London's Turkish dining scene is having a moment, and 2026 has pushed it further. The biggest headline: İskender, the Bursa institution founded in 1867 and widely credited with inventing the döner kebab, has opened its first-ever restaurant outside Turkey — taking over a five-storey townhouse on Beauchamp Place in Knightsbridge. Run by fourth-generation brothers Oğuzhan and Kayhan İskenderoğlu with their father Yavuz, it does one thing: the Bursa İskender Kebabı, lamb döner over pide drowned tableside in sizzling melted butter, washed down with şıra, a tangy drink made from Öküzgözü grapes. Walk-ins only.
The roots of the scene go back to the 1970s and 80s, when Turkish and Kurdish migrants settled in the capital and made Green Lanes in Harringay synonymous with ocakbasi grills, lahmacun ovens and shop windows stacked with honey-drenched sweets. That hub still thrives, but the story now stretches across the city — and the cooking has evolved well beyond the classics.
In Dalston, Mangal II, opened in the 1990s by Ali Dirik, is now steered by his sons Ferhat and Sertaç, who push Turkish flavours in experimental directions: smoked hummus, cod cheek şişlik with pickled mussels, lamb ribs in sour cherry molasses, and drinks like a sumac margarita. Sertaç has also gone solo with KID on Frith Street in Soho, a moodier room focused on Central Anatolian cooking — think grilled quail with ezme, and a slow-cooked goat head dish for groups that gives the restaurant its name. The wine list is built around historic trading routes, spanning Georgia, Armenia, Greece and Turkey.
Newer openings lean into atmosphere as much as food. Kismet, upstairs at The Globe Tavern in Borough from Dom Hamdy and ex-BiBi chef Keiran Mustafa, channels Istanbul and Northern Cypriot meyhanes — plump bulgur köftesi, sizzling karides güveç prawns in garlic butter, and live kanun music on Thursdays while waiters ferry trays of cubed baklava. Over in Canary Wharf, Beam (from brothers Özgür and Sidar Akyüz of the Café Beam group) brings evening service to a café brand known for all-day menus: mücver fritters with cacık, seafood cigar börek, and a mixed grill platter of Adana and chicken şiş for sharing.
For travellers, this is one of London's strongest food stories right now. You can eat your way from a family ocakbasi in Harringay to a polished Knightsbridge townhouse in a single trip, and each stop tells a different chapter of the same migration-and-innovation story. Book ahead for the buzzy central spots, but leave room for a spontaneous Green Lanes wander — the old guard still holds its own.
