Hisar

If there are two things surely everybody loves in a restaurant, it’s friendly staff and getting a bargain. On our recent visit to Hisar Mangal - yep, you guessed it - we got both. Located on Lordship Lane in East Dulwich, the restaurant staunchly keeps to the classic ocakbasi layout. There’s the centerpiece open charcoal grill and the collection of no frills furniture laid out around it, which is all you need in a place where the food is everything.

Since the restaurant was full when we visited we were apologetically directed to a seat outside on the street. With a lone tree doing its best to create a limited canopy on a humid evening threatening rain it was almost like being in the Med. Honestly.

Clearly a Turkish grill is to be judged on its meat and the Hisar Mangal didn’t disappoint. The chicken kofte was a solid choice that went easy on the grease but the lamb beyti was on a different level. From Dalston to Turnpike Lane, we’ve eaten this garlic minced lamb wrapped in Turkish bread with butter and yoghurt topping and Dulwich’s Hisar is a match for the best of them. And if that’s not enough to tempt you in, the portions are XL.

With two bottles of Efes, the bill came to under £24. Apparently since we were sat outside we were given the takeaway price by our enthusiastic, helpful server – just another reason to put this into our burgeoning list of South London’s best cheap eats. The restaurant menu is more expensive but the quality of the food makes the prices a bargain. We knew there was a reason Hisar Mangal seems to inspire so much neighbourhood loyalty.