I love visiting cocktail bars just after their opening time, when the evening has not started yet and you get the feeling of increasing excitement for what will happen soon. This is the moment when you can quitely talk to bartenders and when you can witness the rituals of bar preparation, and from these moments you learn a lot about a specific place.
I did that at the Moretenders Cocktail Cribs in Istanbul, popping in earlier where the place was empty in contrast with the many crowded beer bars around it, and that was the right choice: quiet chats with friendly bartenders, a very good and very cold Martini (frozen with a nice glass cooling machine that I had almost never seen). The place, located in the very busy and lively area of Asmalimescit, is well known in town (I was actually sent there the bartender of another bar) and is famous fou its sushi as well. All in all, I have a new favourite bar in the capital of capital cities, as they say. Classic Martini rate: 8.
The Martini Hour 