Gökyüzü Green Lanes — Restaurant in London

This is one of better Turkish restaurants I have been to. Parking is ample and free Decor is good however they are busy most times so feels a bit cramped when you sit and feel like it’s too close to other diners. However it’s loud so you can get away with having conversations without being intruded. Service has been good mostly apart from once when I had to wait long despite asking three times for bread basket. Over all from my 5 visits service is pretty efficient. They need to be more warm and friendly as they all come across very functional robotic and well drilled machine. I guess they are their to do a job and they do it very well just a little Smile conversation will help. Food is awesome. Their lamb chops that are of platter are best I have ever had. Ribs very hard fatty and chewy (some may say they are meant to be ) not for me. Wings are seasoned and taste great Rest of platter is ok at best overall I don’t expect any restaurant to nail all the items on platter so won’t say much else. As rest of platter was average (rice barley tikka donor kebab) I don’t mind the price however portion size for £100 platter is bit mean tbh. Especially when 50% of that platter is rice barley and dry cut donor pieces. It’s clearly mentioned in menu what you get from platter quantity wise so may be order different portions Instead of platter next time. Their cold meze is decent. Best among them is aubergines based starter and beetroot coloured started was just out of this world. They offer bread basket salad with the platter I guess so it was enough for five of us. Complimentary tea in the end is always nice touch Overall it was nice experience And I have been to this place about 5 times now so completely would recommend others. And would I go back again and answer is yes I will. WORD OF CAUTION. I treated my friends here once ( we were 15 all together ) they charge service fee for any table of 8 and above. So we were charged that and to be fair on them the lady at front who got us the table made it very clear and transparent before we sat that this will be charged so what choice did we have (none as there were 15 hungry people with me ). However if you are less than 8. Then service charge is optional and you can politely refuse to pay it (I did couple of times when we were 5 and once we were 4 people). They are easy and understand that it’s your legal right to refuse to pay service charges at any restaurant unless mentioned or stated before you sit down and eat.

Overall it’s a very decent Turkish restaurant Very authentic recipes and good quality food. Free parking and accessible Would...

This place needs no introduction. I fancied some Turkish with the boys, so we went out.

It would’ve been unacceptable if we didn’t get some of the trad starters: hummus, lahmachun and calamari. As for the mains, we got the full platter. Naturally, we got baklava and kunefe for desserts. I went for the pink breeze mocktail.

The hummus was pretty damn nice - creamy and smooth texture with a lot of flavour: chickpeas, garlic, lemon and olive oil, topped off with some pomegranates. That was a nice touch. The bread served was also soft, which made it moreish (beware - if you devour too much at the beginning you will struggle to finish anything later!). The lahmachun was delicious - paper thin base which was soft yet crispy, and the seasoned mince was just so succulent and bursting with the flavours. I could’ve had 5 of those alone. The fried calamari was nice - the breaded costing was a little bit too golden for my liking, but the meat itself was very tasty, especially with the garlic mayo sauce. Now the full platter is a mammoth feast - everything about it was phenomenal. All meats cooked beautifully, although the doners were the exception (being tough for my liking). My only conundrum was that this dish defeated the 3 of us - if there’s 4-6 people, I’d say this is a sensible platter to purchase; otherwise, especially if you’re getting starters and dessert - it’ll be a tough task to crack. The baklava was so fresh and incredible - paper thin filo, well sweetened and balanced with the pistachio (crushed). The kunefe was my favourite, however. It was super crispy and the cheese contrasted it very well, with a healthy balance of sweet and savoury.

The staff were super friendly and welcoming, tending to every need and preserving a lovely atmosphere. The establishment itself is pretty big, so there’s a lot of space and the layout is good. It has a nice decor and vibe which really adds life to the place. It is quite a pricey spot, nonetheless, so it’s not something I’d be popping out for on the regs - the portions of the starters could be larger, imho.

As I said at the start - Gokyuzu is infamous and it’s evident as to why...

Great food, in which we couldn't detect the excessive saltiness that's typical of MSG, which is great. Healthy portions for decent value - not the cheapest I've had but certainly not the most expensive either, let alone for one of the very best Turkish restaurants in London.

The biggest disappointment was the service. For a quiet mid afternoon, while the food was delivered speedily and there were always wait staff on hand, the gentlemen in question were not personable and were indifferent in all of their interactions. They did, however, brighten up and put in a lot more effort with the babies on the table next to ours, so it wasn't beyond their capabilities and (rightly or wrongly) made the cold treatment we received feel personal.

The platter itself was exactly what I had hoped for: the gamut of marinated and grilled chicken, adana & lamb kebabs, wings, lamb ribs and high quality shredded donner kebabs all sitting on a bed of bulgur wheat and rice. It could easily feed 3-4 and the restaurant are at least content to accommodate taking away what you can't find space to finish! You'll be given a complimentary cacik yoghurt starter with fresh Turkish bread and a healthy plate of tangy salad. The only other thing we ordered (which was absolutely not necessary given the size of the platter) was a Turkish version of pizza: pide. We asked for a recommendation and received a sujuk sausage and kasir cheese pide. It's certainly authentic but nothing special in terms of favour; the lahmacoun flatbread is a cheaper and tastier alternative in my opinion. After we had reached our limits, we were also offered a complimentary cup of Turkish tea too.

A final note for the very large interior, dressed in an impressive modern decor with plenty of nice toilets too (odd thing to mention, I know, unless you've been to your fair share of Turkish restaurants!).

If you're fortunate enough to live close to either Haringey or Dalston, you can't go wrong by getting an authentic, massive platter from one of the great, long established Turkish restaurants in...