RFK Cuisine · Turkish · London
Best Turkish Restaurants in London 2026
Anatolian, ocakbasi grills & meze · London · 7 rooms ranked · Updated June 2026
Compiled by the Restaurants for Kings editorial team · Published June 20, 2026 · Updated June 20, 2026
London has eaten Turkish food for fifty years and only recently started taking it seriously as a cuisine rather than a late-night kebab. The shift is real: the Michelin Guide now lists Turkish rooms, chefs like Civan Er and Selin Kiazim are cooking Anatolia far beyond the doner, and the old charcoal grills of Dalston and Green Lanes are finally getting the respect they always deserved. The result is a two-track scene. Up in Soho and Fitzrovia, modern kitchens work the open fire into a fifty-pound dinner; out in Dalston and Harringay, the ocakbasi grills do meze and a mixed grill better and cheaper than anywhere central. Ranked here on the cooking, the room and value, with the dish to order at each.
1.Yeni
Civan Er's open-fire Anatolian kitchen, London's most acclaimed Turkish room; book it for a modern Turkish dinner far beyond the kebab.
Yeni, on Beak Street in Soho, is the restaurant that proved Turkish food could carry a serious London dinner, chef Civan Er cooking an ever-changing, ingredient-led menu over an open fire and earning a place in the Michelin Guide for it. The cooking is modern Anatolian in the truest sense: regional dishes pulled from across Turkey, manti dumplings, wood-fired meat and vegetables, fermented and preserved touches, plated with restraint and built around what the kitchen has that week. The room is small, low-lit and grown-up, the antithesis of the strip-light kebab house, and the wine list leans into Turkish and Eastern Mediterranean bottles. It is the pick when you want Turkish food treated as a cuisine to explore rather than a quick grill. Book ahead; the room is small and the menu changes often.
Book ahead; take the open-fire menu, the manti and a Turkish bottle from the list.
2.Oklava
Selin Kiazim's Cypriot-Turkish small plates, the modern Anatolian benchmark; go for the pomegranate-glazed lamb and the baked feta.
Oklava, chef Selin Kiazim's London room, is the restaurant that defined the modern Turkish-Cypriot wave, a small-plates kitchen built on her family's Anatolian and Cypriot cooking and a confident, spice-forward hand. The signatures are the ones the city copied: pomegranate-molasses-glazed lamb, a soft menemen, baked feta with black garlic and honey, and house-made bread from the oven. It is bolder and more contemporary than the grills, with proper cocktails and a sharp wine list, but it never loses the home-cooking heart that makes it more than a trend. It is the pick for a modern Turkish dinner that shares well across the table. Book ahead, especially at weekends, and order across the cold and hot small plates.
Book a weekend table; the pomegranate lamb, the menemen and the baked feta, shared.
3.Mangal 2
The Dirik brothers' reinvented Dalston grill, ocakbasi cooking with ambition; book it for Anatolian fire cooking with a modern edge.
Mangal 2, on Stoke Newington Road in Dalston, was a much-loved family ocakbasi before brothers Ferhat and Sertac Dirik took it over and turned it into one of the most interesting Turkish kitchens in the city. They kept the charcoal grill at the centre but pushed the cooking somewhere new: Cornish mutton loin with house chilli, grilled and cured Anatolian dishes, seasonal British produce run through a Turkish lens, alongside the classics the room was always known for. It is more ambitious and a touch pricier than a standard grill, but it is still recognisably a Dalston ocakbasi at heart, with the smoke and the generosity intact. It is the pick for the grill tradition cooked with real thought. Book ahead at weekends; the kitchen has a serious following now.
Book a weekend table; the charcoal mutton, the seasonal grills and a spread of meze.
4.Mangal Ocakbasi
The original Dalston charcoal grill since 1990, BYO and unfussy; go for the mixed grill and adana where London ocakbasi began.
