Monday 8th August

Meze Mangal, Lewisham Way

So London's burning outside; amid the mindless riots our fridge is empty so off we go looking for something to eat.  It was weird on the street, eerily quiet, hardly any traffic and lots of the shops were either closed or half closed.  Initially we were just going to get something from the corner shop, but then remembered about the Turkish restaurant up the road that we used to go to a lot but haven't eaten in in ages.  So, not sure if it would be open or not we nervously trundled up.  Happily it was open - and quite packed.  We decided on a takeaway rather then sitting in and were told it would take 15mins so we sat by the charcoal pit which the different meat skewers were being cooked on.  As we got hotter and hotter beside this, we wondered if we hadn't made a mistake and just sat in to eat so it was a relief to get back out in the cooler outside air once the food was ready.  

This is what we ordered:

Me, I got Imam Baylidi,  delicious classic Turkish cold aubergine dish.  Really silky half of an aubergine, covered in softly cooked tomatoes and soft onion.  You can really taste the olive oil, really fruity and rich.  I also got a pide which is a soft of Turkish pizza.  I went for the Ispanakli-Peynirli pide, which was spinach, onions, cheese and seasoning.  It was lovely, really soft, spongy, light bread, topped with gooey, oozy cheese, finely chopped spinach (long big leaves wouldn't work here) and again soft onions, really nice.

The boy, he went for Karisik-Tarak, which was grilled lamb's ribs served with salad.  The salad was a nice fresh mix of red cabbage, carrot, cucumber and lettuce with a good wedge of lemon to squeeze over.  I stole most of this.  The boy said his ribs were really nice and juicy and whilst waiting for our food by the charcoal pit he commented on how the cook took care with the individual seasoning of the different types of meats.  

We shared a not so Turkish portion of chips with the meal and it also came with a free Turkish bread, which was lovely soft and spongy.  Altogether our meal was £16 between the two of us.

Imam baylidi

Salad, chips & ribs

My tasty pide

The free bread
 (apologies for the dodgy photo, the batteries were running out)

Meze Mangal Restaurant

245 Lewisham Way

London

SE4 1 XF

www.meze-mangal.co.uk