The Observer
Jay Rayner followed an Instagram tip to a Turkish grill in Finchley with a purpose-built rotisserie that was – as he had hoped – just the sort of place he likes, leaving his fingers and cheeks liberally smeared with animal fat.
Missing out on the house speciality, a whole spit-roast lamb feeding 10 and costing about £345, that needs to be ordered in advance, Jay was eager to try a roasted lamb’s head, “partly because I want to know if there’s really good stuff on there, and partly because I regard myself self-importantly as the sort of person who will always explore the outer reaches of any menu… Disappointingly, it turns out that heads, along with quails and that whole lamb, must be ordered two days in advance.”
So he had to make do with lamb neck and ribs, and was not disappointed at all. Far from it: “in the rib world championships, pork and beef get all the attention, but quietly I’m coming to the conclusion that lamb is where it’s really at. Being smaller and more compact, there’s just greater textural contrast and more in the way of flavour.”
The spit-roast chicken also passed muster, and the accompaniments were generally fine, despite the “dull” hummus and taramasalata, while the six-strong red wine list managed to be comically eccentric, jumping from an Argentinian Malbec at £37 via a barolo at £169 to a 2001 Château Mouton-Rothschild, Pauillac, at £2,400. Jay reckoned Efes beer was probably a better alternative.
Jay Rayner - 2024-07-07