Mangal Ocakbasi, on Arcola Street in Dalston, is the original, open since 1990 and still the benchmark for the classic London ocakbasi. The format has barely changed and does not need to: you sit by the open charcoal grill, watch the meat go on, and eat lamb adana, beyti, lamb chops and a mixed grill with hot lavash, grilled peppers and a sharp shepherd's salad. It is cash-friendly, often unlicensed so you bring your own wine or raki, and packed with a mix of locals and pilgrims who know it as the real thing. There is nothing modern about it, which is the entire appeal, decades of the same charcoal cooking done right. It is the pick for the no-frills grill experience and the value champion of the list. Walk in or book; bring your own bottle.
Walk in or book, bring your own bottle; the mixed grill, the adana and hot lavash.
5.Le Bab
The Soho room reinventing the kebab with chef-cooking and seasonal produce; go for a modern, refined take on the city's favourite food.
Le Bab, in Kingly Court off Carnaby Street in Soho, set out to do one thing, take the kebab seriously, and it has become the city's reference for the modern, chef-driven version. The cooking treats the kebab as a fine-dining format: spiced lamb and a fried-chicken kebab, seasonal vegetables and clever sauces, charcoal-cooked meats and proper sides, all plated with care and paired with cocktails and a smart wine list. It is more polished and more expensive than a grill, and purists may quibble that it strays from tradition, but the cooking is genuinely good and the format is its own. It is the pick for a Turkish-influenced dinner that feels current and central. Book ahead at peak; the Kingly Court terrace is the seat to ask for in summer.
Book ahead, ask for the terrace in summer; the spiced lamb and the fried-chicken kebab.
6.Gokyuzu
The big, bustling Green Lanes grill loved by the local Turkish community; go for the mountainous mixed grill with a group.
Gokyuzu, on Green Lanes in Harringay, is the anchor of London's main Turkish neighbourhood, a large, always-busy family restaurant that the local community itself rates among the best on the strip. The kitchen runs a huge menu off the charcoal grill: a mountainous mixed grill that arrives on a raised platter, lamb chops, adana, quail, fresh pide and a generous free spread of bread, dips and salad to start. It is loud, fast and built for groups and families, with portions that defeat most tables and prices that stay gentle for the volume. There is a reason the queue snakes down Green Lanes at weekends. It is the pick for a big, sociable Turkish feast away from the centre. Walk in and expect a wait at peak; it is worth it.
Walk in, expect a weekend wait; the mixed grill platter, lamb chops and fresh pide for the table.
7.Antepliler
The Green Lanes specialist in Gaziantep cooking and baklava; go for the sweets and southeastern kebabs done the southeastern way.
Antepliler, on Green Lanes in Harringay, is the London outpost of the cooking of Gaziantep, the southeastern Turkish city famous for its kebabs and, above all, its baklava. That is the reason to come: a proper baklava counter with pistachio-packed layers and warm kunefe, the cheese-filled syrup pastry, alongside southeastern specialities the standard grills do not bother with, lahmacun, Antep-style kebabs and pide. The restaurant itself is a comfortable, family-run room, but it is the sweet counter and the regional accuracy that set it apart on a street full of grills. It is the pick for dessert above all, and for kebabs cooked the way they are in the southeast. Walk in for the counter, book the restaurant for a sit-down, and do not skip the baklava.
Walk in for the counter; the pistachio baklava, the kunefe and a southeastern kebab.
How London eats Turkish
London Turkish sorts into two clear camps, and knowing which you want decides where you go. The modern rooms, Yeni and Oklava in the centre, and the chef-driven Le Bab, treat Turkish food as a cuisine to explore, open-fire and small-plate cooking at 40 to 55 pounds-plus a head, with cocktails and wine; book ahead. The ocakbasi grills of Dalston and Green Lanes, Mangal Ocakbasi, Mangal 2, Gokyuzu and Antepliler, do meze and the charcoal grill better and cheaper, 25 to 40 pounds, often unlicensed so you bring your own wine or raki. The grill meal has a rhythm: free bread and salad, a spread of cold and hot meze, then the mixed grill, and baklava and Turkish coffee to finish. The central rooms take cards and bookings; the grills are cash-friendly and lean on walk-ins.
