Turkish Food on Green Lanes

I'm eating around the world without leaving London and this week I was looking for a good Turkish restaurant. After some good old googling, I found out that for this, one needs to go to Green Lanes in Hackney. And so I dragged two friends with me and hopped on a tube journey north.

Having decided to just wing it in terms of which restaurant to eat at, we took the tube to Manor House and walked along the lively street. It was lined with Turkish shops, cafes and places to eat which prompted my friend to utter that it felt just like being in Istanbul. The last time I was in Istanbul was twenty years ago, so I couldn't really judge.

There were so many eateries to choose from, so we just made a random pick and ended up at a place called Zer.

The clientele looked and sounded Middle-Eastern which is always a good sign when it comes to picking a Middle-Eastern place to eat. Our friendly hostess showed us to our table and was very keen to help us order our food.

I started with a turnip drink. It sounded so wonderfully weird, that I couldn't resist to try. Ignoring the warnings of the waiter that I'd probably hate it, I took a sip and realised I should've listened to him. It reminded me of a very spicy beetroot juice, but in a disgusting way.

We decided to start with a platter of hot starters which is a great way to sample different Turkish dishes. The plate was abundantly filled with falafal balls, flute pastries filled with cheese, spicy sausages, squid rings and haloumi cheese. Of course there was a large helping of hummus, a cucumber salad, a tabouleh salad and a basket of crunchy Turkish bread.

For mains I went for lamb kofte which was served with rice and a very spicy pepper, which I found out the hard way.

We ate till we couldn't eat no more. The downside of Turkish food, it's just too good to leave on your plate.

We finished off the meal with a glass of strong Turkish coffee and a syrupy polenta type cake called sutlac, before venturing back down south. Green Lanes might not be around the corner for a lot of Londoners, but believe me, it's definitely worth the journey to Green Lanes.

Zer is located at 52-53 Grand Parade Green Lanes in London. Closest tube is Manor House.