Mangal 2, London: ‘It’s brave and compelling and properly delicious’ – restaurant review

A Turkish grill in Dalston, east London could have been like so many others… but the Dirik boys had different ideas

Mangal 2, 4 Stoke Newington Road, London N16 7XN (020 7254 7888). Small plates £5-£12, large plates £14-£19, desserts £7.50-£8.50, wines from £28

If Mangal 2 were located almost anywhere else in London, it would not seem especially remarkable: just another urban bistro with an open kitchen, bare floorboards and a short list of low-intervention wines that could do with a little more intervention. But context matters. Instead, it sits on the main drag in Dalston surrounded by ocakbasi, or Turkish grill houses. The air on the street is heavy with the come-hither smell of rendering lamb and in brightly lit windows, the capital’s very best doner kebabs turn slowly on their skewers, flaunting their curves, as Mail Online might put it, if they ever wrote about food with the vigour they reserve for objectifying people.