Author Topic: Turkish restaurants in the UK  (Read 15576 times)

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Offline Tonya

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Turkish restaurants in the UK
« Reply #10 on: January 11, 2004, 10:38:07 AM »
Thats good news Colwyn, was it busy and did you have to book a table?

I will definitely give it a try now I have a recommendation  :)



Offline CMC

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« Reply #11 on: January 11, 2004, 10:51:59 AM »
Hi Stoop, where is the one in York, wouldn't mind giving it a try
CMC

Offline Colwyn

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« Reply #12 on: January 11, 2004, 11:22:45 AM »
Tonya
We didn't book. The restaurant is quite small with about five tables downstairs and the same upstairs. This time of year is of course very quiet after the Xmas & New Year jollities. We were the only ones there at 8.30 - but it is a small friendly place and we didn't feel uncomfortable. Then another three people arrived and got stuck into a vast tableful of meze.
   The place has been open for 8 months it seems but the Bristol-Turkish waitress had only started last night so couldn't tell us much about it.
Colwyn

Offline Hazel

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« Reply #13 on: January 11, 2004, 12:00:17 PM »
Christine Turkish restaurant in York is on Rougier Street, coming out of town cross Lendal Bridge turn left and restaurant is on the left up by the traffic lights, let me know if it is okay.

Hazel

Offline Tonya

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« Reply #14 on: January 11, 2004, 15:47:47 PM »
Colwyn, hopefully this place will stick around, too many on Christmas Steps disappear because no-one knows they are there. Apparently on Friday nights they have belly dancing  :)

Offline CMC

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« Reply #15 on: January 11, 2004, 16:46:03 PM »
Thanks Hazel, I happened to drive past it this afternoon, hope to give it a try soon.
CMC

Offline dvarli

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« Reply #16 on: January 11, 2004, 18:39:07 PM »
Here are some Turkish restaurants in UK

19 Numara Bos Cirrik Kebab
 79 Stoke Newington Road
 London
 N16
 (020) 7923 1961
 
Agora Restaurant
 169 Clarence Road
 London
 E5
 (020) 8985 1913
 
Ahir Restaurant
 298 Nether Street, Finchley Central
 London
 N3 1RJ
 (020) 8371 0531
 
Aladdin
 50 Canon Hill, Sauthgate
 London
 N14 6LH
 (020) 8886 7373
 
Alanya Restaurant
 164 New Cross Road
 London
 SE14
 (020) 7639 5731
 
Alaturka Bar
 92 Stoke Newington High Street
 London
 N16
 (020) 7249 3332
 
Alaturka Cuisine
 20 Leytonstone Road, Stratford
 London
 E15
 (020) 8519 1103
 
Alem Restaurant
 75 West Green Road
 London
 N15
 (020) 8802 7360
 
Ali Baba Lahmacun Salonu
 144 Kingsland High Street
 London
 E8
 (020) 7249 3034
 
Anadolu Lokdntasi
 117 Kingsland High Street
 London
 E8
 (020) 7275 0403
 

Offline dvarli

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« Reply #17 on: January 11, 2004, 18:42:42 PM »

I forgot to add
take a look at this link

http://ingiltereturk.co.uk/Pages/Business/Turkisyerleri/TurkIsyerleri.asp?isimler=45&Submit=Listele

The web is Turkish but you may find the list of Turkish restuarants in UK



Offline Tonya

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« Reply #18 on: February 11, 2004, 15:03:54 PM »
I was looking for Turkish food shops in the UK and came upon this article written for Waitrose. If you want to experience Turkish food in the UK it seems the best place to go is Stoke Newington Road, Hackney!

Home Thoughts
In Hackney cafés, the Turkish and Kurdish communities of London share a passion for the food of their homeland, writes Sarah Woodward.

