When it comes to reviewing Turkish restaurants I don’t get excited much, pretty much all the Turkish restaurants now follow the trend of serving up lightly marinated meats that have been grilled over a charcoal flame.
It tends to be the same for me, it is partly down to my ordering options which normally consist of mixed grills but also that Turkish food I find is very similar wherever I go. You can put a mixed grill from 5 different Turkish restaurants next to each other and chances are they will all look and taste very similar.
So when I was invited to check out one of Green Lane’s oldest Turkish restaurants I wasn’t expecting much. If you haven’t heard of Green Lanes in Harringay then it’s like a mini Turkey, with loads of Turkish restaurants. It’s my usual place to go if I need a Turkish fix. My normal restaurant of choice used to be Gokyuzu, but recently I have found the standards have fallen so going to a new place came at a good time.
Menus
Anyways, As I was invited, in contrast to how I normally order I allowed the manager to pick a few dishes for me, as well as picking a few for myself.
We started the evening with a selection of different mezes. Now, I don’t normally bother with mezes, I go straight for the meat! However, I’m glad they gave me a good spread.
Gonna be honest with you, im writting this reivew months after I visied and I can’t remember the names of every dish below, but i’ll my best…
Zeytinyagli Fasulye, £5.50, Runner beans braised in olive oil with tomatoes (top left)
I was impressed with most of the dishes. Really fresh flavours and ingredients. I enjoyed my selection of mezes. I don’t actually know the names of what they ordered for me,
Mains
The usual routine normally is me ordering a sharing platter but I decided to go on what they picked for me. Side note, the price for the sharing platter was very expensive compared to others I’ve had from other restaurants.
Ali Nazik £14
It was refreshing to visit a Turkish restaurant and try something new for the first time. It is made from smoked and spiced eggplant, grilled and then pureed, topped with seasoned and marinated sauteed lamb.
Sogan Kebab £14
Sogan kebab is listed under signature dishes, with chargrilled pieces of minced lamb kofte and sweet shallots served in a tangy and tart pomegranate sauce. Wrapped up in a piece of bread, with a spoonful of sliced onions from the salad, this was certainly very tasty. The fresh flavours came together beautifully.
Sample Small Mix Grill (off menu)
Iskender Kebab
We then popped over next door to Antepliler Doner where we tried the famous Iskender Kebab, The dish consists of döner kebab prepared from thinly cut grilled lamb topped with hot tomato sauce over pieces of pita bread and generously slathered with melted sheep butter and yoghurt. Tomato sauce and melted butter are generally poured over the dish, at the table. Easy to say that this was epic.
Kunefe
They have their own dessert cafe for Kunefe. Kunefe is a dessert that has a layer of mild stretchy homemade cheese sandwiched in the middle and topped with a dollop of kaymak (like clotted cream). It is served warm and covered in crushed pistachios. Antep pistachios have a natural brilliant colour. They are small but tender and sweet, with a wonderful flavour. The Kunefe was deliciously decadent. Best Kunefe in London.
KUNEFE…………………………………………………………………£5.50
KAYMAKLI KUNEFE (Cream)……………………………………£6.50
SPECIAL KUNEFE (with Extra Pistachios inside)……….£8.00
Overall, with so many Turkish restaurants feeling all the same, this place does stand out from the crowd, they use very good quality meat ingredients and put care into the food.
I was invited here, the meal was complimentary.
