Turkish Food on Green Lanes, Harringay, London
A guide to Turkish and Cypriot ocakbasi grills, mangal and meze along Green Lanes in Harringay, Haringey.
Green Lanes in Harringay, up in Haringey, is where Londoners go for the real ocakbasi experience. The stretch is lined with Turkish and Cypriot grill houses, bakeries and grocers, and on a good evening the whole road smells of charcoal and grilled lamb. This is proper mangal country, open late, generous, and built around meat cooked over live coals. If you have never sat down to a full Turkish grill, this is where to do it.
What ocakbasi means
Ocakbasi means grill-side. The best places have an open charcoal grill in the room, sometimes with seats right around it, and everything comes off those coals: lamb, chicken, kofte, chops, wings. The smoke is part of the meal. When you walk in and see the coals glowing and a chef fanning them, you are in the right place.
How a Turkish grill meal works
Do not order a main straight away. It starts with meze and bread. A basket of hot, puffed lavash bread usually arrives without asking, along with a plate of raw onion, salad and sometimes a chilli. Order a few cold meze to share: hummus, cacik (yoghurt with cucumber and mint), tarama, patlican (smoky aubergine), and stuffed vine leaves. Add a hot starter or two, like halloumi or sucuk.
Then the grill. A mixed grill for the table is the classic move: lamb shish, chicken shish, adana or urfa kofte, lamb chops and wings, piled on rice and salad. Adana is spiced, urfa milder, both minced lamb pressed onto flat skewers. Lamb chops off the coals are a highlight. If you would rather order individually, pick two or three meats to share.
Finish with baklava or kunefe and a Turkish coffee or cay, served in the little tulip glasses and refilled generously.
The listings below show real Turkish restaurants in Haringey along Green Lanes.
Ordering tips
- Go with people and share. Turkish grill food is made for a full table, not a plate each.
- Say yes to the bread and salad refills. They usually keep coming.
- Ask for the meat cooked to your liking. A good grill cook will do lamb chops with real char and still pink inside if you want.
- Many places are family-run and open very late, so it works for a proper late dinner.
- Some are unlicensed, so it is worth checking if you want a drink, or bring your own where allowed.
Bakeries and shopping
Green Lanes is not only about dinner. The bakeries turn out fresh borek, simit and Turkish bread through the day, and the grocers carry everything for cooking at home: bulgur, spices, cheeses, olives, and trays of baklava to take away. It is easy to eat a huge grill one night and come back for a bag of pastries the next morning.
Turn up hungry, order meze first, get the mixed grill, and do not rush. Green Lanes rewards people who settle in and let the food keep coming.
Written by See The Smoke · kept current from the directory, last checked 2026-09-07