Gokyuzu
Turkish
26-28 Grand Parade, Green Lanes, Harringay, N4 1LG
£
Gokyuzu is famous amongst. foodies as the most sought-after Turkish restaurant on Green Lanes, which is quite a feat considering the street is awash with them. It has appeared twice in Time Out’s ‘best in London’ in the past month: once for being amongst the 6 top Turkish restaurants, and second for being amongst the 6 top Shawarma wrap destinations. They have a further three destinations across London for you to explore, as I know as well as any that Harringay can sometimes be a little bit long.
The atmosphere of this particular joint is social and friendly. We went for Sunday dinner around 6:30 and there were a number of large group diners, which we later realised is perfect for the tower of meat sharing dishes. The space inside is massive – with three separate rooms off from the takeaway counter where you enter. They have tables outside, but I wouldn’t recommend sitting here as the traffic is mad: the only dark edges around your meat should be from the charcoal grill, not from the car fumes. The acoustics aren’t the best, and when this is coupled with a big space and large groups it doesn’t make for the most intimate or relaxing dinner – but this isn’t what you came for.
You came for the portions. And they are huge. Come with a carnivorous crowd and think big, some of the stuff we saw coming out from the kitchen smelled incredible, and was on a plate so overwhelmingly large it could easily feed a table of 10. Despite the emphasis on charcoal grilled meat, Gokyuzu is also a great shout for veggie options – with an abundance of falafel, interesting dips and free salad and bread.
To start, we ordered some tzatziki (£5.5) and babaganoush (£5.5) to go with our bread, along with lahmacun (£4.5), a simple Turkish style pizza of ground lamb, tomatoes, peppers and onion. The lahmacun was fresh and light, with a crisp base and sharp flavours – a definite win. However, whilst the tzatziki was good, the babaganoush was a bit to yoghurt for my liking – lacking in the aubergine element (which is kind of the whole base of the dish…)
To follow these we ordered a hot mixed mezze (£16.5) and a large lamb shish (£14.5). The hot mixed mezze included hummus, falafel, musaka boregi, sucuk, calamari and halloumi: basically everything you could ever want from a mezze menu. The dish came with two of each, meaning you got a taste of everything – my absolute no.1 way to eat. Everything was good, particularly the musaka boregi (feta and spinach pastry parcels) and the calamari. But the star of the show was without a doubt the lamb shish which was to follow. HANDS DOWN the BEST lamb I have ever had the fortune of eating. My God, it was good. Tender - with just the right amount of chew, juicy - with undertones of charcoal, delicious - and just the right side of rare. This is the kind of meat that reminds you why you aren’t saving the planet. It was a real star and made me a bit sad that I hadn’t got any more room to sample some more meat dishes.
Overall, Gokyuzu is great value (our bill came to just over £40 – including service), the portion sizes are massive (we had to take a doggy bag home which did us both for lunch the next day), and the service is super speedy. It is the same price of another restaurant we went to on Green Lanes, but far, far superior. It will be extremely difficult to tempt me anywhere else now as I believe this might truly be the best Turkish in London.
OVERALL RATING: *****
https://gokyuzurestaurant.co.uk/
