Solera operates from a narrow shopfront in Cihangir — the hillside neighbourhood above Taksim that has become, over the last decade, the most concentrated area in Istanbul for independent wine, small plates, and the kind of evening that proceeds without noise. The list focuses on Anatolian producers — wines from Cappadocia, Thrace, and the Aegean are given serious attention here — alongside a selection of natural imports from France and Georgia. The food programme is constructed around compatibility with wine rather than as a parallel operation. The neighbourhood context is correct: Cihangir operates on its own terms, close to everything and accountable to none of it.
Cihangir, Istanbul, Turkey