Raffles blends Asian hospitality & European timelessness

A funny thing happens over dinner the first time I am at Raffles Istanbul in Be?ikta?. I am craving mushroom pasta but the problem is that we are at the hotel’s Rocca restaurant, which specializes in and serves only Turkish cuisine.

In this beautiful, contemporary year-old space where hundreds of wineglasses were used to create a translucent dividing wall, the menu is completely and exclusively Turkish food.

I am talking to the waiter standing to the side of our table and my friend Sami is chatting with the hotel’s assistant executive chef.

The waiter says, “I will have to ask the kitchen if they can make pasta for you.”

I say, “Well, the chef is standing right beside you, why don’t you ask him?”

The chef turns to the waiter and says, “Go tell the kitchen to make it.”

This is chef Mehmet Ali, a man so charming and kind that when he offered to make me poached eggs with yogurt for breakfast I couldn’t say no even if I was thinking “What? Eggs and yogurt?” But how could this tapsilog-loving, sunny-side-up girl say no to this man?

Unlike the original colonial-style Raffles Hotel in Singapore, which started as a private beach house in 1887, everything about Rafles Istanbul is very new (it opened only in 2014). It’s located at Zorlu Center, a new complex of office and residential towers, a performance art theater, and a luxury mall.

And yet the hotel is already gaining praise for bringing the tradition of Asian hospitality and impeccable service into this old city.  

Public relations manager Esin Sungur says with a laugh that the Raffles philosophy is that “even before we know the question, the answer is yes.”

Sometimes, you don’t even have to ask. Raffles Hotels around the world go the extra mile with their team of butlers that service every room. One of them is Hulya Zengin, who says there have been guests she’s assisted for special occasions such as marriage proposals, anniversaries and birthdays. One was a proposal wherein the man wanted to do it in the balcony of the room, so they arranged a special dinner with music, flowers and candles. Another is a couple for whom Hulya decorated the room with rose petals on the bed and floor, balloons and handwritten love quotes. Hulya herself is newly married and maybe it’s the romantic in her that makes her want guests to have their special time, too.

Designed by Sandra Cortner of Hirsch Bedner Associates (HBA), a leading firm in hospitality design with works from Atlanta to Moscow, Shanghai to LA, Raffles Istanbul at Zorlu Center was a unique project.

Istanbul itself was HBA’s main inspiration for the design with the “interiors reflecting the jewels of the Byzantine era, only worn by the Emperor and Empress of the time. These jewel tones are referenced throughout — in the palette and selected artworks.”  

Cortner says,  “The first question was, what would a guest coming into this landmark building expect? It would not be historical, classic interiors, for sure. Neither would the space be aggressively contemporary. It was decided to make it transitional, timeless. We needed to connect it with the destination to give the sense of place. Art is part of the fabric of every Raffles Hotel — incorporated into the overall design, seamlessly, which is how we came to our concept, ‘The Dream of Istanbul.’ Not everything has to be literal; you may have abstract sides to it, dreams, fantasies. You wake up in a room with a bed backdrop inspired by the chandeliers of the Hagia Sophia but they are not photographs; they are soft and volatile, painted on canvas.”

You see the references to the city’s history as you pass through the vestibule and stand under the crystal chandelier in the grand lobby: a huge abstract bronze sculpture “Lavinia” by artist Martin Dawe, which was inspired by the famous Turkish poem of the same name, and a mural by French artist Jean-Francois Rauzier who reimagined the Dolmabahce Palace of the Ottoman Empire.

The 185-room hotel remains true to its DNA with the signature Long Bar (yes, it has the Singapore Sling as well and this drink celebrates its centenary this year) and Writers Bars. It also has the very popular Spanish restaurant Arola by Michelin-star chef Sergi Arola, a favorite of the well-heeled.

Another space that’s show-stopping is the hotel’s award-winning spa. Designers at Hirsch Bedner Associates made this 3,000-sqm. spa a true oasis with dazzling details. Above the indoor pool and jacuzzi and cascading from the ceiling are design elements in geometric shapes, giving it a translucent look. The spa has three Turkish hamams, seven treatment rooms, a male and female relaxation areas with saunas, steam rooms, Jacuzzis and ice fountains; and among the wellness facilities are a fitness center, yoga and and pilates studios.

If sultans still reigned in Turkey today, surely this would be the hotel they would converge, because Raffles blends European timelessness and Asian warmth — in a city that is timeless itself.

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For more information, log on to www.raffles.com.

Follow the author on Instagram and Twitter @iamtanyalara. Visit her travel blog on www.findingmyway.net.