Neolokal
“One star, Türkiye's only Green Star and a 7,500 TL tasting inside a bank turned gallery. Book it for an anniversary.”
About Neolokal
The Ottoman Bank's old headquarters on Bankalar Caddesi now houses Salt Galata, and on its upper level Maksut Aşkar cooks the menu that made Neolokal the conscience of Istanbul dining. The 2026 Michelin Guide Türkiye keeps both its star and its Green Star in place, and the Green Star remains the only one in the country: recognition for a kitchen that works with clean, fair producers, keeps its own garden plots and turns kitchen waste into fertiliser.
Aşkar serves a single tasting at 7,500 TL, updated in January 2026, alongside a full vegetarian version and a menu free of gluten, lactose and nuts built with the same seriousness. The cooking is Anatolian memory plated with restraint: recipes traced to his mother and to the southern Hatay table, reworked without losing their names. The terrace and the tall windows add a second course of scenery, rooftops and minarets running down to the Golden Horn.
Reservations go through the Rezervem platform, which handles menu selection at booking; declare dietary versions when you reserve rather than at the table. Prices include tax but not service. Karaköy has gentrified loudly around the restaurant, which makes the calm of the Salt Galata building, part gallery, part library, part research archive, feel even more deliberate. Arrive early and walk the exhibition floors below before dinner.
The Room
A high ceilinged room inside a 19th century bank building, with an open kitchen, tall arched windows and a terrace that reads straight across the Golden Horn to the old city. The gallery below keeps the whole address quiet by nature. Dress is smart casual; the drama here comes from the architecture, not the guests.
Why book it, occasion by occasion
The reservation is the easy part to explain. The occasion is the part that decides the memory.
For the anniversary meal with a story to tell
Neolokal gives a milestone two narratives at once: a menu built from a chef's family memory and a building that has watched the city for more than a century. Ask for a window or terrace table over the Golden Horn, note the occasion at booking on Rezervem, and let the vegetarian version carry a partner who eats that way with zero compromise. The pace is unhurried without stretching past a late evening.
For the client who cares how food is sourced
Sustainability talk is cheap; a Green Star audited by Michelin is not, and this is the only one in Türkiye. That distinction hands a business dinner its opening subject, and the 7,500 TL tasting keeps costs predictable for whoever holds the card. The room stays quiet enough for numbers, and the gallery setting flatters guests who would rather not eat in another hotel dining room.
For a first date with something to talk about
Every course arrives with a story you do not have to invent: the mother's recipe, the Hatay pepper, the garden plot behind the herb. That structure rescues any silence, the allergen free menu quietly handles most dietary landmines, and Salt Galata itself supplies a pre dinner walk through the exhibitions. Take the earlier seating, and the terrace in the warm months.
What to order
One tasting, three versions. The decisions left to you are the version, the seat and the glasses.
- The standard tasting first
Take the full 7,500 TL menu on a first visit; it is the complete telling of Aşkar's Anatolian argument, mother's recipes included.
- The vegetarian version for the right table
This is not a reduction of the menu but a parallel composition, and it is the strongest vegetarian tasting in Istanbul.
- Anatolian wines by the pairing
The list champions the same small producers the kitchen does; let the sommelier sequence them rather than defaulting to a familiar bottle.
- A terrace or window seat
The Golden Horn view is half the memory. Ask at booking; the room is small enough that the request matters.
Practical
- Address
- Salt Galata, Bankalar Caddesi 11, Karaköy, Istanbul
- Reservations
- Rezervem platform · declare dietary version at booking
- Tasting
- 7,500 TL · vegetarian and allergen free versions
- Awards
- One star plus Green Star, 2026 guide
- Dress
- Smart casual
- Setting
- Upper level of the Salt Galata gallery
- Terrace
- Seasonal, over the Golden Horn
- Billing
- Tax included, service not
Questions diners ask
Is Neolokal worth it?
Yes. It is the only restaurant in Türkiye holding both a Michelin star and a Green Star, and the 7,500 TL tasting undercuts the city's two star table by nearly ten thousand lira. If provenance and place matter to you at all, this is Istanbul's most complete argument.
How do I book Neolokal?
Through the Rezervem reservation platform, where you choose the tasting and note dietary needs upfront. A week or two of notice covers most tables, with weekends tighter. The vegetarian and allergen free menus need declaring at booking, not on arrival, because the kitchen builds them as full parallel sequences.
Does Neolokal handle dietary restrictions?
Better than almost anyone at this level. Alongside the standard 7,500 TL tasting there is a complete vegetarian menu and a version free of gluten, lactose and nuts, each composed as its own sequence rather than a set of substitutions. Declare requirements when booking on Rezervem.
Where exactly is Neolokal?
Inside Salt Galata, the former Ottoman Bank headquarters at Bankalar Caddesi 11 in Karaköy, on the building's upper level. Come thirty minutes early: the galleries and the old banking hall below are free to walk, and the terrace reads across the Golden Horn to the old city's skyline.