An ocakbasi is a Turkish restaurant built around a long charcoal grill, usually with a counter where you can sit and watch it. London has dozens of them, concentrated in Dalston and along Green Lanes in Harringay, and a meal at one costs less than most people expect.
Britain's Turkish-speaking communities came in three waves: Turkish Cypriots from the 1950s, mainland Turks from the 1970s, and Kurdish families from south-eastern Turkey from the 1980s. They settled in north and east London, and the restaurants followed. Many of the grills on Green Lanes are Kurdish-run, many in Dalston are Turkish, and the menus differ in small ways that regulars notice.
The word ocakbasi means "by the hearth". At its best it means a room with a chimney over an open fire, a man turning skewers, bread coming out of an oven behind him, and a table covered in small dishes before you have ordered anything hot. This page explains how to order in one, what the bread and the free extras really are, and how to get to the streets where they are.
Where the grills are
- Green Lanes, Harringay
- The densest stretch, roughly between Manor House and Turnpike Lane. Harringay Green Lanes station, Zone 3, Suffragette line; buses 29, 141 and 341
- Kingsland High Street and Stoke Newington Road, Dalston
- Dalston Junction, Zone 2, Windrush line; Dalston Kingsland, Zone 2, Mildmay line
- Newington Green and Newington Road
- Between Dalston and Highbury, walkable from either
- Edmonton and Wood Green
- Further north, cheaper again, almost no visitors
- Typical hours
- Many grills serve until midnight or later; check the individual restaurant, because licences differ along the road
- Alcohol
- Some hold a licence, some are dry, and some are happy for you to carry in a bottle. Ask first
Green Lanes: the longest run of charcoal in Britain
Green Lanes is a road, not a neighbourhood, and the relevant part runs for about two kilometres through Harringay. Along it you will find grills, bakeries, supermarkets selling twenty kinds of olive, patisseries stacked with baklava, and cafes where men play backgammon at eleven at night.
Getting there catches people out because there is no Tube station on the road itself. Harringay Green Lanes station, on the Suffragette line of the London Overground between Gospel Oak and Barking Riverside, sits in Zone 3 and puts you in the middle of the stretch. Manor House on the Piccadilly line is at the southern end, Turnpike Lane on the same line at the northern end, and the 29 bus runs the whole length from Trafalgar Square. Our guide to London buses explains the £1.75 flat fare and the hopper, which makes the bus the cheapest way to arrive.
The same road is the centre of Greek and Cypriot London, and the two communities have lived side by side along it for decades. See our guide to Greek and Cypriot food for the other half of Green Lanes.
Photo: E4024 · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons · resized
Dalston: the same food, closer in
If Green Lanes is too far, Dalston does the same thing in Zone 2. Kingsland High Street and Stoke Newington Road carry a run of grills, some of them long-established, alongside the bars and clubs that made the area's more recent reputation. Mangal II on Stoke Newington Road is one of the long-established names and still cooks over charcoal.
The advantage of Dalston is that you can eat late and still get home. Dalston Junction and Dalston Kingsland are both on the Overground, and night buses run down Kingsland Road into the City. Our page on night buses covers the routes, and our Dalston and Stoke Newington guide covers the rest of the street.
How to order at an ocakbasi
The sequence is fixed and it is worth following, because the kitchen expects it.
- Bread and salad arrive first. Flat bread from the oven, a bowl of shredded cabbage and carrot, sometimes olives and a chilli. In many places this is included; in some it appears on the bill as a cover charge. Look at the menu.
- Order two or three cold mezze to share. Hummus, smoked aubergine, yoghurt with cucumber and mint, spiced walnut and pepper paste, stuffed vine leaves.
- Add one hot starter. Grilled halloumi, spicy sucuk sausage, or a borek pastry.
- Then the grill. One skewer or one mixed grill per person is plenty; a mixed grill for two will feed three.
- Tea at the end. Black tea in a small tulip glass, no milk, with sugar cubes on the saucer.
The bread keeps coming and that is the point. Flat bread is brought hot in waves through the meal, and it is normal to use it instead of cutlery for the mezze and to mop the juices from the grill. If you fill up on the first basket you will have no room for the meat, which is what you came for.
What to ask for from the grill
| Name | What arrives | Heat |
|---|---|---|
| Adana kebab | Minced lamb pressed onto a flat skewer, seasoned with red pepper flakes | Spicy |
| Urfa kebab | The same shape, without the chilli | Mild |
| Kuzu sis | Cubes of lamb, marinated and grilled | Mild |
| Pirzola | Lamb chops, the test of a good grill | Mild |
| Iskender | Sliced doner over bread with tomato sauce and yoghurt, melted butter poured on top | Mild, very rich |
| Lahmacun | A thin round of dough with minced lamb and herbs, rolled up with lemon and parsley | Mild |
| Pide | A boat-shaped bread baked with cheese, egg or minced meat | Mild |
| Kunefe | Shredded pastry over melted cheese, soaked in syrup, served hot | Sweet |
Doner in these restaurants is not the late-night doner of British high streets. It is the same technique done carefully, and iskender is the dish that shows it off. Order it once and you will understand why the two things share a name and nothing else.