Booking divides by tier. Yeni, Oklava and Le Bab need reserving days ahead; the grills run mostly on walk-ins, with queues on Green Lanes at weekends. For the wider city, the London dining guide maps it by neighbourhood and occasion, the best Turkish restaurants worldwide pillar sets London against Istanbul, and for other London cuisines see the best Peruvian in London and the best dim sum in London.
Where not to look for it
Skip these for serious London Turkish
Late-night West End doner shops. The strip-light kebab counters that feed the post-pub crowd around Leicester Square are not the cuisine; the meat is mass-cooked and the bread is an afterthought. For the real thing, go to the grills of Dalston and Green Lanes, where the charcoal is lit and the adana is made fresh, or book a modern room like Yeni or Oklava.
Tourist "Mediterranean" mezze bars. The generic meze-and-cocktail bars that lump Turkish, Greek and Lebanese into one laminated menu master none of them. For genuine Turkish cooking, eat at a kitchen that does only that, an ocakbasi grill or one of the modern Anatolian rooms, or compare how it is done at the source in the best Turkish restaurants worldwide.
Frequently asked
What is the best Turkish restaurant in London?
For modern Turkish cooking, Yeni in Soho, from chef Civan Er, is the leading room: a Michelin-Guide-listed kitchen on Beak Street working an ever-changing, open-fire menu of Anatolian dishes far beyond the kebab. For the best of the new Anatolian wave, Selin Kiazim's Oklava is the other top pick, with its Cypriot-Turkish small plates. For the classic charcoal grill, the Mangal rooms in Dalston are the benchmark. Yeni and Oklava for the modern table, Mangal for the ocakbasi. Book Yeni and Oklava ahead; the Mangal grills take walk-ins.
Where is the best ocakbasi in London?
The Dalston and Green Lanes Turkish strips are where London's charcoal-grill cooking lives. Mangal Ocakbasi on Arcola Street, open since 1990, is the original Dalston grill and still the benchmark for adana, lamb beyti and mixed grills cooked over the ocakbasi (the open charcoal grill). Mangal 2 nearby, revived by the Dirik brothers, takes the same tradition somewhere more ambitious. Up in Harringay, Gokyuzu on Green Lanes is the big, bustling family choice. For the grill, head north or east rather than central; these rooms are cheaper and better than the West End versions.
Are there Michelin Turkish restaurants in London?
The MICHELIN Guide now lists several Turkish venues in London, a shift that tracks the cuisine's rise here. Yeni in Soho, from Civan Er, is the most acclaimed, an open-fire Anatolian kitchen in the guide; Oklava, Selin Kiazim's Cypriot-Turkish room, and the modern-kebab specialist Le Bab have also drawn Michelin attention. The grills of Dalston and Green Lanes are not about stars, but they are where the everyday excellence is. So judge the modern rooms by the guide and the ocakbasi grills by the charcoal; both are essential to London Turkish.
How much do Turkish restaurants cost in London?
It spans a wide band. The ocakbasi grills, Mangal Ocakbasi, Mangal 2 and Gokyuzu, are excellent value, roughly 20 to 40 pounds a head for meze, a mixed grill and a salad, and several are unlicensed so you bring your own wine. Antepliler on Green Lanes is similar, with the baklava and kunefe extra. The modern rooms cost more: Oklava and Le Bab run 35 to 55 pounds, and Yeni in Soho is the priciest, 55 pounds-plus for its open-fire menu. For the best value, eat at the grills; for the occasion, book the modern rooms.
What Turkish dishes should I order in London?
At the grills, order a spread of cold and hot meze, then a mixed grill or adana kofte with lavash and a shepherd's salad. At Yeni, take the open-fire menu and the manti dumplings; at Oklava, the pomegranate-glazed lamb, the menemen and the baked feta; at Le Bab, the spiced lamb and the fried-chicken kebab. Finish with baklava and kunefe (the cheese-filled syrup pastry) at Antepliler on Green Lanes, where the Gaziantep sweets are made properly. As a rule, start with meze, eat from the charcoal, and save room for the syrup pastries and Turkish coffee.
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