Welcome to Istanbul Meze Restaurant

With the atmosphere of a local restaurant, despite its location near the West End, Istanbul Meze is always worth a visit. An enormous portion of arnavut ciğeri (lamb’s liver) made a first-rate starter, sautéed and served with parsley and onion. So did grilled halloumi cheese with tomato and lettuce, though you should only order it if you like salty food. Starters came with a fresh tray of warm pitta; pide bread would be an improvement. For mains, karni yarik (diced, stewed lamb on a bed of aubergine, served with rice and very thick yoghurt) was beautifully flavoursome, if not artistically presented. Charmingly, the waiters still tour the tables spooning the lovely fresh chilli sauce from a saucepan. Ískender was a mixture of chicken, köfte and lamb on pitta in a rich tomatoey sauce. As is traditional with ískender there were no vegetables, but unusually the same thick yoghurt was on the side rather than mixed in. Service was good and the welcome warm. The restaurant is popular with Turks; musicians frequently play downstairs, especially at weekends, though you might need to book to be sure of seeing them.

Time Out Eating & Drinking Guide 2008

Wonderful place - highly recommended! The food is delicious: light and fresh tabbouleh, gooey hummus, smokey eggplant, and succulent meat. The service is very pleasant. Prices are incredibly low: 6.95 for smoked aubergine with a lot of minced lamb (incl. rice and salad) - almost more than you can care to eat. They serve all their food with this delicious home-made smokey hot sauce (type salsa). Good for vegetarians too. Since I live closeby and I like the place so much, I've been here many times - not once been disappointed! One of my top favourite places in London!

Alice, Sunday, September 09, 2007

The best turkish food I have had in london at amazing prices despite a very central location. A large charcoal grill is at the end of the restaurant with all the ingredients laid out. Very fresh. Meats are very well seasoned and tender. The spicy chili sauce is also amazing and puts to shame every single kebab you have had before. A bit more difficult for vegetarians are non-meat lovers but there are some choices here as well. One of the best value for money restaurants in London. Highly recommended.

Shizuka, Thursday, July 05, 2007

One of the best places I have been to in London. Friendly waitresses, outstanding food, reasonable priced wine. All in all a highly recommendable place to eat. We had starter maincourse and desert, 2 bottles of turkish red wine (No.2) and left all with the promise to come back soon. Total to pay was £84.75. Not bad for 5?

Hartwig, Sunday, May 07, 2006

I first "discovered" this restaurant when I moved to a building just opposite - and what a find! Delicious food at great prices! The humous is great, the kebabs are good, soup lovely: this is hearty, consistent, simple Turkish food that will not fail to fill you up. For a while there was a carousel of lovely Czech waitresses ready to serve you, since one has gone back (and I've moved away) I've not been back as often, but make a point of going whenever I'm in the area.

As there is an open grill, this is perfect to go to during winter-time; weekdays are best as they're less busy. Definitely recommended, you'll keep going back.

TM, Friday, March 03, 2006