PEOPLE ARE STRANGE
by admin
The world is a big, weird place full of weird people. Some pretend to be cars, some (doing yoga) take this sun salutation thing very seriously, and some go to Lucca. The latter is an “unidentified” venue situated in Bebek – to me, the most claustrophobic neighbourhood in Istanbul despite the by-the-sea location- that has been in operation for the last 4 or 5 years. At Lucca, one is offered mediocre food, ordinary cocktails that are outrageously priced and a large population of so-chic-that-it-scares type of human beings, all in an obnoxious environment shaped by an ugly and cheap-looking mixture of furniture. Supposedly, Lucca is a cafe (the signboard reads it is also a restaurant), but it pretends to be a night club after dark. So one expects a superb audio system that is well-spent a few bucks from that hard-earned cash (cocktails, anyone?), just like one anticipates to find in every other night club. However, in this case, one falls short of one’s expectations. At Lucca, the music is played loud through a set of lousy speakers, and when accompanied by the general hum of voices, there’s no melody to enjoy, but a malady for one’s pair of ears is always guaranteed. If you are not very sensitive about music or a deaf person, I still can count a lot of viable reasons to why you should avoid Lucca. From a few (very rare) personal experiences and also from what I’ve been hearing from other people, the staff is rude and intolerable. The place gets so overcrowded that you sometimes find yourself kissing someone-you-don’t-know’s neck. And there’s always a huge big traffic jam to get stuck in on the way back to home-sweet-home.
I really don’t understand why anyone would even consider Lucca as a going-out activity.
Comments
Hello,
I have been following your blog for a while and first time I got really disappointed.
I do visit Istanbul at least once a month for business purposes and I met “lucca” almost 2 years back. So I can tell you my personal feelings and critics about your comments. I would like to give you my input by numbers:
1- You have called Lucca “claustrophobic”. I totally disagree with you. It’s very white with high ceilings. I think you’re living in a palace that you see Lucca “claustrophobic”. I have seen a lot of flats in Istanbul that’s what we can call claustrophobic.
2- “unidentified” this is really absurd word to call Lucca. All over Istanbul maybe is unidentified. For me it’s identified indeed. The crowd looks really trendy from my point of view.
3- cocktails: From my taste it’s absolutely wonderful and even glasses are very huge and full of alcohol and it costs like 25 lira something. Yes compare to Europe it’s expensive but compare to Istanbul it’s very reasonable since I had paid same or more money for a small glass of vodka which was filled with ice to the top.
4- I like the decoration it’s really fancy it looks simple but it has a style. This is a taste some like classical, some like neo classic, some like minimal. You can never judge people’s taste cause it’s called taste.
My last subject is music. I really think there is good music overthere during dinner it was tasteful and it’s really trendy. (I live in Paris and believe me there are some fancy places which plays awful music)
For your technical critisims I can not say anything but I had so much fun in Lucca thursdays and weekends. I talked to one of my collegue today after reading your blog and asked him if Lucca has a lousy music and he told me Lucca has one of the most expensive system for a cafe bar.
Here is my final conclusion:
My dear if you don’t like Lucca the solution is simple “don’t go”. But when I look at the pictures at ur blog I see a lot of people drinking beers so I guess it’s not someone job (if you’re not a gourmet of cocktails) to call their delicious cocktails as “ordinary”. I never had such a tasty bloodymary but in Lucca. I guess you don’t have the taste.
Also I see a lot of pictures of some other cafe “munferit”.
I believe your point is clear you’re pointing Istanbul’s most trendy bar to get attention to promote other place. And it looks pretty obvious. Gotcha !!!!
That’s it from me. I hope you dont get offended but the only place I like in Istanbul doesnt deserve a cristisim like that.
Bonne Chance,
Tracy