Vegetarians do better here than at most grill restaurants, because the cold mezze are a full meal in themselves and the vegetable pide and grilled halloumi are proper dishes rather than concessions. See vegan and vegetarian London for the wider picture. Almost all the meat served in these restaurants is halal. Our separate page about finding halal food in the city sets out what British certification actually means, and the question to put to a restaurant, if that matters to you.
Drinking, and the three kinds of restaurant
This is the detail that ruins evenings. Turkish restaurants in London fall into three groups, and they look identical from the pavement.
- Licensed. They sell Turkish beer, wine and raki, the aniseed spirit that turns white with water. Outside bottles are not welcome.
- Unlicensed, but happy for you to carry one in. Common on Green Lanes. Buy from a shop on the same road; some restaurants charge a small fee for glasses.
- Dry. No alcohol on the premises at all, yours or theirs. Ayran, a salted yoghurt drink, and sahlep in winter are what people drink instead.
Telephone and ask, or read the window. Our notes on alcohol laws and drinking in public cover the off-licence side, including the rules on drinking on the street on the way between the two.
Two people can eat very well for the price of one main course in Soho. A sensible order for two is three cold mezze, one hot starter, one mixed grill and a pot of tea, shared. That is more food than most couples finish. The saving is real enough that our page about eating cheaply in the city treats a Green Lanes grill as one of the best-value sit-down meals in London.
Bakeries, supermarkets and breakfast
Turkish food in London is not only restaurants. The bakeries on Green Lanes and Kingsland Road sell simit, a bread ring crusted with sesame, from early morning; borek by the slice; and trays of baklava and kadayif cut to order by weight. The supermarkets carry white cheeses in brine, dried figs and apricots, pomegranate molasses and long aisles of olives.
Turkish breakfast is the meal most visitors miss. It arrives as a table covered in small plates: cheeses, olives, tomato and cucumber, honey with clotted cream, jam, boiled eggs or menemen, which is eggs scrambled with tomato and green pepper, plus endless tea. It is served into the afternoon at weekends and it is a serious rival to the full English. For the sweet side, see our guide to bakeries and pastries.
Late night, and why these streets matter after midnight
London's kitchens close early by European standards. Turkish grills are one of the main exceptions, and on Green Lanes and Kingsland Road you can order a full meal at a time when most of the centre is serving nothing at all. Our guide to late-night food in London lists the other options, and London at night covers getting back.
The other late option is the Middle Eastern strip on Edgware Road, which keeps similar hours with a Lebanese menu and shisha terraces. See our guide to Edgware Road for how the two compare; the short version is that Edgware Road is more central, more expensive and more about sitting outside, while Green Lanes is about the fire.
Practical points
- Bookings. Larger Green Lanes restaurants take them; small grills often do not. Weekend evenings after 20:00 involve waiting.
- Service charge. Usually discretionary where it is added at all. See tipping in London for what is expected.
- Children. Family restaurants in these areas are genuinely family restaurants, open late, with high chairs and no fuss. Our page on London with kids covers eating out with children more broadly.
- Hygiene ratings. Every food business in England is inspected and given a score. The Food Standards Agency publishes them, and looking one up takes ten seconds.
Frequently asked questions
What is an ocakbasi?
It is a Turkish restaurant built around an open charcoal grill, often with seats at a counter facing the fire. The word means "by the hearth". Meat is cooked to order on flat skewers over the coals while you watch, and flat bread is baked alongside it and brought hot to the table.
Where is the best Turkish food in London?
Green Lanes in Harringay has the highest concentration of charcoal grills, bakeries and Turkish supermarkets, spread over about two kilometres between Manor House and Turnpike Lane. Dalston's Kingsland High Street and Stoke Newington Road are closer to the centre and easier to reach late at night.
How do I get to Green Lanes?
Harringay Green Lanes station, in Zone 3 on the Suffragette line of the London Overground, is in the middle of the restaurant stretch. Manor House and Turnpike Lane on the Piccadilly line sit at either end, about fifteen minutes apart on foot, and the 29 bus runs the length of the road from central London.
Are the Green Lanes grills licensed?
Sometimes. A number of restaurants on Green Lanes are unlicensed and welcome customers bringing wine or beer from a shop nearby, occasionally with a small charge. Others hold a full licence and will not open outside bottles, and some serve no alcohol whatsoever. Ring and ask rather than guessing from the shopfront.
How much food should two people order?
Three cold mezze, one hot starter and one mixed grill is enough for two adults and often stretches to three. Bread and salad usually arrive without being ordered. Resist ordering a main course each until you have seen the size of a mixed grill.
Sources
- Transport for London StopPoint data - lines, bus routes and fare zone for Harringay Green Lanes and Dalston (checked September 2026)
- Transport for London - Bus and tram fares and the Hopper fare (checked September 2026)
- Transport for London - London Overground line names, including the Suffragette and Windrush lines (checked September 2026)
- Mangal II, Stoke Newington Road - restaurant website (checked September 2026)
- Food Standards Agency - Food hygiene ratings search (checked September 2026)