Mangal 1 — Restaurant in London

In the heart of Dalston, where the streets whisper with the tread of countless soles and the mist clings to the skin of the night, there resides a culinary spectre, an entity born of flame and spice, known to the locals as the Ghost of Mangal. It is no ordinary apparition; you will find no chains clanking nor mournful wails to herald its presence. No, this ghost is far more visceral, a silent sentinel over a Turkish grill whose very essence is entwined with the ritual of the feast.

Mangal, the place of its haunting, stands like an ancient altar to the carnivorous delights. Here, the meats are prepared with the reverence of a sacred rite, the grill's charred bars bearing the offerings to those who seek the carnal pleasure of the flesh seared and sizzling. Amidst this temple of taste, the Ghost of Mangal lurks not in the shadows, but in a vessel so innocuous, so unassuming, that its very potency is often underestimated—a red sauce, gleaming like a pool of captured sunset, a liquid fire ready to lace your meal with its essence.

To add this sauce to your meats is to invoke the ghost itself, to summon the spirit of the grill into the very fibers of your being. The first encounter is one of flavor, an intense bouquet of spices that dances across the palate, a siren's song of culinary delight that promises only the warmth of Eastern suns and the zest of untamed gardens. But beware, for the Ghost of Mangal is a trickster, a shapeshifter cloaked in delectable deceit.

The night passes, the meats digested, the laughter faded, but the ghost—it lingers, a smoldering ember in the pit of your stomach. Dawn brings with it the full revelation of the ghost’s power. It is a force of nature contained within the mortal coil, a fiery tide rising from the depths, a tempest beneath the ribs. It is a heat that speaks to the very essence of consumption, the inevitable consequence of cavorting with a power that is at once delectable and daunting.

The Ghost of Mangal is the echo of the grill in the chamber of your body, a reminder that what begins in pleasure may end in a tempestuous dance with the fiery shades of regret. It is the shared silence between knowing glances when patrons of the grill meet in the light of day, a wordless camaraderie forged in the flames of the red sauce's aftermath.

The Ghost of Mangal is not simply a metaphor for the fiery aftermath of a night indulged in spice—it is the enduring presence of Mangal itself, a spectral stamp on the soul that proclaims, "Here was a feast not soon forgotten, a challenge issued and met, a trial by fire." It binds the patrons in their shared hubris and humility, a ghost story written not on the page, but upon the very lining of the gut.

And so it goes, the grill smokes, the meats sizzle, and the red sauce awaits its next acolyte, ever ready to unleash the Ghost of Mangal upon those who dare to court its incendiary embrace.

(I recommend the...

I learnt a lesson last night, don't believe all the good reviews, this restaurant is overrated and over priced, and the people that say this restaurant is good, do not know anything about Turkish food. Food is bland and does not taste Mediterranean, tastes like it's been cooked for people who can't handled spices coz all that was on there was salt and pepper.

Let me explain why else this restaurant made me feel upset after I ate lol, Portions are tiny and you have to buy everything separate e.g rice bread, I paid £10 for chicken shish. So I expect 2 skewers, what came was half a skewer, no rice just some dead salad for £10 lol

They don't do garlic sauce at all, I think this is because they want too maximise profit, so we end up buying all the mezes, go to any other Turkish you will get the mezes for free.

They do chilli sauce but that is straight out of a bottle and not like the chilli sauce other Turkish restaurants have, if a restaurant can't make there own condiments, too me they are not worthy of spending your money. NO GARLIC sauce!!!!!!

The meat they use is cheap, (how do I know) everyone should be able to tell quality meat it's easy. The lamb chops and lamb cubes and mince had allot of fat in it. One lamb chop was all fat. Any bits of fat in meat is the CHEAP cuts, if you don't believe me google cheap cut of meat.

The meat looked like it was bought from Ridley road market.

There's better Turkish places in dalston and Hackney. Try tava ocakbasi, devran, Istanbul.

My wife was really upset about this place after I suggested it, it's safe too stick to the usual is what I learnt.

If you read this review and try mangal 1 for yourself, please let me know what you think. Thanks

It's not Turkish food it's made to taste of people who can't handle a single spice.

Read all the other negative...

This is a place where we take out of town guests to demonstrate that you can eat well on a budget in London. I do love the food here, but should get over the noise level and come more often. It's a BYO with a Co-op on the corner of Kingsland Rd and Arcola St which is the nearest place to buy wine. Our most recent visit included a discrete celebrity sighting of Gilbert & George at the next table.

Last night, for a table for four, we requested two orders of the warm Patlacan Salata as a starter to mop up with complimentary Turkish bread. Smokey, charcoal infused mashed aubergine puree with chunks of peeled red peppers and a dollop of labneh. In my opinion the best mezze on the menu. We also ordered the terrific grilled onion salad from the sides menu. This arrived with our mains. The onions are blackened slightly over charcoal, sweetened with pomegranate molasses and spiced with sumac.

Our mains consisted of a shared platter of dry grills. Two orders of lamb shish (better than the smaller cubes of cop shish that can sometimes be dry), and single orders of pirzola and chicken wings. I prefer the skin on poultry options such as chicken wings or whole quails (if you don’t mind the fiddly size) over the skinless chicken shish. They bring chilli sauce but if you want to dip your meat in yoghurt order a cacik starter to arrive with your mains. Alternatively, you can order a yogurtlu main but these are harder to share.

Mangal1 is very well priced. It is a BYO where dinner for 4 came to £90 before service. At 19:30 on a Sunday we needed to queue maybe 10 minutes. They only take bookings for large groups. It's a noisy bustling place, so suitable for groups of friends, but...