We had a really nice stay at Ufuk's place. We stayed there for 9 days and Ufuk was very welcoming. We cooked together a few times and we learned about great turkish recipes this way.
Ufuk invited us to go out with his friends, and this was a lot of fun.
He also helped us in many ways, for example by calling a taxi that would drive us from his place to the airport in the middle of the night.
The neighborhood, on the Asian side, is quiet and the ferry trips to the European side are a great way to start and conclude a day of tourism in Istanbul.