Features

United Kingdom - Kebabs with Gilbert and George

by Anna Levy

Unless you're the most dedicated of vegetarians, there is nothing more mouth-watering than the smell of meat sizzling over charcoals. If you walk down Kingsland Road in the Turkish immigrant enclave of Dalston in East London, pretty much every other building is an ockabasi (Turkish grill) restaurant, drawing you in with tantalising wafts of spicy kebab meat.

The original and the best of all the Dalston kebab restaurants though is Mangal on Arcola Street, and its sister outlet Mangal 2 on the main road. If you don't take my word for it, just ask celebrated artists Gilbert and George.

This famously reclusive oddball couple come to the restaurant every single night, sitting at the same table and, so it is said, ordering the very same dish before walking back the two miles to their home near Spitalfields market.

Embodying the mix of Anatolian culture and the hipster London arts scene, which so typifies Dalston today, Mangal 2 is definitely worth a visit for those drawn to this achingly cool corner of East London.

And don't leave before you've tried their Patlican Kebab. A mix of charcoaled aubergine and spicy minced lamb that will see you fighting for tables with Gilbert and George on a regular basis!