of the top places to go for additive-free ice creams prepared with traditional Italian recipes as well as milk and cream. You’ll also find sorbets made with real fruit here. Our favourites include the peach, yogurt, vanilla-Nutella gofret and raisin rum flavours. Besides Bağdat Caddesi, they also have branches in Bebek and Nişantaşı.   Bebek (0212) 265 80 50. Cevdetpaşa Caddesi 43D, Bebek. Nişantaşı (0212) 296 84 05. Maçka Caddesi, Erhan Apartmanı 16, Şişli.

We had a conversation with Nicola Farinetti, one of Oscar Farinetti's three sons, who together made their domestic brand Eataly a global player with their genuine Italian energy, their eye for quality, and their delight in everything related to food. By Merve Arkunlar   For Eataly, everything started in 2001 when Oscar Farinetti visited the Grand Bazaar in Istanbul. This was the place where he had the idea of launching a grand Italian establishment bringing together the true taste of Italian cuisine, the presentations of different restaurants, a market, and a cooking school. The first Eataly was opened in its motherland Italy, then in the USA and Dubai, and most recently in inspiring Istanbul.   Looking at the 500 staff, the 5,000 products, and the restaurants that can host up to 1,200 people we can tell that Eataly Istanbul alone is a big industry. How does Eataly manage to keeps its 'Good food, good drinks' principle and its advocacy of the Slow Food movement?    We only have one rule, which is we will never give in one inch on quality. Everything Eataly stands for comes from this rule and you can believe me when I say that this is enough to put us ahead of everyone else. We do not care about formalities. Wherever you are in the world there is one truth that applies to all restaurants. If a restaurant wants to keep existing the only significant matter is the quality of the food served; not the restaurant's design, decoration, music or how big or smal

The interior is reminiscent of houses in Bodrum, making you feel as if you’re on vacation. Remember, the flavors and smells are unforgettable!

The ‘concretes’ aren’t your average ice cream; calling them dessert would be better suited. For example, the ‘Boğaz Esintisi’ is a dessert consisting of vanilla custard, Divan’s honey macaroons, peanut butter sauce, and bananas. This is only one example of their many dessert varieties.  

As its name suggests, Mini Dondurma (literally meaning ‘tiny ice cream’) takes up a space of only four square metres. People have been forming long queues in front of the ice cream shop since its establishment in 1968 to honour the ice cream makers’ diligent efforts and talent. And with an extensive list of flavours like gum, mulberry, coffee, mint, blueberry, chestnut, orange, melon, walnut, rose and lokum ice cream, it’s no wonder Mini Dondurma is still as popular as ever after all these years! We particularly recommend the caramel and peanut butter ice cream, either enjoyed in their crunchy cones or in between wafers.

Don’t let the name fool you; Dondurmacci is not an Italian ice cream parlour but a Turkish one. You’ll find 30-40 different ice cream flavours here, ranging from the usual chocolate, milk, gum, strawberry, almond and orange cognac variety to seasonal offerings. Their specialties include rose, pear, lemon-ginger and lavender flavours. What sets Dondurmacci’s ice cream apart is the milk used to make it, which comes from a farm where the cows are looked after as though they were children. Dondurmacci grew even more famous when its ice cream was included in X Restaurant’s degustation menu in November 2011. In just one year, the ice cream shop opened many branches around the city and gained a wide following.