Mangal 2 and Farr's School of Dancing, 10th January

Oh January, you accursed month! It's cold and miserable and I am poor and fat after the Christmas excesses. The lack of money is particularly bad this month but my boyfriend was feeling uncharacteristically generous and decided to treat me to a night out as he knew I couldn't really afford one. After much deliberation we settled on finally completing the hat trick of famed Turkish restaurants in Dalston - first Cirrik, then Mangal (1) and now Mangal 2.

Ahhh, are there many more delicious things than lamb fat that has been all crisped up? It is a truly delightful thing to eat when it is still warm and slightly charred. And so, it is hard to go wrong with a bit of grilled lamb. I realise that sentence almost suggests that Mangal 2 have somehow screwed it up, but far from it. 

I already had a soft spot for Mangal 2 due to its famed Twitter account - brutally funny and slightly kebab-obsessed (as you'd expect from a restaurant selling kebabs). The guy who first took our drinks order made me think of whoever runs their Twitter account - I tried ordering a diet coke to parch my thirst but was practically forbade to do so, and cajoled instead into having a proper drink (admittedly I do not often need much persuading). 

With a nod to eating healthily, we decided to split a mixed grill and also have a couple of meze between us - one cold, one hot. We got the aubergine with sweet red pepper and mint as our cold one, and the lahmacun for our hot one. We didn't order any more as we weren't sure what other dishes might come with it.

Sure enough, a bowl of bread was set down, which was warm and soft and which we tried to save until the rest of dinner came in case we needed it for soaking things up. That was difficult. 

Soon after came the aubergine dish - any healthiness negated by the oil it was swimming in. It was very nice but a little on the cold side. Our lahmacun didn't come until near the end of the meal - as our grill was set down the waiter asked us if there was anything else and we had to gently remind him. But arrive it did and it was useful for dipping into what remained. For a warm meze it was a little cold, and not hugely flavoursome.

A plate full of charred onions, peppers, tomato, cucumber and leaves was set down, swimming in that delicious pomegranate dressing. This one had quite a kick to it! I only wish it wasn't quite so thin so that I could soak up more with my meat and bread. Love that stuff.

Our grill consisted of cis kebab, kofte kebab, two chicken wings and another hunk of lamb with that delicious fat I mentioned around the edge, plus a lamb chop. It came complete with a thin bit of bread that the juices soaked through.

And it was all very tasty. The chicken wings in particular, oddly enough, stood out - they were pretty well-sized wings and were very crispy with a sort of dry coating. We asked for some chilli sauce and they also gave us some garlicky sauce which was lovely - strong, but lovely. The chilli sauce was actually quite mild.

But for all this, I have to say that it still didn't quite live up to Cirrik. Especially when the bill came and the onion salad we'd been given was on there! We didn't really mind, just wasn't expecting it as Cirrik ply you with so many free salads and sides.



Farr's School of Dancing

We then went for a drink before heading home to the newly opened Farr's School of Dancing, which just happens to be right next to the bus stop that we use to get home from Dalston.

This was quite the funky place. The bar is a central island, and an eclectic mix of seating can be found around the edges - what looked like converted cinema seats, sofas etc. It had a homely, slightly ramshackle feel to it and plenty of space in the middle for dancing later in the night. They were also playing some great music - stuff with a 60s soul vibe that had my shoulders shaking.

And the prices! One round cost us £8 - and that was with me getting a large glass of wine (served in a carafe which I thought was cute). Where else can you get that, even if it was only house wine? For this we could even forgive the surly bartendress her lack of warmth.

I don't think I'd need much of an excuse to go back, but the fact that we will literally have to pass it every time we catch the bus could provide the perfect reason to have 'one for the road'.

Find the menu & restaurant information on Zomato

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Mangal 1 Ocakbasi, 26th October

I really was expecting quite good things from this Turkish place in Dalston as it is generally regarded as one of the best Ocakbasi grill places in the area . . . And it pretty much lived up to expectations (ha - you thought I was going to go the other way with that didn't you?)

We got there at about 8 and there was a moderate queue, but the place is pretty big and it's not the kind of place to really linger so we were probably only waiting about ten minutes before we were seated. It didn't take us long to decide what we wanted, having watched the meat being skewered and put on the grill while we queued - everything! We ordered a mixed grill each (which didn't tell you what that included, though you knew it didn't include quail as that was in the 'special mixed grill) and realised that we had made a bit of a rookie mistake in not bringing any alcohol with us. Dagnabbit! 

As we waited for our food, a basket of bread was brought to our table which we started on. The bread was warm and soft and tasty on its own but both Stephen and I thought it was a bit of a travesty that we didn't have anything to scoop up with it. Two people seated quite close to us had a plate of different and tasty looking dips and it didn't take too much debate between us to decide to order that, which was just a 'meze'. 

It comprised of four different dip-type things, separated by cucumber slices - a hummus (houmous? hoummus? hommous? why are there so many variations?), a tzatziki-style dip, a tomato and parsley salad and a smokey roasted aubergine, tomato and garlic creation which was delicious. Well, actually, they were all delicious and in to time we had polished them and all the bread off. 

At this point we wondered if we hadn't been foolish in ordering a mixed grill. Memories of the mountain of food at Cirrik came back to me and I worried I would end up wasting a lot of my food again.

