I usually never eat at Italian restaurants outside of Italy - I am Italian and I end up mostly disappointed, but I was looking for a nice quality restaurant to treat myself while in Istanbul, close to my hotel in Taksim square, and needed some familiar comfort food. I found Fiamma and so glad I did! I was able to have my nice Campari and soda aperitif, and had the best tagliatelle, second only to my mom\s. Nice light sauce, fresh veggies, excellent tasting pasta. I had tiramisu for dessert and it was very yummy, and a huge piece... Couldn\t finish it - which is not usual for me! The staff speaks English and some Italian, between both there was no problem communicating. So then I found out the chef is actually from Italy - which explains it! Everyone was very friendly, from the bartender to the waiter.

We were wondering around and it started snowing, the chef ( a really kind italian) invited us in, so we decided to have lunch, it was really great (good Italian food and hot wine that saved us from the awfull weather) and the chef helped us with directions and answered all of our questions! (Thank you so much for your kindness).