Two things about Turkish food in London that decide where you should go, and neither appears in most lists.
It is a north London cuisine. The six sites of one of the city’s biggest Turkish groups are at Green Lanes, Kentish Town, Finchley, Walthamstow, Chingford and Park Royal. Every one is north of the river. If you are looking in Soho you are looking in the wrong place.
And the best of it increasingly calls itself something else. Ishtar in Marylebone describes its cooking as Aegean. Mangal II in Dalston calls itself an ocakbaşı. Searching for the word Turkish will miss both.
The one that started it
Mangal II, Dalston
Ali Dirik left Istanbul for London in 1987 and within four years opened the first ocakbaşı restaurant in the city, on the back streets of Dalston. Mangal II followed in 1994 and is now run by his sons.
Mangal II
- Address
- Dalston. They publish no street address on their own site
- Nearest
- Dalston Kingsland or Dalston Junction
- Booking
- Bookings@mangal2.com. Tables of seven or more must take the set menu. Smaller tables choose set or a la carte when ordering
- Standing
- Established 1994. The first Mangal was the first ocakbasi of its kind in London
How to get in
The group rule is the one to plan around: seven people or more and you are on the set menu, decided before you arrive rather than at the table. Below that you choose when you order. Ocakbasi means the open charcoal fire you sit around, which is the format the family brought to London rather than an aesthetic. Run today by Ferhat Dirik with his brother Sertac, who Observer Food Monthly named Young Chef of the Year in 2022. The National Restaurant Awards have placed it 35th best in the UK.
The north London institution
Gökyüzü
Gökyüzü
- Address
- Six sites: 26 to 28 Grand Parade on Green Lanes, N4 1LG, plus Kentish Town, Finchley, Walthamstow, Chingford and Park Royal
- Nearest
- Manor House for Green Lanes, Kentish Town for the second
- Hours
- Green Lanes 9am to 2am, seven days a week
- Booking
- Online through their own site, or 020 8211 8406 for Green Lanes
- Standing
- Trading since 1999, Turkish and Mediterranean, six London locations
How to get in
The Green Lanes original is the one to go to, because Green Lanes in Harringay is the actual centre of Turkish London and walking it is half the point. Six sites and not one of them south of the river, which tells you everything about where this food lives. Expect grilled meat in volume rather than small plates, and leave room for the desserts, which is what people come back for. They now publish hours for each site, and the Green Lanes original runs from nine in the morning to two the next, every day of the week, which makes it one of the latest kitchens in London and by some distance the latest on this page.
The central one
Ishtar, Marylebone
Ishtar
- Address
- 10 to 12 Crawford Street, Marylebone, W1U 6AZ
- Nearest
- Baker Street or Marylebone
- Hours
- Monday to Thursday and Sunday midday to 11pm. Friday and Saturday midday to midnight
- Booking
- Online, or 020 7224 2446
- Standing
- Open since 2004, and describing its cooking as contemporary Aegean rather than Turkish
How to get in
The most central option on this page by a distance, and the one that will not appear if you search the obvious word, because they position as Aegean. Practically that means more seafood and sharing plates and less of the charcoal grill format. Five separate private enclaves for parties, weddings and private screenings, which is unusual for a room this size and makes it a genuine option for a group that wants its own space. Indoor and outdoor seating on a quiet Marylebone street.
What to know before you go
Ocakbaşı is a format, not a dish. It means the open charcoal grill you sit around, and it is the reason a proper Turkish restaurant smells the way it does. If a place has one, that is where to sit.
Green Lanes is the destination, not a restaurant. The stretch through Harringay holds more Turkish restaurants, bakeries and grocers than the rest of London put together. Going there is a different proposition from booking a table in town.
Check the group rule before you invite people. Mangal II puts any table of seven or more onto the set menu automatically. That is better than it sounds for a birthday, and worse if half your party has opinions.
Search the other words. Aegean, Anatolian and ocakbaşı will each surface restaurants that never use the word Turkish on their own websites.
One that is gone
Oklava, the modern Turkish restaurant in Shoreditch, is no longer trading and its web address now serves an online casino site. It appears on a good number of lists that have not been checked since. If you find it recommended, the recommendation is old.
Everything else here was taken from each restaurant’s own published information and rechecked on 28 September 2026. Gökyüzü now publish hours for every site, so those are here. Mangal II still publishes no street address, which is noted where it applies. Confirm before you travel.
Halal restaurants in London covers how to check a claim against the restaurant’s own page rather than a listing site.
Turkish restaurant near me in London
The three on this page are in three different parts of the city, so the nearest one is usually obvious. Mangal II is in Hackney, by Dalston Kingsland or Dalston Junction. Gökyüzü is in Kentish Town, with Manor House for the Green Lanes branch. Ishtar is in Marylebone, by Baker Street. If you are in north or east London, go to the first two. If you are in the West End, it is Ishtar.
Where to go next
Dalston is where Mangal II sits, and the district has a market and a cinema worth the trip.
The Greek guide is the nearest neighbour to this page, and it turns on the same kind of small published rule: one room cancels a late table automatically after fifteen minutes, another four doors away allows twenty.
The restaurants guide holds the wider field, and the other cuisine guides are built the same way: Japanese, Thai, Mexican and pizza.
By neighbourhood: Hackney for Dalston and Marylebone for Ishtar.
Questions we get asked
What are the best Turkish restaurants in London?
Mangal II in Dalston, whose founder opened the first ocakbasi in London and which the National Restaurant Awards have ranked 35th best in the UK. Gokyuzu on Green Lanes, trading since 1999 across six north London sites. Ishtar on Crawford Street is the most central, though it describes its own cooking as Aegean rather than Turkish.
Where is the Turkish area of London?
Green Lanes, running through Harringay in north London, which holds more Turkish restaurants, bakeries and grocers than the rest of the city combined. Turkish food in London is overwhelmingly a north London cuisine: one major group has six sites, at Green Lanes, Kentish Town, Finchley, Walthamstow, Chingford and Park Royal, and not one is south of the river.
What is an ocakbasi?
The open charcoal fire that a Turkish grill restaurant is built around, and which guests traditionally sit beside. It is a format rather than a dish. The first ocakbasi in London opened on the back streets of Dalston in the early nineties, after Ali Dirik moved over from Istanbul in 1987, and Mangal II followed in 1994.
Is there good Turkish food in central London?
Less than in the north, and the best central option may not call itself Turkish. Ishtar on Crawford Street in Marylebone has been open since 2004 and describes its cooking as contemporary Aegean, which in practice means more seafood and sharing plates and less charcoal grill. Searching the word Turkish alone will miss it.
Can you book a Turkish restaurant in London for a large group?
Yes, but read the rules first. Mangal II in Dalston requires any table of seven or more to take the set menu, decided in advance rather than at the table. Ishtar in Marylebone has five separate private enclaves for parties and events, which is unusual for a restaurant of its size.
Is Oklava still open in London?
No. The modern Turkish restaurant in Shoreditch has closed and its former web address now serves an online casino site. It still appears on a number of London restaurant lists that have not been rechecked, so if you see it recommended, that recommendation predates the closure.
Written by Robert J Wills, no. 109 in the guide.
Last checked 28 September 2026 against the venues' own published information. Nobody pays to appear here and we take no bookings.