But I didn't do too badly, and Stephen finished his all (only minorly regretting this later). The portions weren't quite as gigantic as they were at Cirrik. And yes, please forgive me but I couldn't help but compare it to the place around the corner. At Mangal, our mixed grill consisted of a lamb chop, some lamb morsels, a chicken wing, adana kebab (I think) and some rolled belly meat (again, we think). This came with a large pepper (fairly spicy!), a square of bread (for me anyway, Stephen had several squares) and a ridiculously big salad to share. 

The meat was all very tasty. We were given a crazy hot sauce - a bit like a ketchup relish - to adorn our food, but I didn't partake. The meat didn't need it - it was all perfectly seasoned and tasty on its own. My chicken wing was less a wing and more like a wishbone with a few scraps of meat on it which was a bit disappointing, and I thought my lamb chop was a bit too big (I know, pernickety much? But because of its size it was a little dry.) but the edges with the crispy fat were delicious. The chunks of lamb were my favourite bits but it was all pretty enjoyable to eat. Again, I failed myself and didn't finish it all but I gave it a bloody good go before I admitted defeat. 

We'd already tucked into this once before I took this picture.

The salad was unnecessarily big. I took a few scoops of carrot, cabbage, some onion and it was only after we had tucked in once that I discovered all the lovely, juicy, seasoned shredded onion underneath. Why wasn't this amazing stuff on the top where we could get at it before we got full with everything else? I'm not saying the salad wasn't good - quite the opposite but it doesn't need to be so big. I'm worried there were other gems in that heap that I just couldn't get to! 

Overall I think Cirrik gets my first vote - I preferred their bread, and the lamb ribs that came with the mixed grill were amazing. The tiny chicken wing and slightly dry chop, and only one piece of bread (yes, I know I didn't even finish it all, but there's always room for more bread) let the side down a little for Mangal, which is why I'm giving Cirrik the edge here. But please don't take this as damning criticism. Mangal 1 is still pretty amazing and I would take no persuasion whatsoever to go back here again. The staff here deserve a mention as well. I found them really friendly in an unassuming kind of way.

I really hate writing up these things - I am totally craving meat now. I'll have to give Mangal 2 round the corner a try as well and complete the trifecta. Also, their hilarious tweets alone make me want to give them my custom.







Find the menu & restaurant information on Zomato

Cirrik, 7th September

If you’re familiar with my Food List, or if you take a look now, you’ll realise Cirrik isn’t on it. But what is on it is ‘Turkish place in Stoke Newington'. I think you can guess where I’m going with this...

While I was in the States, Stephen and his friend Nick went in search of some Turkish food in Dalston. They apparently had a specific place in mind but it was no longer there and instead they ended up somewhere else, in Stoke Newington, the name of which Stephen could not remember, but he raved about it. There was so much meat! So many salads! A huge grill at the back! And it was on a corner. I definitely wanted to try this place. And on Friday I decided I was in the mood for some Turkish.

We headed up to Dalston and walked from Dalston Junction up. Stephen was sure this place was on a corner, but we could not see anything that fit his memory of it. I noticed Cirrik as we walked by, because since coming back from the States, I’d heard from a couple of sources that it was a really good place. I clocked it, and thought, if we don’t find the place Stephen knows, maybe we can go there instead. But it wasn’t busy at all, so I wasn’t if it was the same Cirrik I’d heard of. Especially as further up there was another one, albeit closed.

We got practically all the way to Stoke Newington, Church Street without seeing the place we sought. Dejected and disheartened, I suggested we try Mangal Ocakbasi instead, and we did the same journey in reverse. Only this time when we passed Cirrik, there were several people inside, and the grill at the back was aflame. This is it! Stephen announced. Not on a corner at all, which is why it had been tricky to find, but it was the same in every other detail, and I was rather pleased that Stephen’s place turned out to be somewhere I had kind of wanted to try anyway. 

Well, the meal did not disappoint. My only regret was that I couldn’t finish it! We ordered the same meal that Stephen and Nick had had before, with Stephen warning me not to bother with a starter because there would be so much food. We each got a mixed grill for one, which comes with three different salads, plus a basket of bread, which they replenished even before we’d come close to finishing the first. This was utterly delicious. Light, slightly greasy and seemed to be lightly spiced as well. Even when I couldn't fit in all the meat I still managed to squeeze in a few more pieces of bread. 

We could see the chef cooking our meat on the grill behind us and it arrived all stacked on a plate of rice on top of very thin bread, which soaked up all the meat juices. It was all fantastic, but I especially liked the little lamb ribs – a little crunchy and charred on the edges, with amazing flavour. But I also had adana kebabs (minced lamb), chicken sis kebab and cop sis - cubes of marinated lamb. And so much of it, as I said, I couldn’t finish it and just concentrated on my favourites. 

As much as I loved the meat, the salads deserve a mention as well. You are served three different kinds, and if you don’t like onions you’re out of luck. The first is large chunks of grilled onions with parsley and sweet pomegranite juice. The second are thins strips of onion covered with spices, I preferred this savoury salad. And the last is a fresh green, tomato and pickled cabbage salad again with lots of parsley. They were refreshing and exactly what you needed to cut through the heaviness of the meat. All this was only £13.50. 

Also, top marks for seating us on the edge of an empty table. The restaurant is a bit communal, and you may end up sitting next to people you don't know, but whereas with other restaurants like this, I find they try to herd everyone to the same table, no matter how few customers there are, here were were given as much space as possible.

I'll be back.