Karas Wine Bar & Bites

Karas Wine Bar & Bites opened on 10 July 2026 inside Canopy by Hilton Istanbul, at Eski Çeşme Sokak No: 2 off Tarlabaşı Bulvarı in Beyoğlu. The hotel occupies a restored 1830 Mekhitarist Armenian Catholic school; GAP İnşaat rebuilt the stone with Prof. Dr. Mehmet Alper, and the bar sits over a two-hundred-year-old cistern now used as a wine cellar. Vaults, arches and the original masonry are still the architecture, not a fitted-out lounge. Seventy-seven covers. Closed Mondays; otherwise 15:00–01:00. Call +90 533 604 27 78. Weekend bookings help.

The name is Armenian for a clay vessel — the pot once used to ferment and keep wine, and a symbol of protection and change. Interior designer Sinan Kafadar kept the masonry and brought in work from ALAN Istanbul under Efe Kurt, so the art and the lighting sit on the old stone instead of covering it. The courtyard is why people stay: a garden in Tarlabaşı where the boulevard’s unfinished edge is still visible from the table. This is a hotel address that behaves like a neighbourhood wine bar; you do not have to be staying upstairs to take a seat.

The list is built around Anatolian producers. Bottles are grouped as aromatic and spicy or full-bodied and fruity, which is how the house wants you to choose rather than by trophy label. Alongside: charcuterie you can order by the slice or as a board — füme dil, Kapalıçarşı pastırma — local cheese plates, baked Black Sea stuffed mussels, jumbo shrimp from the oven, and a Pera meze line of portakallı fava, topik with caramelised onion, and tirokafteri. Wine-tasting nights run on the same floor, often with people from the trade at the next table.

Naz Kavas filed it for Müdavim. Istanbul Muse listed the same door. @karasistanbul is the live camera for hours, tastings and what is open on the list.