Close your eyes. Walk down Stoke Newington Road in the London borough of Hackney and indulge your senses. From this side street comes a waft of lamb dripping its fat over glowing charcoal; from that doorway the yeasty fragrance of baking bread. You'd swear you were in Turkey, especially when you see the greengrocer's sign is in Turkish, with Kurdish underneath.

This corner of Hackney houses the largest concentration of Turkish immigrants in Britain - numbering some 15,000 at the last count. Most come from the wild, mountainous east of the country, which borders on Iran and Iraq. Many of them are refugees who have been driven out by conflict between the Turkish government and the Kurdish population.

The Kurdish origin of most of the immigrants is obvious from the number of lahmacun shops, which sell the traditional Kurdish snack of flat bread topped with spiced minced lamb. But their greatest gift was to bring the first true ocakbasi restaurants to London, where the meat is cooked over charcoal.

In this area at least, the majority of immigrants from both the east and west of Turkey live happily side by side. One thing that unites them is their passion for food. "Food is such an important part of community," says Veysi Aydin, the chairman of the Kurdish and Turkish Community Centre's management committee. "When the centre was originally set up in 1984, one person from the committee was responsible for providing the food each day. From there it was a logical step to set up a canteen, and last year we opened a restaurant, the Halkevi. Now we get lots of non-Turkish customers."

Which is not so surprising, because there are few places in London where you can eat better food at such ridiculously low prices than the Halkevi. But while the restaurant represents a bargain for any visitor, it is much more than that for its Kurdish clientele. This is a place where they can still feel connected to a homeland few of them can return to, for political reasons. As Veysi, who has been in London for four years, says: "I would go back to my home town of Batman tomorrow if I could - but I simply don't know what's left there."

Tucking into a bowl of spicy chicken soup, thickened with cracked wheat and flavoured with dried mint and a squeeze of lemon, he is at least eating the familiar. "And that is so important, especially for the older people, who feel particularly displaced," he says. Customers can choose from the three or four different stews and baked dishes offered each day. There's always white beans cooked in tomato sauce with meat and peppers, plenty of rice and flat bread, and pastries or sutlac (rice pudding) to accompany a cup of thick Turkish coffee. The restaurant opens at six every morning, so that early risers can enjoy a Kurdish breakfast of lentil soup and a glass of ayran, diluted yoghurt served icy cold. The yoghurt, like almost everything else, is made on the premises.

Huseyin Akcadag and Ali Dirik run the Mangal Ocakbasi Restaurant. They first met shortly after they arrived in London from eastern Turkey, when they were both chefs at a restaurant in Newington Green. Their dream of opening a restaurant of their own became a reality in 1990, when the tiny Mangal opened in a side street off Stoke Newington Road.

Today, there's a second Mangal restaurant on the main road and recently the partners opened another restaurant virtually opposite, selling lahmacun and pide, which, apart from being the name for flat Turkish bread, also refers to Turkish 'pizzas', made of thin dough topped with lamb, tomatoes and green peppers. But those in the know are prepared to queue outside the original Mangal, where Huseyin is still "in front of the grill" - the literal meaning of ocakbasi.

Huseyin speaks little English, but then there is little need here. There is no menu. If his customers don't speak Turkish or Kurdish (although most of them do), then they simply point at the kebabs they want and he grills them expertly over the glowing charcoal. It is this use of charcoal that distinguishes Mangal from many of the so-called kebab shops with which London abounds - that, and the quality of the meat, which he says is far better than would be found in Turkey. The same goes for the doner kebab, which is made with slices of lamb rather than minced meat. A new doner (which means to turn) is cooked every day and is usually finished by mid-afternoon.

Huseyin's personal favourite is the classic sis kebab, chunks of tender lamb marinated in yoghurt, oil and ground red Turkish pepper, but the selection also includes whole quail, slices of aubergine interspersed with spiced minced lamb, pieces of liver or chicken, kofte, minced lamb spread on flat blades, and, on Wednesdays, fish. Huseyin has been in London 10 years now, arriving from Maras when he was about 27. "I have only been back to Maras once - there is nothing there for me now," he says. "London can be depressing. I don't speak the language, it can be lonely. But then I don't get lonely in the restaurant."

