Where To Eat Around Harringay

There’s no doubt that N4’s most famous stretch for eating is Green Lanes. The smoking ocakbasis, the glistening döners, the gözleme made from muscle memory. All are synonymous with a road that makes it, quite literally, impossible to depart hungry from. While Turkish and Kurdish grills make Harringay a gastronomic destination, they aren’t the only thing worth seeking out in this part of north London. There are pierogies and wood-fired pizza and, of course, there’s künefe for pudding.

THE SPOTS

Although you’ll find Durak Tantuni up towards Turnpike Lane, standing apart from the Grand Parade’s array of Turkish and Kurdish options, it’s essential to seek out. Your choice in the brightly lit restaurant is simple: a chopped and fried beef mixture laden with sumac and parsley; wrapped in dürüm or bread; big portion or small; single or multiple. Two regular wraps will do the job of pre or post-dinner snack, and it’s open until 2am. Don’t skimp on the piquant green pickled peppers that arrive at your table either.

The big name on Green Lanes hasn’t got its clout for no reason. Gökyüzü is a reliable restaurant, as shown by the crowds of family and friends that will fill its gleaming dining room on a daily basis. Why does everyone come back to this Turkish institution? Because it never lets you down. Whether you’re craving their köfte or chargrilled aubergine smothered in yoghurt, Gökyüzü never disappoints. It’s a crowd-pleaser that’s always full of them.

It feels remiss to comment on booze first and foremost at a restaurant, but the frosty pints of pilsner being poured into tankard glasses at Autograf are wonderful things. Even better is when you pair them with a plate of pierogi, goulash, or schnitzel. The corridor-like Polish restaurant is an expert in homely fare and swinging by for a plate of steamed potato, cheese, and onion pierogi is an excellent after-work idea. Particularly given the vodka bar. Heads up, it’s cash-only.

At the Harringay location of Umut 2000, you should be doing exactly what you do in their Dalston home, and that’s ordering an ginormous platter of their lamb ribs. Fresh from the ocakbasi, fat sizzling and meat perfectly pink and tender, these ribs are one of London’s great go-tos. Best of all is that this restaurant is much roomier. Made for big get-togethers and mixed grills all round.

Aesthetically there is nothing sunny or beach-like about the intersection next to Turnpike Lane station. It is, categorically, grey. But Sunny Beach Bulgarian Restaurant is another story. The greens and reds of plates of shopshka salad light up almost every table. Cucumber, pepper, tomato, and a mountain of grated white cheese. Nothing about this restaurant is particularly smooth but there’s a Fawlty-ish charm to it and the food—big meat platters, hand cut chips, stews, and sour cream sauces—is hearty stuff that’s great value.

When London’s weather turns more bitter and spiteful it’s essential to know where to go for a meal that’s warm and buttery in both feeling and flavour. Harringay Corbacisi is one of those places. The no-menu restaurant specialises in soups and stews—just wander up to the counter and see what’s on offer. Sade paca—a lamb and yoghurt soup made up of tender meat, a paddling pool of butter, and enough minced garlic to slay a vampire via soliloquy—is a favourite. The space itself is also extremely comfortable.

Antepliler Künefe offers sugary pick-me-ups by the ladleful. The late-night dessert specialist on Green Lanes does one thing and one thing only: künefe. This cheesy pastry bathing in sugar syrup is deservedly the star of its own show. The crispy edges of wiry pastry—crunchy from the heat of the copper the pud is cooked in—are the best bites, but just be aware that this is a two-person job. Especially when a scoop of ice cream or clotted cream is added on top. The salonu has plenty of low tables and stools to pop a squat on—perfect for a cup of tea and a nightcap of the most sugary variety.

The Dusty Knuckle is probably the best bakery in north London and their Green Lanes location only affirms that. It’s big and airy, and full of their incomparably delicious morning buns. Come lunchtime, changing bits are put between two slices of their faultless focaccia or in the winter months, there are homely bowls of soup. It’s open on weekends for pizza nights and, if it was open through the early hours, we’d probably never leave.

If you’re in need of a quick, buttery, and satisfyingly slumber-inducing fix then Antepliler Doner is where to go. A serving of iskender here—chicken and/or lamb döner on flatbread topped with yoghurt, fresh tomato sauce, and hot butter—is precisely what no doctor would tell you to order. But given the mesmerising qualities of the glistening hunks of meat behind the counter, just try and resist. This isn’t just a takeaway spot and there's a nice, low-key dining room that suits groups as much as it does someone who wants to be in-and-out pronto.

Among the smouldering competition of Green Lanes’ ocakbasi grills, Diyarbakir is another reliable all-round choice. Lamb ribs and carefully spiced adana kofte are excellent while their lahmacuns, charred and blistered on the outside with an oozing smoky mince mixture in the middle, are brilliant handheld delicacies. If you’re overwhelmed by choice, confused or, worst of all, hungry on Green Lanes, then Diyarbakir's ginormous and shiny space is a guaranteed winner for groups big and small.