Meze Mangal is officially my local restaurant, only 30/40 meters from my front door and luckily I hit the jackpot. It's a small family run Turkish restaurant that is packed out every Friday and Saturday night. As you enter the left hand wall of the restaurant is filled with a charcoal barbecue (above) and a wood fired oven where all of the food is cooked in front of you.I went last night for dinner without a booking, but a smile and a little bit of gentle persuasion and they magic a table from the basement or let you sit next to the bbq, which is where we ended up last night. There is a wide selection of meze starters, but there is only one to go for, the mixed meze. Which basically has a bit of everything and comes with sublime freshly baked bread from their wood oven. The main courses are a variety of freshly cooked meats or wood oven fired dishes. I've never had any complaints from the vegetarians I've taken there either, as there is a decent selection on the menu for them too. Last night we had a chicken kebab (it had a much fancier name and taste which I can't remember now) and kleftiko which was unbelievably tender.
I heard a rumour via some friends is Bondi Australia (and former Brockley residents) that Meze Mangal was going to expand into the vacant shop next door to increase it's seating capacity. Here's hoping. Another sign Brockley is on the way up?
The only down side is the wine. I wasn't a fan of Turkey's finest. However the beer is excellent.
Did you tell BBQ man that he was going to be famous?
ReplyDeleteNo. But he did allow me to take the picture. It might not seem like it from my shonky photography, but he was posing for a photo.
ReplyDeleteIt is a lovely restaurant, and they're great with kids as well.
ReplyDeleteJust adding my vote for Meze Mangal - one of my favourite eateries.
ReplyDeleteDitto, Meze is the dogs danglers. I would love them to expand.
ReplyDeleteLike you, the meze platter is our weapon of choice, and I love the Lahmacun Turkish pizza.
The wine is fine, I reckon, for £10 (or did you go for something more expensive?). It does have a different taste to it, but I put it down to the 'Turkishness'!
This is great local restaurant.
ReplyDeleteThey did try to expand next door but Lewisham Council in their infinate wisdom decided against it. So it sits in an oasis of derelict shops instead. Yeah, great one Lewisham, very clever.
If you live nearby and haven't been, please go. We want more places like this.