Those searching for ingredients to cook their own Turkish feasts need look no further than the Turkish Food Centre. Huseyin Ukar opened his first shop in 1981, and there are now five outlets. These days he is more involved in the wholesale side and the shop is run by his son Ercan. "It is difficult importing to London from Turkey, because it is outside the EU and there are customs problems," says Ercan. He refuses to compromise, though, saying: "Some things simply taste different if they are grown outside Turkey." So, depending on the season, such essentials to Turkish cooking as long green peppers, white marrows, cherries, pumpkin, figs and quinces are all flown in.

At least the bread can be made in London - 15 batches a day of the flat pide are baked in the shop. Customers who are in the know wait around the bakery door until a fresh batch is wheeled out, grasping the almost too hot to handle bread with a sheet of paper and rushing to the till. Ercan estimates that 65 per cent of his customers are Turkish, but when I ask whether the majority of the Turkish customers are from the east or the west he asks me: "What's the difference? They're all customers."

classic turkish and kurdish dishes
Meze Favourites include imam bayildi, meaning 'the Imam fainted' - this is baked aubergine stuffed with onions in tomato sauce, topped with Turkish green pepper; yogurtlu patlican - fried aubergines with yoghurt, sprinkled with dried mint; cacik - cucumber with garlic, salt and dried mint in thick sheep's milk yoghurt; pilaki - white haricot beans cooked in olive oil, served cold with flat-leaf parsley; boregi - parcels of crisp pastry, filled with minced lamb or feta cheese and spinach; arnavut cigeri - small pieces of spiced lamb's liver fried in olive oil.

Breads and snacks Lahmacun - thin, flat bread topped with spicy minced meat;

pide - the name for traditional Turkish bread, but also served like pizzas topped with lamb, tomatoes and green peppers.

Main dishes Alongside grilled meat and fish, there are many stewed and baked dishes, often accompanied by pilaf, which is usually made with rice in the west of Turkey and cracked wheat in the east. Dishes to look out for include sis kebab - cubes of marinated lamb cooked on skewers over charcoal; Adana kofte - named after the town of Adana, this is a kebab of heavily spiced minced lamb; patlican kebabi - a kebab made of slices of aubergine interspersed with minced lamb (often called Urfa kebabi after the town of Urfa in Southern Turkey); ic pilavi - a rich rice pilaf made with chicken livers, nuts and dried fruit; barbunya pilaksi - red mullet baked with vegetables in a tomato sauce rich with olive oil (it is also often made with the larger and cheaper grey mullet); uskumru dolmasi - mackerel is the favourite Turkish fish for the grill, but it is also often stuffed with a nut and fruit mixture and then fried as in this dish; hunkar begendi - a dish of spiced lamb served on top of creamed aubergine; comlek kebabi - a meat and vegetable casserole.

Sweets and pastries Meals usually end with fresh fruit or a milk pudding; pastries are typically enjoyed at other times of the day with coffee. Look out for sutlac - Turkish rice pudding; keskul - milk pudding with ground almonds, slivers of pistachio nut and cinnamon; baklava - eaten with coffee, this was originally an Easter dish introduced by the Armenian Christians, the 40 sheets of pastry symbolising the 40 days of Lent; kadayif - another favourite pastry; rahat lokum - literally 'a morsel of rest', this is Turkish delight, flavoured with rose water and often studded with pistachio nuts.

This article was first published on Waitrose.com in February 1999
 

Offline tinkerman

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Turkish restaurants in the UK
« Reply #19 on: February 11, 2004, 18:20:11 PM »
Good Turkish restaurants in the South West? I can highly reccomend Ottomans in Blandford,Dorset.
Tinks




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