Waltham Abbey, Turkish Restaurant Guide

2021 Review: “Very lively and noisy with families and children” – the “large” Harringay original of this small Turkish group is over twenty years old, and remains “understandably popular, given its reasonable prices”: “the food is good and plentiful and just keeps coming”, and “the grilled meats are just yummy”. There are now spin-offs in Chingford, Walthamstow and Finchley. Top Tip – “doggy bags are readily provided”.

2021 Review: “Very lively and noisy with families and children” – the “large” Harringay original of this small Turkish group is over twenty years old, and remains “understandably popular, given its reasonable prices”: “the food is good and plentiful and just keeps coming”, and “the grilled meats are just yummy”. There are now spin-offs in Chingford, Walthamstow and Finchley. Top Tip – “doggy bags are readily provided”.

This “fantastic upscaled-local Turkish restaurant” in Cockfosters gives the traditional North London Anatolian grill a modern makeover – and fans say it’s “wonderful to see it so deservedly busy” on account of its “excellent food and service”. “They’ve just expanded”, but it’s “harder than ever to get a table on a Saturday night”.

2021 Review: “Very lively and noisy with families and children” – the “large” Harringay original of this small Turkish group is over twenty years old, and remains “understandably popular, given its reasonable prices”: “the food is good and plentiful and just keeps coming”, and “the grilled meats are just yummy”. There are now spin-offs in Chingford, Walthamstow and Finchley. Top Tip – “doggy bags are readily provided”.

“One of the reasons we’ve yet to move house from Crouch End!” – local fans are sold on the virtues of this “stubbornly traditional Turkish restaurant (with murals on every wall depicting famous Turkish and other global tourist destinations… at least a step up from the glitzy establishments on Green Lane)”. “Despite recent price hikes, they are still very fair considering the high standard of cooking, as well as the warm welcome”.

2021 Review: “Very lively and noisy with families and children” – the “large” Harringay original of this small Turkish group is over twenty years old, and remains “understandably popular, given its reasonable prices”: “the food is good and plentiful and just keeps coming”, and “the grilled meats are just yummy”. There are now spin-offs in Chingford, Walthamstow and Finchley. Top Tip – “doggy bags are readily provided”.

“One of the OGs and still one of the very best!” – this renowned Turkish dive in Dalston gets some diners’ votes as “the best-value restaurant in London”. “The smell of grilled meats entices you into the deservedly bustling interior”, where it “delivers amazing food every time”: “wonderful BBQ, lovely warm bread and generous salad”. One of owner Ali Dirik’s sons runs nearby Mangal 2, putting a more modern slant on grill cooking.

2023 Review: “Mangal 2 has reinvented itself during the pandemic” with Ferhat and Sertaç Dirik (the sons of the founder), “transforming it from its previous incarnation as just another of one of the (good!) pile-’em-high Turkish restaurants on the Dalston/Stoke Newington strip into a totally new venue: still Turkish, but more small plates now than giant platters”. All reports agree it’s a successful switch, “standing on a solid par with the other good small-plates-and-wine joints around Hackney, while still doing something quite different”. “The noisy room is a little Spartan, but the exciting and interesting food transports you” – “the Turkish influence is not that obvious” but the menu delivers “good ingredients very well cooked” (although “the wine list is a bit too natural, with no other conventional options)”.

2022 Review: It’s a bit less nook-like than it looks, if you head to the larger basement of this summer 2020 Highbury newcomer: a deli by day and neighbourhood café in the evenings. With a vague connection to Linden Stores (RIP), which it replaced in 2020, there’s a Turkish twist to the contemporary European small dishes and sharing plates. Limited early feedback, but very positive all-round.

This “small and crowded” grill on Islington’s main drag serves “reasonably priced Turkish, Kurdish and Greek-style food” and is “clearly a local crowd-pleaser”. The ‘Hidden Gem’ basement is available for private parties.

This “cheap ’n’ cheerful Turkish operation” has been an atmospheric fixture on Upper Street for more than 25 years, offering “well cooked and presented dishes in generous portions”. “The smaller Gallipoli has gone, so all efforts have been put into this larger branch”, which has “a relaxed style, with different areas to sit in depending on the occasion”.

2023 Review: The “exquisite kebabs” at this family-run Turk in Kentish Town (which takes its name from the original Victorian sign above the door) have “set the standard in north London for years”. Don’t be put off by the “limited menu and basic amenities (more like a local chippy)” – the food is “fresh, good quality and delicious”, while “service is cheerful”.

2022 Review: With its swish, spacious metropolitan styling, this 100-seater brasserie on one of Shoreditch’s main drags does little to advertise the fact that it’s part of the Hart Shoreditch Hotel London (part of the Curio Collection by Hilton), which opened in early 2020. Knowing this helps explain the slightly over-plush styling – at odds with the strenuously hip neighbourhood – and also the wilfully un-corporate menu: inspired by the flavours of Levantine coastal towns (Levantine weekend brunch is a feature). Early reports are too limited for a rating, but all-round very good.

“Good mezze and grilled meat” help tick the boxes for “delicious food that is not expensive” at this Turkish business with five branches in the City – making them suitable “for business or social occasions” (although they can be “noisy”). In summer 2023, the group made its West End debut with the opening of Olea Social in Covent Garden, with a more general Mediterranean focus.

2022 Review: In a quiet, pedestrianised square in the City’s sprawling Broadgate development – near Broadgate Circle – this January 2020 arrival occupies a swishly decorated unit, and has a large terrace outside for a warm day. The rustic Anatolian cuisine – much of it on the open-flame mangal – is cosily at odds with all the surrounding modernity, and is washed down with a more metropolitan selection of cocktails.

“Good mezze and grilled meat” help tick the boxes for “delicious food that is not expensive” at this Turkish business with five branches in the City – making them suitable “for business or social occasions” (although they can be “noisy”). In summer 2023, the group made its West End debut with the opening of Olea Social in Covent Garden, with a more general Mediterranean focus.

“Good mezze and grilled meat” help tick the boxes for “delicious food that is not expensive” at this Turkish business with five branches in the City – making them suitable “for business or social occasions” (although they can be “noisy”). In summer 2023, the group made its West End debut with the opening of Olea Social in Covent Garden, with a more general Mediterranean focus.

“Good mezze and grilled meat” help tick the boxes for “delicious food that is not expensive” at this Turkish business with five branches in the City – making them suitable “for business or social occasions” (although they can be “noisy”). In summer 2023, the group made its West End debut with the opening of Olea Social in Covent Garden, with a more general Mediterranean focus.

“Good mezze and grilled meat” help tick the boxes for “delicious food that is not expensive” at this Turkish business with five branches in the City – making them suitable “for business or social occasions” (although they can be “noisy”). In summer 2023, the group made its West End debut with the opening of Olea Social in Covent Garden, with a more general Mediterranean focus.

“I know that I am not the first person to have been blown away by the imagination displayed in this deconstruction of the kebab!” – this no-longer-secret 10-seater counter in the basement of Kingly Court’s Le Bab aims to rocket-propel the kebab taste-palate to new heights, with a multi-course tasting menu served (smeared?) onto a special heated countertop (you scoop with your fingers). “Tasty… good patter from the chefs… engaging… quite the experience”. In August 2023, it relaunched with Pamir Zeydan as the new head chef (although he had already been working here with departing Manu Canales). The sort of dishes to expect? ‘Dover sole kebab delivered on an ironed hispi cabbage taco with roasted red pepper purée’.