Turkish Delight

There has been a tube strike this week, presenting an opportunity to visit neglected local restaurants for lunch.

Mangal is Turkish for barbecue and there used to be three Best Mangal restaurants strung out along North End Road. The chain opened in 1996 and last year the founder sold two, retaining the one closest to West Kensington station and, conveniently, nearest to Barons Court. I forget if I met Ibrahim Tuac when I was a regular years ago but now I have met his daughter and her younger brother – both utterly charming and most hospitable in the best tradition of the Eastern Mediterranean. The family are Kurds that became assimilated into Turkey. It is worth revising the history of that unfortunate people.

“After World War I, the collapse of the Ottoman Empire and the subsequent Treaty of Sèvres initially offered hope for a Kurdish state, but this was nullified by the Treaty of Lausanne. Kurdish lands were divided among the new states of Turkey, Iraq, and Syria leading to a history of statelessness and suppression of their identity. Kurds established numerous revolts and movements for self-determination and autonomy, including the short-lived Republic of Ararat (1927–1930) in Turkey and the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) in Iraq after the Gulf War. “ (AI)

1996 Best Mangal is unpretentious and what you see is what you get. You must walk past the charcoal grill on the way in and note there are only the skewers that have been ordered on spits. All the meat dishes are freshly cooked and succulent. I like Chicken Beyti with a grilled green pepper, rice and salad. The set menu is £18 and lunch for two with raki and wine is less than half the price of restaurants in more central locations.